Dino Rossi is confident that he can topple Sen. Patty Murray in Washington:

To beat Murray — who, he adds, is “not to be underestimated” — Rossi wants to reach out to independents and self-described “Dino-crats” by “drawing lines in the sand” on key issues such as reforming the budget process and tackling the national debt. It’s a tack that could pay off: According to a SurveyUSA poll released this week, Murray is vulnerable with independents, who by a 50-to-43 margin disapprove of her job performance. “She considers [earmarks] her strength,” Rossi laughs. “I see them as her weakness.”

More from his NRO interview here.