A Washington Senator Fights to Keep Her Seat
By WILLIAM YARDLEY
nytimes.com
EVERETT, Wash. — Never mind Nevada. If you are among the party power brokers and political fortunetellers obsessed with America’s most elusive elected position, Senate seat No. 51, head to Washington — the real one.
“It is the future of America that’s at stake here,” said Dino Rossi, the man who just might give the Republicans the Senate majority. “It is, as it’s been dubbed, the 51st seat, potentially.”
Or not.
“Can I just tell you,” said Senator Patty Murray, a Democrat seeking her fourth term, “that’s the same line I have heard in every election I’ve ever been in.”
Is this one really different? Sure seems to be. Both parties, as well as independent groups, are pouring money into the race. Polls are close, with Ms. Murray most recently having the edge. Democrats are clearly worried: President Obama is about to make his second trip to the state to campaign for Ms. Murray. Michelle Obama is also on her way, as is Bill Clinton.
Washington State has a history of tossing out prominent senators, including Warren Magnuson and Slade Gorton. And Tom Foley, the onetime House speaker? Long gone.
But then there are the quirks. Can anyone even come close to predicting the outcome in a state where nearly everyone now votes by mail, often weeks before Election Day? Given that fact, does the so-called enthusiasm gap that is said to favor Republicans this year still play the same role?
Then again, just how solid is the conventional wisdom that Washington State is steadily marching leftward? John McCain lost the state by 17 points in 2008, but Mr. Rossi lost the governor’s race that same year to the incumbent, Christine Gregoire, by less than 7 points. Now he is riding a Republican wave.
“I’ve made this whole speech over and over again about how Washington is not a Democratic state, and people have literally laughed at me,” said Chris Vance, a former chairman of the state Republican Party.
Compared with the relative hysteria elsewhere, the race can seem restrained. Mr. Rossi, known for balancing a tough budget in the legislature, is no Tea Party apostle, nor is he an outspoken social conservative. He is not a billionaire or a professional wrestler. He is also not a proven winner. His last two campaigns, both for governor, ended in defeat. Republicans recruited him once again this year, in part, because he has what one supporter called “an honorable name.”
Ms. Murray is the opposite of flash. After 18 years in office, she still reminds voters that she was a young mom in tennis shoes when she first took on lawmakers at the State Capitol in the 1980s. She is quick to say she is proud of President Obama and proud of bringing home millions of dollars in earmarks.
Without substantial scandals or wedge issues to work with, the candidates mostly argue about actual policy, principally fiscal, whether in person or in an endless stream of television commercials, some of which have been misleading.
Mr. Rossi says Ms. Murray is emblematic of a Congress that is bankrupting America by passing stimulus spending and the health care overhaul and by spending millions on earmarks. He often accuses her of “playing class warfare” by suggesting that he wants to protect the wealthy. He says his message of low taxes and limited regulation is for the middle class.
“When people are broke and out of work, they’re willing to listen to other ideas,” Mr. Rossi said in an interview here after rallying campaign supporters.
Ms. Murray says Mr. Rossi will bankrupt America by giving tax breaks to the wealthy, and she does not back down from her votes for the Democratic agenda. She says Mr. Rossi, who has vowed not to seek any earmarks, is misreading what voters want and what the state needs.
“They know I’m going to go 2,500 miles back to Washington, D.C., so that they’ve got the small investments they need to keep their businesses growing and get the infrastructure they need for their community,” Ms. Murray said.
The candidates argue heatedly over things like the future of small businesses. Ms. Murray’s supporters say she has helped make it easier for them to get loans. Mr. Rossi’s say the requirements of the health care bill will hurt them, as will the end of the tax cuts enacted under President George W. Bush.
Don Root, a Seattle businessman, said that he had met with Ms. Murray at one point and that she had promised him she would try to prevent the estate tax from being reinstated. The tax is set to be restored next year.
“She always says she has some reason for not doing it at this time, but she had no problem at all voting for the bank bailout,” said Mr. Root, whose company, GM Nameplate, manufactures a range of products and employs about 1,000 people, some overseas.
Mr. Root said he had twice voted for Ms. Murray, but this week he hosted an event for Mr. Rossi at which the candidate signed a pledge to repeal the estate tax. Asked about Mr. Root’s decision the next day, Ms. Murray said she had tried unsuccessfully to get Democrats to lower the estate tax but she expressed no regret.
“What I also have a responsibility to do, within a time when we have a very high debt and deficit,” she said, “is to not pass additional tax help to them that will cost us a trillion dollars over the next 10 years and put us further in bankruptcy.”
Beyond policy, for many people the question is whether, even with the rising Republican tide, Mr. Rossi can win a statewide race.
Party leaders courted him for months before he finally entered the race in May. At one point he traveled to the other Washington to meet with Senator Mitch McConnell, the minority leader, and Senator John Cornyn, head of the National Republican Senatorial Committee. Mr. Rossi said he was seeking not their campaign support but confirmation that they were really committed to cutting federal spending.
“I don’t need this job, and I didn’t have enough confidence that they had enough guts to put the fiscal trains back on the track if they got the majority,” Mr. Rossi said.
Their response, he said, alluded to Republican challengers across the country: “We have new people coming in, and it’s going to be a whole new tone. It has to be.” |
