The Washington State Democratic Party has filed a lawsuit in the King County Superior Court seeking to declare that Dino Rossi's preference of the "G.O.P. Party" is illegal in Washington state.

The suit seeks to require Secreatary of State Sam Reed to "distribute an amended certified list of gubernatorial candidatesthat, in accordance with the law, accurately identifies Rossi's party preference as the Washington State Republican Party."

The Democrats allege, that based upon the findings of two Elway Polls this year, the use of the term "G.O.P. Party" misleads a large number of voters in the state into thinking that Rossi is not a member of the Republican Party, despite the fact that he calls himself a Republican on Public Disclosure Commission forms and has been nominated by the Washington State Republican Party.

They further contend that the "G.O.P. Party" is not a registered party in the state, and that Washington state election law requires partisan political candidates to indicate their major party, minor party, or independent status, into none of which the "G.O.P. Party" fits.

The goal, then, of the lawsuit, is to have Rossi considered a Republican based on his prior affiliation.

"According to the cold hard data, Sam Reed is spotting Republican Dino Rossi as many as 100,000 votes for the rematch of a contest that was decided by 133 four years ago," said Dwight Pelz, Chairman of the Washington State Democratic Party. "Sam Reed's job is to run a fair election, not to give his party's candidate for governor the type of head start that would allow my daughter to beat Michael Phelps in the freestyle.

"Dino Rossi is a Bush Republican who apparently doesn't have the courage to be honest with voters voluntarily, and Sam Reed apparently doesn't have the courage to stand up to his party's gubernatorial candidate and his dishonest scheme to deceive Washingtonians on the ballot. After 8 years of the lies and deception in the other Washington, the last thing we need is a Bush Republican like Dino Rossi in the governor's mansion - and this is a perfect example of that."

State Republicans called the suit nothing but a ploy to distract people from Gregoire's record as governor.

"Christine Gregoire is desperate to deflect attention from the size of the record deficit her overspending and mismanagement has created," Washington State Republican Party Chait Luke Esser said in a press release responding to the news. "Of course Gregoire wants to talk about nicknames rather than the rising unemployment, spending and deficits that have occurred during her administration. Gregoire doesn't want to talk about the pocketbook issues that matter to voters, she just wants to play games in court.

"Given Gregoire's tenuous position in the latest polls and her shrill performance in Saturday's debate, it appears she has decided to try to win the election by litigation. But the bad news for Gregoire is that this latest stunt will backfire. Christine Gregoire may be a clever lawyer, but her actions are wrong and put in stark relief how badly we need change in the governor's office."

UPDATE: Reaction from the Rossi campaign is below.

"This is the act of a desperate incumbent and lawyer seeking to win the election in court by invalidating votes cast for Dino Rossi," said Jill Strait, Rossi spokesperson. "Ballots in Washington state have already been printed and military ballots are in process to soldiers and sailors overseas. If ‘GOP' is ruled by the judge to be invalid, then the ballots from military personnel will be invalid.  And given that it's likely too late to reprint all of the rest of the ballots in our state, this would make any ballot cast for Dino Rossi invalid. It is very clever - but it's very wrong.  Christine Gregoire has had since June to raise this issue, but she chose to wait until now to spring her legal trick. This is one more desperate attempt by Governor Gregoire to distract voters from the real issues of this campaign - namely the $3.2 billion deficit she's created and our rising unemployment."