Dino Rossi may not be a candidate for U.S. Senate, but he is reacting strongly to an anti-Rossi for Senate Web site put together by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

Rossi sent Sen. Patty Murray a letter over the weekend demanding she tell the committee to take down the "scurrilous" site if she can't produce any proof of the "shady" deals it claims.

Although the site is an independent operation of the DSCC, Rossi argues Murray could stop it: "You are the fourth ranking member of the leadership of the Democratic Caucus in the U.S. Senate. The Democratic SenatorialCampaign Committee will do whatever they think you want them to do to support your re-election."

(This is debatable. Should Murray call the DSCC and tell them to take down the site, someone -- not necessarily Rossi, but someone else running for the seat -- could claim it wasn't an independent site.  But if Murray were to denounce all such campaign tactics and the DSCC were to announce in the spirit of good clean elections it was taking down the site even though it was technically accurate, then maybe it could be finessed. But, we digress.)

Rossi's letter came with a separate letter from an attorney who contends there was nothing amiss about his real estate deals.

So judge for yourself: Does Rossi sound like a candidate getting ready for a campaign or like a private citizen who just doesn't like having his name used in vain? Feel free to hit the comment button and weigh in.

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