It’s Down To The Homestretch Candidates Spend Sunday Trying To Get Voters To Polls

Rep. George Nethercutt and his Democratic challenger Judy Olson found a rare point of agreement Sunday: Turnout in Tuesday’s election could be a key to victory.

Both spent much of the day trying to get voters to the polls.

They were among dozens of candidates who sprinted into the election’s homestretch over the weekend, knocking on doors, passing out literature and holding rallies in an effort to get every last person who might vote for them to do so by 8 p.m. Tuesday.

Olson, the Garfield farmer hoping to go to the U.S. House of Representatives, appeared at a “Get Out The Vote” rally with two potential colleagues, Washington Reps. Norm Dicks and Jim McDermott, and the man Nethercutt beat in 1994, former House Speaker Tom Foley.

“I’m convinced the vote exists in this district to elect Judy Olson,” Foley told a crowd of more than 300 cheering Democrats at the Ridpath Hotel. “The question is, will that vote be out?”

After the crowd shouted “Yes!”, he related his first campaign victory, in 1964, when Lyndon Johnson won in a landslide. He feared he would lose the election because “Republicans were stoically standing in line to vote at 7:45 (p.m.) and Democrats were in the streets, snake-dancing in celebration.”

Foley said in a later interview that his appearance late in the campaign was a show of support for Olson, whom he has known for years.

“This is not about 1994,” he said, in reference to the election he lost. “1994 is history.”

Both congressional campaigns have expressed some concern over the prospects of an announcement of a victory by Bill Clinton - if that should occur - before the state’s polls close.

Foley said there’s no way to predict the effect of such a presidential victory. “Democrats can get overconfident; Republicans can get despondent.”

Olson, who told the crowd her campaign was about “common-sense values and regular people,” urged the Democratic partisans to keep up the pace for two more days.

Less than two miles south of the hotel, Nethercutt and his 12-year-old son Elliot knocked on doors of houses lining Manito Boulevard, where they handed out literature and asked residents for their votes.

Nethercutt held his rally, attended by more than 100 people involved in timber and agriculture, Saturday at the Interstate Fairgrounds. Sunday he made campaign stops at a Special Olympics luncheon and Costco, and knocked on doors in north and south Spokane.

The freshman Republican and his son generally received a friendly reception, although at one point they ran into some longtime acquaintances on Manito Boulevard who were returning from the Olson rally.

Nethercutt said he was a little surprised that Foley would come in to Spokane late in the campaign, but added he wouldn’t judge his former opponent’s motives, or the visit’s effect.

Stopping at one home, he asked the residents if they had any questions. When they said they were voting for him, he asked if they had any advice.

“A good politician has got to be happy,” said Brian Ell, as he stood in the doorway. “You have to know the purpose of life in order to fulfill your obligation to the people.”

Walking down the leaf-covered sidewalk in the failing light, Nethercutt said he had confidence in polls that showed him ahead, but agreed turnout would be important. His son Elliot asked what would happen if he won by one vote. It’s a win, he replied. He’d take it.

“That’s why we’re out here,” Nethercutt explained as they headed for their car.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color photo