Interesting view from the ST, which for years, has endorsed mostly Democrat candidates, except this year, they endorsed George W. Bush. However, the following week they endorsed EVERY Dem who was running for any National or State office...
seattletimes.nwsource.com
Wednesday, November 01, 2000, 12:15 a.m. Pacific
Presidential candidates pound
Northwest for precious swing votes
Background, Related Info & Multimedia:
by David Postman, Hal Bernton and John Hendren
Seattle Times staff reporters
Texas Gov. George W.
Bush and Vice President Al
Gore crossed paths in the
Northwest yesterday,
trading charges of inciting
class warfare while they
fought for votes in a region
that few thought would be
competitive this close to the
election.
Bush said just the fact that
he was here this close to
the election was proving the pundits wrong, while Gore was
hoping Oregon and Washington would keep alive their
Democratic trends.
In Gore's appearance in Portland and in Bush events there and
in
Bellevue last night, each candidate tried to portray himself as
the
protector of the beleaguered middle class.
But they took different approaches.
Gore delivered a hard-edged, narrowly focused attack on
Bush's
tax-cut plans. He bashed billionaires, then caught himself and
said
he meant no offense to America's richest man, Bill Gates.
Bush responded in his own Portland rally, and then hours later
he
did it again when he was deep in Gates territory addressing
thousands of people at Bellevue Community College.
But his speeches were wide-ranging, touching on education
reform, Social Security and defense. He largely stuck to his
stump
speech.
By a count of electoral votes - Washington has 11, Oregon
has
seven - the Northwest is an unlikely place to find the major
parties' candidates a week before the election. Both states
voted
heavily for Clinton the past two elections when the Republican
candidates ran thin campaigns here.
But Bush has run hard in the Northwest since the presidential
primaries. Gore has also faced a challenge from Green Party
candidate Ralph Nader, who is peeling voters off the left.
(Nader
will be in Seattle tomorrow.) In the closest presidential race in
40
years, Washington and Oregon are now considered toss-up
states
that could help determine the winner Tuesday.
"This has got to be an event that confounds the punditry.
We're
chasing away conventional wisdom," Bush said at his Portland
rally.
Gore spoke earlier in the day to several hundred Democratic
Party loyalists at a community college on Portland's suburban
fringe. He attacked Bush's proposed tax cuts.
"Let's be plain about it. What he is actually proposing is a
massive
redistribution of wealth from the middle class to the wealthiest
few," Gore said in a speech at Portland Community College's
Rock Creek campus.
"It is, in fact, a form of class warfare on behalf of billionaires.
"He (Bush) may really believe that the surest path to prosperity
is
to target more and more tax breaks, more and more benefits,
more and more power and influence in the hands of a few
Americans. But I don't," Gore said, singling out Microsoft
founder
Gates as someone who doesn't need a tax cut.
Then, perhaps thinking of all those Microsoft employees who
will
be voting in Washington next week, Gore departed from his
prepared text to reach out to the country's billionaires.
"Nothing against Bill Gates and the folks in that category," he
said.
"But if you focus the benefits on those folks, then there's not
enough for the people who most need relief."
'Class warfare' cited
Last night in Gates country, Bush told thousands of supporters
at
Bellevue Community College that the vice president had said
something about, "you know, `our campaign stands for the
rich.' I
don't remember what he said, I stopped paying attention after
the
third debate."
But he was paying some attention.
In Portland, Bush took Gore on directly.
"He says that ours is the campaign that stands by the rich.
That's
called class warfare, and that's the kind of politics we need to
get
rid of in America," Bush told an overflow crowd of more than
6,000 at Portland's Memorial Coliseum.
In Bellevue, Bush made his own attack, telling the crowd
about
his third and final debate with Gore.
"When he looked into the camera and said 'I'm for smaller
government,' I could barely contain myself," Bush said. "I
know
the man is prone to exaggeration but this was taking it too
far."
Bush tried to paint himself as the candidate most in touch with
the
Northwest.
"First of all, I'm from the west. West Texas, that is," Bush said
in
Bellevue. "But it's a hell of a lot closer to Washington than
Washington, D.C."
Bush paid special attention to Social Security, a constant
theme in
the campaign. Gore has charged that Bush's Social Security
reform plans would put senior benefits in jeopardy.
"It's Halloween but it has been Halloween for a couple of
weeks
as far as my opponent goes. He wants to scare seniors," Bush
said.
Overflow crowd in Bellevue
Bush officials estimated 3,000 people attended last night's
Bellevue event, some waiting more than three hours.
"I'm hoping and praying with everything I've got that George
Bush
is going to be the next president," said Kathleen Lawrence of
Mercer Island. She said she skipped a movie date with her
husband to take her three daughters to see Bush.
"I do not want to look at Al Gore one moment longer than I
have
to," she said. "I want that whole Clinton mess behind us."
A giant TV screen was set up outside the college so the
overflow
crowd that lined up for nearly a quarter-mile could watch Bush
and Republican candidates, including Sen. Slade Gorton; Rep.
Jennifer Dunn, R-Bellevue; and gubernatorial candidate John
Carlson.
"I was right in the middle of it in 1980 when Ronald Reagan
was
elected and I have never seen this passion, even then, that I
have
seen here tonight," Dunn told her hometown crowd.
For Gore, it was the second visit to Portland within the past 10
days.
In his first visit, vowing to defend ancient forests at an outdoor
rally downtown, he fought for swing voters who might be
headed
into Nader's camp. But on this visit, he was at a community
college in the fast-growing Washington County suburbs, where
high-tech plants and duplex developments stretch out toward
farm
fields full of strawberries, nursery plants and grazing sheep.
It's in these suburbs that political tacticians see the key to an
Oregon victory, and none has been more hotly contested than
Washington County, with 92,452 registered Republican
voters,
83,124 registered Democrats and an additional 55,024
independents.
Growth has been a dominant local issue, with developers
eager to
build new houses and shopping malls facing increasing
opposition
from residents.
"There's a big split on that issue right now," said Walt Gorman,
a
Democrat and Intel employee who attended Gore's event.
But instead of development, Gore, with dozens of members of
the
national media in tow, devoted his entire speech to tax policy.
The pitch to middle-income wage earners failed to impress
Kathy
Lobo. She stood outside, at the edge of a housing complex
across
the street from the college, listening to Gore on a transistor
radio
along with her son's Boston terrier, Nikki.
She said she had decided to vote for Bush. "I just feel like he's
more in touch with the average person," Lobo said.
Jackson stumps for Gore
Gore got a boost in
Seattle earlier in the day
when the Rev. Jesse
Jackson addressed
thousands of students in
the University of
Washington's Red Square
and spoke to Democrats
at the Rainier Beach
Community Center.
"The stakes are incredibly
high, the highest they've
been in a century," said Jackson, urging Gore supporters to
take
Tuesday off work to take "souls to the polls."
Asked at a news conference whether President Clinton should
be
more visible in the campaign - a matter of some debate among
Democrats - Jackson said that could divert attention from
Gore.
"We want to focus on the issues in the last few days," he said,
adding that Gore should use Clinton "tactically,
occasionally."Material from Seattle Times staff reporter Susan
Gilmore was used in this report.
Copyright © 2000 The Seattle Times Company |
