Many of the same themes were mentioned today in Gov. Christine Gregoire’s Yakima speech- Washington ranked 5^th in Forbes Magazine’s best state to do business, her mother’s hard-work attitude, first-man Mike’s work with veterans- with one apparent difference.

She didn’t make any references to Republican Dino Rossi.

Yesterday at the Firefighter’s Hall in Vancouver, Gregoire said to a crowd of supporters, “If you want a governor in this Washington who will be an echo chamber for the federal policies in the Bush administration, in the other Washington, I’m not your candidate.”

The message was repeated again and again throughout her western tour of the state:

At the Early Childhood Education and Family Services Center today, her voice softened and she ended the speech with “We must take the headwinds of negativity and turn them.”

Rossi gets 89% of his backing from Republicans and as columnist Joel Connelly said, “Gregoire runs well in central Puget Sound areas — surprise! — and Rossi is popular in Eastern Washington. The Republican does score well in rural Pierce County.”

Could this be why Gregoire stopped the accusations? Maybe. But it’s also likely that she was tailoring the speech to her audience (which included a room full of moms and small children). The energetic speech she delivered to yesterday’s firefighters would today fashion a room full of hysterical toddlers.