Posted on 01/25/2004 6:48:32 PM PST by JohnnyZ
BELLEVUE -- U.S. Rep. George Nethercutt is moving his political base to Bellevue, where he will live and base his campaign to unseat Sen. Patty Murray this fall.
A generation ago, George Nethercutt and his bride commuted to Seattle by ferry from a cabin on the Kitsap Peninsula, he to build up a new law practice and she to work for the City Council.
Today Ne-thercutt is back in the 'burbs, the new kid on the block once again.
The Spokane congressman, best known for knocking off a sitting speaker of the House in 1994, has moved to Bellevue and is gearing up for a Senate campaign battle against Democratic incumbent Patty Murray.
Nethercutt says he has no illusion that it'll be easy, any more than ousting then U.S. House Speaker Tom Foley 10 years ago -- but setting up a Western Washington beachhead will make him better known and expose people to his optimistic brand of conservatism.
``I'm serious enough about this race that I have moved to the area that I want to know me better,'' he says. ``My commitment is absolute. I am planning to win this race, and that involves people getting to know me.
``The physical presence will be important. That's my commitment.''
The Spartan one-bedroom apartment is just a few blocks from the state headquarters he'll open this week in the Wallace Properties building at 330 112th Ave. N.E. -- right next door to Dino Rossi's gubernatorial campaign headquarters.
Tom Mason, Nethercutt's new campaign manager, and state Republican Chairman Chris Vance applaud the candidate's decision.
``Establishing George's name I.D. in the West is a very important objective,'' Mason says. ``The good news is that to know George is to like him.''
Adds Vance: ``It's just good common sense -- you have to spend time where the population is and where you're not known.''
Democrats dismiss the move and what they predict will be a makeover to present Nethercutt as more suburban-friendly and moderate.
``I don't think you can remake who you are by setting up a campaign shop in Bellevue,'' grouses state Democratic Chairman Paul Berendt. ``People see through things like that.''
The state's GOP capital
In much the same way liberal Seattle is the center of gravity for the state Democratic Party, Bellevue has become the GOP capital.
When President Bush and Vice President Cheney come to rev up the troops and to raise big bucks, they come to Bellevue and the nearby Gold Coast enclave. Now Rossi and Nethercutt have each set up headquarters there.
Former U.S. Sen. Slade Gorton pioneered the strategy, basically writing off Seattle, holding his own in the surrounding suburbs and then rolling up big pluralities in Republican Eastern Washington and elsewhere in Western Washington.
It worked in six elections for Gorton -- three for attorney general and three for U.S. Senate -- but Democrats Brock Adams in 1986 and Maria Cantwell in 2000 broke his string by taking the converse view that, basically, you can win with the votes you can see from the Space Needle.
As Nethercutt acknowledges with his temporary move to Western Washington, a candidate's zip code can help or hurt.
It has been decades since an Eastern Washington pol has been elected senator or governor. It's not a case of voters dismissing an Eastern Washington nominee out of geographic prejudice or stereotyping, but the elemental reality that voters have to know something about you before they'll consider voting for you.
The so-called Cascade Curtain, both bemoaned and debunked as the partitioning of an entire region and a quarter of the state population, is very real, politically speaking. A candidate from Puget Sound country, such as Murray, will start with a huge head start simply for being known in a media market that reaches perhaps 70 percent of the electorate.
And so Nethercutt will switch, rather than fight the zip code battle.
He makes clear that his congressional duties come first and that he'll still spend time in the district. But he says probably two-thirds of his free time will be in Western Washington. When he flies home on weekends and during recesses, he'll usually head to Bellevue then fan out across the region to campaign.
`Very high mountain'
Nethercutt is in the early, below-the-radar-screen segment of the campaign. He and his finance committee are dialing for dollars, needing millions to raise his name recognition and eventually launch an ad campaign. He's close to nailing down a campaign organization in every county.
Campaign director Mason, who helped elect Minnesota Sen. Norm Coleman over former Vice President Walter Mondale two years ago, arrives Wednesday. A former official at the Senate GOP campaign committee, Mason says the campaign is a high priority of the Bush White House, the national party and Senate Republicans, who are trying to pad their majority.
``George Nethercutt is an extraordinary person and an energetic candidate who will match up well with the voters in Washington,'' Mason says. With the economy picking up and Iraq reconstruction under way, Nethercutt should get a lift in his challenge of Murray, he figures.
Polls, though, don't reflect that optimism. Berendt says internal polls and one done recently for EMILY's List, a national group promoting Murray and other women Democrats, has Murray up by 20 points.
``It's a very high mountain for him to climb,'' says independent pollster Stuart Elway.
The Democrats recently capitalized on a Nethercutt speech on Iraq, portraying him as insensitive to soldiers who are dying in combat. Murray has accused him of being on the wrong side of the mad cow issue and out of touch with mainstream Washington.
But the GOP's Vance says it is Murray who is out of step, a leftist who is one of the Senate's most liberal members. Nethercutt says he has come to expect character assassination from the Democrats. He says he doesn't recognize the Nethercutt they try to paint, the Iraq flap being a prime example. It has blown over, but he still winces.
``I'm a problem-solver, not fiercely partisan,'' he says with a shrug. ``Even people who voted for Tom Foley tell me they appreciate my practical and genuine approach, my independent streak.
Nethercutt has some darts of his own, of course. He calls Murray an obstructionist, partisan to a fault, and not very effective. If her Democratic forerunners, Scoop Jackson and Warren Magnuson, had still been around, Boeing never would have moved its headquarters to Chicago, he clucks.
``While I'm respectful of Patty Murray, she's no Tom Foley,'' he told a Bainbridge Island audience the other day.
Mortimer: You know, you know, Bergen, I -- I may SEEM dumb, but when I set my mind to somethin' --
Bergen: Yes, yes?
Mortimer: Well, iiiit just sits there.
George Nethercutt is no Mortimer Snerd. When he sets his mind to something, I'm not ready to bet against him.
Eastern Washington should really be a separate state; it's not fair to them not to have any representation at the national level.
Spokane is pretty liberal, and there are pockets of liberalism in Yakima. But Wenatchee, Moses Lake, Sprague, and other small- and middle-sized towns should go overwhelmingly for Nethercutt. I just hope it's enough to counter the votes of the county with the most corrupt government in the nation, King County and the Seattle Democratic vote machine.
It's kind of funny really: The Port Authority wants to add a runway to SeaTac, and the fight has turned into one between the ultra-far left wing power-greedy County government and the tree-hugging spotted owl freaks. Haven't lived there in awhile so don't know how it's shaking out.
He's pretty conservative, so I'd guess so, but I dunno. He's pro-life.
Why is it leftists insist on congregating in the most beautiful places in America?
Unfortunately, one doesn't necessarily follow the other. I have made this error several times when talking to fellow Christians from my church. It has proved an embarrassing assumption several times, 'cause I can't keep my mouth shut on the subject. LOL
Excellent idea. Has it gone anywhere? I know there has been a movement for at least 60+ years to for the State of Jefferson, comprised of approx. 20 Northern CA and Southern OR counties, for the same reasons. It was interrupted by WWII though and never materialized.
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