Last Week in Washington State

Politics is moving right along in the Puget Sound and in the rest of the state I might add. We were there in support of Darcy Burner, congressional candidate in Washington-8 and Governor Christine Gregoire, who is one of the few Governors with a reelection fight in 2008. No slam-dunk races here!

Both candidates have their work cut out for them. The key element in their elections will be how many doors the campaigns knock and then how many voters the campaigns actually talk to. Pierce County appears to be a major battleground county for them; partly rural but like so many other areas around the country filled with new growth as families move out of the city (Seattle) in search of better schools and just more space in which to raise their children.

These counties have trended Republican primarily in my estimation because the Democratic Party and its campaigns have not gone out to these places and talked with people about issues and candidates. Essentially we have written-off huge areas of the country and allowed the Republican Party a “free-ride” to build up their margins in statewide races and congressional contests. The good new in Washington State, at least, is that these targeted campaigns have agreed to work with our field program to seriously cut into those Republican margins in Pierce County and beyond as the cycle progresses. We’ll be working closely with the Coordinated Campaign and talking to voters throughout this county beginning in June.

The amounts of money necessary to wage campaigns in Washington State are just as huge as anywhere else where contested races are at stake. Christine Gregoire won by 135 votes after several recounts in 2004 and Darcy Burner lost her 2006 election by several thousand votes in what was decidedly a close call for the Republican incumbent. These are two races to keep an eye on as we move towards November.

I’ll be in Little Rock, Arkansas on Wednesday and Thursday addressing the People for The American Way foundation’s Young Elected Officials Conference. The Clinton Library in Little Rock is hosting the event and it should be a useful and productive time for all. I’ll be speaking on “How to Stay in Office Once You Are Elected” and holding individual meetings with young officeholders who are up for reelection this year and next. Our political staff is working extremely hard on projects such as the next round of candidate endorsements of which more next week.

As always, if you feel like it, give me a call at 202.626.5620 or e-mail me at dan@21stdems.org.