Southeastern Washington legislative candidate Susan Fagan picked up the endorsement of the Republicans' last two gubernatorial nominees.

OK, that was just a chance to see if you were paying attention after a three-day weekend. As anyone with a working knowledge of Washington politics knows, the same person has been the GOP's nominee for governor for the last two elections.

Former State Sen. Dino Rossi is endorsing Fagan for that empty 9th District House seat, though.

One might wonder what impact that has, considering Rossi was unsuccessful in his two runs for governor. (Unless one wants to argue that he actually was successful in 2004 but had the election stolen from him, but the statute of limitations has kind of run on that one.)

The answer, though, is potentially a big impact. Rossi got 58 percent of the vote in the 9th District last year. And with two Republicans -- Fagan and Pat Hailey -- on the Nov. 3 ballot, this kind of endorsement could be significant for Republicans trying to choose between the two.

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