Sunday, October 24, 2004 - Page updated at 12:00 AM

Governor's race: How would they lead?

Q&A with the candidates

In Washington's most competitive governor's race in more than a decade, voters are faced with some significant unknowns about Democrat Christine Gregoire and Republican Dino Rossi.

Gregoire, partly because of her job as the state's chief lawyer for the past 12 years, has been reluctant to take clear stands on many of the big issues in the campaign.

Would she be a standard-bearer for public schools, health care and child welfare as she says she'll be?

For Rossi, the question may be whether he has, as he maintains, given up the hard-edged social conservatism that characterized his early campaigns for the state Legislature a decade ago.

Would he be the compassionate, pragmatic leader he says he'll be, interested in balancing the budget and helping business while looking out for the state's neediest citizens?

Today, a look at their political careers for answers.