"Saving" Rossi for a Senate race is a fool's errand. First, he has said he isn't interested in running for Senate (I think he believes it is a consolation prize, and if so, he's right). Second, he probably can't beat Cant-do-well anyway. That 'Rat is just too entrenched, the libs love Cant-do-well, and the 'Rats are united behind her. This latter point wasn't true with Gregoire, which gave the Republicans a fair shot at winning, which they did, but it's an opportunity that doesn't come along very often. Third, Rossi won the governorship on the up and up, Gregoire didn't. Why should he lie down for the fraud? How many times is it going to take before we finally say, enough is enough?
There is no parallel between this race and the Thune-Daschle race in SD. This has come up so many times on these threads it time to put it to bed once and for all. First, the political dynamics of SD and WA simply aren't comparable. SD is a midwestern state that leans moderate to conservative in terms of demographics. WA is west coast liberal to a dominant extent. This was Rossi's shot. It isn't likely he'll have another chance. Second, John Thune's goal was to be in the Senate. He lost that in a fraud to Johnson in '02, but got a rematch against Daschle this time. IOW, he was going for the same prize. Rossi ran for Governor, because he believes that is the best position to be in to effect real change. He is right. A junior Senator from a state without much political clout in DC can't really do much to help the state where it needs help the most. Being buried in DC for the next 6 years, dealing with far-removed national issues, is too little, too late, even if he could win that contest.
Rossi may just have to stick it out and run against her in 4 years. Rudy Giuliani did it, his loss to David Dinkins had some questionable voting practices (not as blatant as in WA) - but he bided his time, built up his political base, and came back and beat Dinkins.
One of the reasons Thune won was because South Dakotans overwhelmingly voted for Bush over Kerry.
Bush won't be of much use to a republican candidate in washington state in '06.