New Face Surfaces In Senate Race

Former King County prosecutor Chris Bayley met with Republican leaders here Tuesday and said he is leaning toward making a GOP primary run against Rep. Linda Smith for the seat held by Democratic Sen. Patty Murray.

“I think there is a lot of feeling that Patty Murray can be beaten. … There is some uncertainty whether Linda Smith can beat her,” Bayley said in an interview with The Associated Press.

“I like Linda, but I just don’t think she has the breadth of appeal you need in this kind of race.”

Bayley, 59, chaired the 1994 campaign of Rep. Rick White, R-Wash., as well as the failed 1996 gubernatorial bid of state GOP Chairman Dale Foreman.

He met Tuesday with Sen. Slade Gorton and Rep. Jennifer Dunn, both R-Wash., and Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell, chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee.

Bayley currently works for the Madison Group, a political consulting firm based in the Seattle area. He said his biggest challenge might be raising enough money to take on Smith, let alone Murray. He said he likely would spend some of his own money on a race, “but I’m not wealthy.”

Bayley said he would describe himself as a “Ronald Reagan conservative.” Bayley was King County prosecutor from 1971-79 and was a deputy state attorney general and chief of the consumer protection and antitrust division from 1969-71.