Press Talk: The DWQ is simply part of my soul

I’m the DWQ guy.

You know — the person who sits in the room and then decides to ask something marginally strange.

Take our editorial board meetings when we bring in political candidates.

I’m the Designated Wacky Question guy.

Now, to be a little fair to me, I ask the typical legitimate questions as well. But I simply can’t resist throwing the oddball one in there.

This week we had Dino Rossi in to discuss the governor’s race. Rossi is the GOP challenger and Chris Gregoire is the incumbent Democrat.

I should say both of them are, in my personal view, quite talented.

Near the end of our meeting I threw this question at Rossi:

“Would you be willing to say — right now — that you would be willing to sit down with any rogue Democratic governors out there, with no preconditions?”

Rossi smiled at me, then laughed. He said he wasn’t sure there were any rogue Democratic governors out there but if there were. …

“Yes, I’d sit down with them with no preconditions.”

Barack Obama would be proud. I think.

When Gregoire was here a few weeks ago, my DWQ to her was:

“Who’s more qualified, Sarah Palin as vice president or Dino Rossi as governor?”

Gregoire thought for a few seconds, realized it was a no-win question for her, and didn’t answer.

I asked her if she planned to answer the question and she politely said no.

So I threw my backup question at her, which I admit falls short of a DWQ.

“OK, who’s more qualified to be vice president, you or Palin?

Gregoire thought for a few seconds to make sure her answer wouldn’t trap her in any way, then answered:

“Me.”

Life, for me, is just a little too short to not try to have a bit of fun along the way.

Endorsements

Speaking of DWQs, I threw this little tidbit to the editorial board:

What if we opted not to endorse in the presidential race?

Now, before the e-mails start rolling in, we are going to endorse in the presidential race. And I’m actually a believer in endorsements.

But I wondered out loud (this is always dangerous) if we really influence folks in the presidential race. I wondered if our presidential endorsement really sparks debate on presidential issues.

I suggested the only thing our presidential endorsement sparked a debate on … was us!

Now I don’t mind folks’ talking about us; they often do anyway. But for the presidential race, it seems like yakking about whom we endorsed for the White House simply becomes a distraction.

By the way, we wouldn’t be the only paper not endorsing a candidate. USA Today, for example, has never made a presidential endorsement.

Anyway, there were plenty of folks on our editorial board who strongly defended our need to endorse. So I guess it was just another DWQ.

Lou Brancaccio is The Columbian’s editor. Reach him at 360-735-4505 or
lou.brancaccio@columbian.com.