GOP's combine-and-conquer strategy

In the world of robo phone calls, the state Republican Party's newest missive hustling prospective members might be just basic party rah-rah. You know, "Join us, and we will get rid of Hillary Clinton at the national level and Gov. Christine Gregoire in Washington state."

The call also has the capacity to offend.

Let's listen in ...

"Hi, this is Luke Esser, your Republican state chairman. In the next few days you should receive a letter that reads, 'Christine Gregoire and Hillary Clinton don't want you to read this letter,' written in red ink on the front of the envelope. This letter will ask you to become a member of the Washington State Republican Party and outlines our plan for victory in November. Please read the letter. And I hope you will join our efforts to re-defeat Christine Gregoire and help us make sure that the Clintons never run the White House again."

Clinton and Gregoire. Gregoire and Clinton. Get it? You get one with the other, right? Pairings are like that. The person inventing the pairing selects the twosome — and therein makes a political statement.

The first thing you notice is that this particular snippet of party building does not mention Democratic Sen. Barack Obama. Why not? Obama is just as viable a candidate as Clinton.

Esser, not to be confused with Esser-Bush, says it is all simple fundraising. The party is interested in electing a Republican president and governor this year. If Obama wins, he will be featured in a future letter.

Come on. Obama isn't mentioned because he isn't a female politician. He isn't mentioned because, frankly, as an individual who is half African American, he is a little harder to typecast and malign.

The pressing connection between Hillary and Gregoire is they are both powerful women — and to some people, that is pretty scary. Just not most Washingtonians. This is the only state in the country with two female U. S. senators and a female governor. Our Legislature consistently has one of the highest percentages of female lawmakers.

In our cities and in our suburbs, voters, especially female voters, like that distinction just fine. But Esser is trying to slice around that reality.

In a recent Newsweek magazine piece, President Bush's former speechwriter, Michael Gerson, laments the dispirited state of the GOP, a fractured organization trying to rebuild a bigger-tent coalition. In a piece titled, "How My Party Lost Its Way," Gerson notes that only one person can unify the Republican Party: Hillary Clinton.

Hillary can be a polarizing force. For a lot of reasons, I support Obama. None of my reasons has to do with Clinton's gender. Some have to do with dynasties.

The Esser phone call is fascinating. Yes, it is old-fashioned fundraising and party building: Two candidates are standing in the way of Republican victories on two important fronts.

But, really, since Gregoire hasn't endorsed Clinton, what is the connection between Clinton and Gregoire aside from their tough personas? And their gender?

The GOP is trying to frighten voters — forgive me here: men, grumpy and otherwise — into thinking it's all one package. Hillary and Gregoire, no separation. The phone calls don't falsely claim that Gregoire endorsed Hillary. They don't mention Republican gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi, who supposedly had no knowledge of the phone message.

No fingerprints. Good cop. Bad cop.

But some voters will deduce that Republicans are trying to woo people to the party by presenting two troubling scenarios, all in one sentence: "I hope you will join our efforts to re-defeat Christine Gregoire and make sure the Clintons never run the White House again." Clintons, plural.

The nomination of Hillary Clinton would hurt Gregoire because it spurs unfair comparisons. Gregoire, for example, doesn't ask her husband to do her dirty work.

Gregoire served three terms as state attorney general, and led the state Department of Ecology. She doesn't rely on her husband's career to fill in the gaps. Clinton speaks in double-talk. You've heard it: talk of "When we were in the White House."

Politics is a cold, calculating game. There is no accident here. Esser blurs the image between the two women because he wants to take Hillary's negatives and splash them all over Gregoire.

Joni Balter's column appears regularly on editorial pages of The Times. Her e-mail address is jbalter@seattletimes.com; for a podcast Q&A with the author, go to Opinion at seattletimes.com