Does the 'D' in Democrat stand for dopey?

Thinking people have to be wondering -- what were leaders of the state Democratic Party thinking when they filed a silly lawsuit challenging Dino Rossi's "prefers GOP party" designation on the November ballot?

At a time when the foremost issues in the governor's race should be the state budget and how to pay for it, plus health care, education and others too numerous to list here, the state Democratic Party is going to court to try to force Rossi to declare on the ballot that he's a Republican?

Those filing the suit claim that if he's allowed to hide behind the "GOP" tag, it follows that "allowing Mr. Rossi to obscure his true party preference and affiliation directly violates the law, would mislead a substantial portion of the voting public and would breed cynicism and mistrust in our public institutions and, indeed, in our electoral process."

Oh, get a grip! The Grand Old Party nickname for Republicans has been around since the post-Civil War days. Newspaper headline writers love the abbreviation because it's a good fit in news columns.

What a waste of time -- even to the point that a hearing on the suit will be held at 9 a.m. today in King County Superior Court. We have a hunch Judge Richard Eadie will dismiss it faster than you can say -- well, Grand Old Party.

That would be in keeping with the common sense shown by Secretary of State Sam Reed with his rejection Wednesday of the party's request to stop printing ballots until the judge rules. As Reed rightly points out, counties are already involved in printing ballots and the party's objections do not warrant stopping them.

Reed is unhappy, as are we, that the party waited until the 11th hour to file the legal challenge; Rossi's party preference was also on the Aug. 17 primary election ballot. That election was the first under the state's new top-two primary, in which the top two vote-getters advance to the general election, regardless of party.

A spokesman in Reed's office said new regulations state that the way a candidate files for office in June will be how they are identified in both the primary and, if they advance, the general election. Neither the candidate nor the state can change the person's self-declared party preference from the primary to the general.

Gov. Chris Gregoire -- locked in a tight battle for re-election in a rematch of 2004, when she beat Rossi by 133 votes -- doesn't need this kind of "help" from her state party.

If Rossi's preference was good enough for the primary election, it will hold up for the general, too. While we might wonder why he chose the GOP moniker after running four years ago as a declared Republican, we certainly don't see the switch as any threat to the integrity of the Nov. 4 election.

The judge should toss this frivolous suit and allow us to move on to more serious issues in the weeks before the final decision by voters.

And if you want substance from your gubernatorial candidates, check out Wednesday's debate between Rossi, the GOP/Republican, and Gregoire, the Democrat, on Wednesday in the Capitol Theatre.

The debate is sponsored by the Yakima Herald-Republic, KYVE TV and the Capitol. Live coverage of the debate will be seen statewide on PBS affiliates.

* Members of the Yakima Herald-Republic editorial board are Michael Shepard, Sarah Jenkins, Bill Lee and Karen Troianello.