In coffee-swilling Washington, Dino Rossi has latte liberals worried. Rossi, a Republican Senate candidate, is challenging Sen. Patty Murray, the longtime Democratic incumbent.

In 2004, Rossi came, as John Fund puts it, “within an eyelash of being sworn in as governor,” losing by a mere 129 votes in a very controversial recount. Rossi was also the GOP gubernatorial nominee in 2008. He tells us, with a smile, that those losses were tough, but not enough to discourage him. That’s good news for the GOP since Rossi, a former state senator and businessman, now finds himself in a dead heat with Murray.

According to the latest Rasmussen poll, the race is tied at 47 percent apiece. Another poll this week, by SurveyUSA, found Murray ahead, 37 percent to 33 percent, with 19 percent undecided. That said, eight percent of SurveyUSA respondents, Rossi’s campaign strategist notes, support other Republican candidates who most likely will not make the November ballot. (In Washington, only the top two candidates from the statewide “primary,” regardless of party, make it onto the ballot.)

Can Rossi topple Murray? In the below video, taped at National Review this morning, Rossi tells us that he can. He also talks about why he’s running and about why Washington needs more business-minded folks in the upper chamber:

Though he just jumped into the race, Rossi is already finding some support from the right. At a recent Rossi fundraiser in Washington, a crowd of conservative senators — Tom Coburn, Jim Inhofe, Bob Corker, Mike Johanns, and Jim DeMint, to name a few — showed up.