ANDY SAWYER ANDY SAWYER/Yakima Herald-Republic Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire listens to Ted Durfey, left, owner of Natural Selection Farms in Sunnyside on Tuesday during a tour of the operation's seed crushing plant that produces vegetable oil for biodiesel. At right is Gregoire's husband, Mike Gregoire. Links   E-mail             Print            Gov. Gregoire talks about Eastern Wash. issues Advertisement

YAKIMA -- Gov. Chris Gregoire brought her one-Washington doctrine to Central Washington on Tuesday, stopping at an early learning center in Yakima and a biodiesel plant in Sunnyside as part of a statewide campaign kickoff tour.

Gregoire, who is set for a rematch with 2004 election opponent Republican Dino Rossi, said she believes more Eastern Washington voters will support her this time around. In 2004, Yakima County voted for Rossi by a nearly 2-to-1 margin. But her record since then should be enough to draw better on the historically Republican east side of the state, she said.

"It's not about, in my opinion, Republican or Democrat," Gregoire said in an interview before her public remarks at Enterprise for Progress in the Community. "It's really about what's best for the people of this area. And I think it is very clear that I have worked hard, have delivered."

She cited her work getting funding for EPIC, a nonprofit agency offering early childhood education and family services, and pointed to the downtown Yakima revitalization funding she approved in the capital budget last year.

Yakima County Democratic Party Chairman Paul George, who along with about 100 others attended Gregoire's speech at EPIC, believes Gregoire's expectation of more support here is well-founded. The high turnout at Democratic presidential caucuses in February is evidence of a motivated voting bloc, he said.

"Our goal is to deliver at least 1,000 more votes for Governor Gregoire (than in 2004)," George said. "And I'm really confident we'll double that."

Rossi made a similar appeal to Eastern Washington voters on his own campaign tour in December. Pointing out that he lost the election by fewer than 150 votes in 2004, Rossi urged Yakima County voters to make up that difference this year. He also warned that Gregoire's years in office have set the state up for a $2 billion budget shortfall next year.

In response, Gregoire pointed to all-time low unemployment on her watch and a business climate recognized by Forbes magazine last year as one of the nation's five best.

If the gloomy budget projection comes true, it will be because of the national economy, she said. And it won't be any different than the $2 billion budget shortfall she inherited in 2005.

"We'll manage our way through it, but I'm not going to buy into the fear mongering about, 'Oh, there's going to be taxes, or there's going to be this,'" Gregoire said.

Gregoire emphasized the importance of funding education and child health care. She also touted the state's transportation improvements and decreased unemployment during her tenure. Mostly, though, her comments focused on tearing down the "Cascade Curtain" between Eastern and Western Washington.

"We have torn that thing down, ladies and gentlemen," she said, garnering applause. "We are going to keep it down."

Her tour continued hours later southwest of Sunnyside, where she and her entourage toured Natural Selection Farms. The farm, owned by Ted Durfey, produces biodiesel from oilseed crops.

With the seed press drowning out all but the most private mouth-to-ear conversation, Durfey walked the governor and her husband through the $1 million facility as it pressed camelina seeds into oil for biodiesel.

Gregoire's actions have helped Natural Selection. In 2006, she pushed through legislation requiring at least 2 percent of the state's annual diesel and gasoline fuel sales be biodiesel and ethanol by the end of this year. She also made available $17.5 million in low-interest loans to bioenergy projects, such as Durfey's seed pressing operation.

Flanked by state Secretary of Agriculture Valoria Loveland, Gregoire said the 2 percent minimum will probably jump to 5 percent within a couple of years as the state is able to produce more of its own biodiesel. Washington's investment in bioenergy differs from that of the Midwest, where farmers are planting millions of acres of corn for ethanol, thereby driving up the price of food, she said. In Washington, operations like Natural Selection create the byproduct that will feed cattle and help keep food prices down.

"This guy's got the right idea," Gregoire said about Durfey.

Gregoire, who visited Auburn, Tacoma and Vancouver on Monday, continued on to the Tri-Cities after her stops in Yakima County. She plans to hit Spokane today before returning to Western Washington for a stop in Bremerton. She'll conclude the tour with stops Thursday in Port Townsend, Everett and Seattle.

According to the latest figures available from state Public Disclosure Commission, Gregoire had raised nearly $4.7 million by the end of February and had spent about $1.7 million, leaving her with just under $3 million. Rossi had raised about $2.9 million and spent nearly $900,000, leaving him with just about $2 million.