Rousso Drops Out of Washington Gubernatorial Race

Lee Rousso, the Washington state director for the Poker Players Alliance, has bowed out of the gubernatorial race in his state.  Rousso, an attorney, originally attracted the attention of poker fans last summer when he sued the state for making online gambling a Class C felony, which it did back in the spring of 2006.  This crusade to have the law repealed was his primary issue in his campaign, but he will now have to stick to his lawsuit. 

It was actually a state election law change that prompted Rousso to end his campaign.  He had been trying to compete against incumbent Democrat Christine Gregoire in the primary, hoping to earn a large number of Republican and independent votes to score the upset (Washington has open primaries, in which voters do not have to vote in a specific party’s primary).  The change to the law made it so that the two highest overall vote-getters, regardless of party, would be on the final ballot.  Thus, Rousso felt he had no chance to get any of that crossover vote, as Republicans would almost certainly vote for their candidate, rather than the Democratic opponent of Gregoire.   

Rousso is not done with his efforts for poker, though.  His lawsuit is still moving forward, with a hearing scheduled for April 25.  He will now be devoting all of his attention to that, rather than both the lawsuit and the election.