Oregon Public Broadcasting

Sarah Palin and the Tea Party movement are helping decide primary contests across the country. But not in Washington.

The Palin-backed candidate for U.S. Senate is running a distant third in the polls. Austin Jenkins takes a look at the Republican field as the August primary looms.

It takes me about two seconds to spot Clint Didier at a golf course in Bellevue. He's the big guy standing next to the putting green in cowboy boots, jeans and an open-collared dress shirt.

Clint Didier: "That could be in the cup. It could be (laughs)."

As you can hear he's busy right now cheering on a putting competition. He's here for a gathering of Republicans.

While he finishes up, let me give you some background. Didier is an eastern Washington farm boy turned NFL tight-end who played for the Redskins in the 1980s. He won two Super Bowls and, yes, has the rings to prove it.

Clint Didier: "This is worth about 9500, this is about 13,000, this one's priceless."

The priceless one is his state championship ring. You see, after his football career Didier came home to Washington to farm.

He also started coaching high school football. Last year, his team won the state championship. This year Didier has his eye on a different prize -- Patty Murray's U.S. Senate seat.

He's an unabashed conservative and one of six Republicans vying in Washington's August top-two primary. And he's the only one who's been endorsed by Sarah Palin.

You might think in a year like this that would be the Midas Touch. It sure seemed to help Rand Paul in Kentucky and Sharron Angle in Nevada.

Christopher Parker: "Ya, but those are red states. This is a blue state."

Christopher Parker is a political scientist at the University of Washington who's writing a book about the Tea Party movement.

Christopher Parker: "In blue states endorsements by Sarah Palin are not going to gain a whole lot of traction."

Parker's done some polling and it shows only one in five Washingtonians strongly approve of the Tea Party movement. Washington voters still tend to favor middle-of-the-road candidates.

Another reason Didier's campaign isn't catching fire? Washington's top-two primary. The two candidates with the most votes advance to the general election.

That favors established candidates. Candidates like Dino Rossi who's run twice for governor. Polls show he's the front-runner to face Senator Murray in November.

Remember Clint Didier's priceless championship ring? Well, Rossi also has something that's priceless  --  at least in politics: name recognition.

Luke Esser: "If you have name ID, that's the Willy Wonka golden ticket."

That's Republican Party Chair Luke Esser - who has not endorsed a candidate in the primary.

Rossi has signed the Tea Party's "Contract from America," but he hasn't paid much attention to the movement. I caught up with Rossi as he had lunch with a group of business owners in Tacoma.

To hear Rossi tell it there are only two candidates in the race: he and Patty Murray.

Dino Rossi: "I always run for the position and I don't run against Republicans, I run for the position. And that's not going to change here. Comparing and contrasting myself to the incumbent is what we're going to do."

Rossi's message plays well with businessman Skip Smith. He knows about Clint Didier and Paul Akers, another Republican candidate. But Rossi's his man.

Skip Smith: "Certainly any one of the three would be better than what we have now on the Democratic side, but I just feel that Dino Rossi gives us the best chance for a victory statewide."

Most Republicans I talked to   --  even Didier himself  --  say they'll get behind Rossi if he wins the August primary.

Clint Didier: "When I played for the Redskins we wore a T-shirt, a lot of the fans did, and it says 'I root for two teams, the Redskins and whoever's playing Dallas.' Well, I'm rooting for Clint Didier or whoever can beat Patty."

And that's the attitude Republican leaders in Washington hope results in the toppling of a three-term incumbent U.S. Senator this November.