Gregoire to WWU students: Embrace state's 'Spirit of Innovation'

Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire knows a thing or two about recessions and pessimism.

A student at the University of Washington in the 1970s, the two-term Democratic governor experienced a time of political upheaval during a controversial war and saw people give up hope about the economy of the state.

Sound familiar?

But through it all, residents in the state never stopped embracing the "spirit of innovation" that has brought about the likes of Microsoft, Boeing and Starbucks, she said. And that's the type of innovation she wanted the 2010 graduating class of Western Washington University to embrace as well.