Rinehart Drops Out Of Crowded Race For Governor Democrat Says Money Too Tight; Undecided On Who She Will Endorse

State Sen. Nita Rinehart on Wednesday became the first casualty of the crowded race for governor, saying money is just too tight to wage a winning campaign.

“To meet our budget for voter contact, mainly television, we need to be raising $4,761 a day. We are bringing in only $1,500 a day,” Rinehart told a news conference.

The withdrawal leaves three fellow Democrats still in the primary race: Seattle Mayor Norm Rice, King County Executive Gary Locke and Bainbridge Island lawyer and former congressman Jay Inslee.

Rinehart said she had not decided whether to endorse any of them, but added, “clearly Rice and Locke are the front-runners” and share the same constituency she does.

Rinehart, 56, of Seattle, said she made her decision to withdraw over the weekend after a “reality check” drove home “the fact that we cannot raise enough money to win the primary.”

When she told supporters of her plans before her announcement Wednesday, she said, she received responses that were “sort of all over the map,” but nothing compelling enough to persuade her to stay in the race.

“If someone had figured out a way to raise $400,000 - yes,” she said.

Rinehart said she failed to win expected financial support from EMILY’S List, a national source of campaign money for women seeking office. That money is being concentrated on congressional elections this year, she said.

If that money had been available, the contribution probably would have been $150,000 to $200,000, Rinehart spokesman Robert Harkins said.

Rinehart also blamed her fund-raising problems in part on Initiative 134, which limits the size of contributions and prevents legislators from raising money during the legislative session, and for periods before and after the session.

“We have run a campaign for eight months with only four months of revenue,” she said.

The initiative’s limits on contributions and “the reluctance of some … donors to pick a candidate in a crowded field,” have increased the importance of out-of-state contributions, she added.

Her campaign’s polling data indicated she was popular among voters who knew who she was, she said.

Through May, Rinehart’s campaign reported raising $186,061, but she had only $27,242 on hand, according to campaign finance reports at the Public Disclosure Commission.

By comparison, Republicans Dale Foreman, Jim Waldo, Norm Maleng and Ellen Craswell each had raised more than $345,000.

Rice, Locke and Inslee all reported having at least $100,000 available in their campaign coffers.

Susan Harris, assistant director of the PDC, agreed “it is an unusually tough year” to raise money.

“There are a lot of good candidates out there on both sides of the aisle, and they’re all after the same dollar,” she said this month when the latest finance reports were released.

Rinehart will return to the Senate, where she heads the powerful budget committee and where Democrats are increasingly optimistic they will maintain majority control this election year.