MATT DRISCOLL: GOV. GREGOIRE VISITS TACOMA >>>

Are you happy with the direction Washington State is headed? If so, Gov. Christine Gregoire would like to take credit and urge you to keep her in office come November.

On the first day of her campaign for reelection, amid many “keep Russell in Tacoma” shout-outs, Gregoire hit the road by bus and after stopping for a rally in her hometown of Auburn made Tacoma the second stop on her tour. Gregoire spoke to a moderately full room inside Tacoma’s Landmark Convention Center this afternoon â€" and the crowd, which seemed to be an equal collection of flannel clad union members and local politicians (including Mayor Bill Baarsma, Tacoma City Councilman Jake Fey, Pierce County Councilman Calving Goings, and a slew of others), ate it up. The pep rally ended with chants of “four more years.”

But it took nearly 40 minutes to get to that point. Rep. Norm Dicks (D-WA) got the crowd going, speaking of his longtime working relationship with Gregoire â€" through her time as attorney general and work with the Department of Ecology. He proclaimed, “Washington has never had a better governor than Christine Gregoire.”

Pierce County Executive and Attorney General hopeful John Ladenburg was up next, nailing a short stump speech about the Democratic mission to “change America from the top down” this November, and his pledge to stop the “politicalization” of the Attorney General’s office once he’s elected. Unfortunately for Ladenburg, any momentum he’d gained during his brief stint in the spotlight was nullified when he introduced Gregoire at the conclusion of his speech only to find out she wouldn’t be coming out for another 10 minutes. Apparently Ladenburg was a little confused about the order of today’s rally, and Dicks grabbed the mic from him to introduce another speaker before Gregoire made her way to the stage.

My first impression upon seeing Gregoire in person this afternoon was how small she is, even in a purple power blazer. In my notes, the strange scrawling of “Gregoire is tiny. Tom Cruise tiny. Eddie Vedder tiny,” reminds me of this initial response. Surprisingly, though, especially for a politician, her charm and charisma made up for any lack of physical presence. Until today’s campaign stop I hadn’t realized how personable and comfortable Gregoire is with a crowd.

The themes of her stop in Tacoma, and her entire campaign I imagine, were basic. If you believe Gregoire’s hype, she’s a candidate who’s “taken on the tough challenges and delivered real results.” Gregoire touted accomplishments like taking Washington to its lowest unemployment rate in history, creating 225,000 new jobs, adding 84,000 children to Basic Health, and aiding the largest expansion of prison beds in state history.

All of it made me wonder why I hadn’t realized Washington was fairing so well. I guess I’m just a cynic.

On the other spectrum, Gregoire did her best to drive home the idea that her opponent, Dino Rossi, is a fear monger, just like George Bush, and if he’s elected he’ll do nothing more than act as an “echo box” for evil, representing people like the president and corporate interests instead of citizens of Washington.

After 20 minutes of pep and talk, Gregoire concluded her stop at the Landmark Convention Center and headed to King’s Books for a rock star style meet and greet with citizens of Tacoma and local politicians.

The campaign continues, as it will into November. It’ll be seven more months of Gregoire vs. Rossi, just like ’04, but this time around Tacoma got a chance to see the opening blows.

I think that means we’ve made it