Local Support Lukewarm

Spokane area Republicans are expected to pack a downtown hotel ballroom Thursday morning to hear from their party’s presidential front-runner.

But it’s more curiosity than commitment that’s prompting many to pay $20 for breakfast with George W. Bush, longtime party members say.

The Texas governor has picked up endorsements from most of the state’s GOP congressional delegation and many legislators. But the rank and file, which has strong factions of fiscal and social conservatives, isn’t tied to Bush. Or anyone else.

Many people think it’s too early to commit to a candidate for an election in 2000, said Spokane Valley state Rep. Lynn Schindler. “I don’t think people’s minds are on it.”

Schindler declined to sign a letter from legislators endorsing Bush earlier this spring for the same reason.

Washington state is famous for its battles between fiscal and social conservatives, sometimes billed as a split between the Old Guard and the Religious Right. In 1988, conservative Christians controlled the state’s precinct caucuses for Pat Robertson; in 1996, a fourth of the state’s delegates to the national convention were pledged to Pat Buchanan.

Social conservatives aren’t raising concerns about where Bush stands on social issues, Schindler said. Economic issues, such as support for the North American Free Trade Agreement, may be a bigger issue in the long run.

There is some debate over the wisdom of “anointing a candidate before the primaries even start,” said county GOP executive director Jim Robinson. “I have heard some concern. Some people are saying `It’s a year and a half to the election and a lot can happen in that time.’

“On the other hand, some people are saying, `If you have an anointed candidate who can win, why not?”’ Charlotte Karling, who describes herself as an evangelical Christian conservative, has no problem with backing Bush now.

“(Vice President Al) Gore is the anointed Democrat, so why can’t we have an anointed Republican?” said Karling, former county chairwoman of the Republican Central Committee and currently the president of the Ponderosa Republican Women’s Club.

The club, one of the state’s largest GOP women’s organizations, is “leaning strongly for Bush,” she said.

Spokane attorney Rich Kuhling, who managed Washington state campaigns for President Bush and is helping with arrangements for the younger Bush’s breakfast, argued the term “anointing” is voiced primarily by political insiders.

“The rest of the world just likes this guy and they want to see him,” said Kuhling. The 700 tickets for the breakfast sold out in a day and a half, solely on word-of-mouth advertising.

“It’s a completely across-the-spectrum crowd - from Christian conservatives to business people to blue-collar Republicans to independents,” he said.

Although political activists in New Hampshire and Iowa may worry about a split by conservative Christians if other candidates don’t get a shot at the nomination, few are concerned in Eastern Washington. First, Bush is the only GOP candidate thus far to plan a visit to this side of the state. Those states have been inundated by presidential hopefuls and have established campaign organizations.

Second, Washington Republicans already experienced a schism over social issues. In 1998, a group of conservative Christians that included former gubernatorial nominee Ellen Craswell left the GOP for the American Heritage Party, the local affiliate of the U.S. Taxpayers Party.

The American Heritage Party fielded two congressional and two legislative candidates that year. State Chairman Dan Eby of Leavenworth said the party hopes to field candidates in congressional, legislative and statewide races in 2000. It has party organizations in 15 counties, nine of them east of the Cascades.

The party is adamantly opposed to abortion and wants the federal government to drop any program that isn’t expressly mentioned in the Constitution.

“We’re not a big tent party,” Eby said.

He believes a Bush-Gore matchup that is decided quickly will help third parties by taking the “spark” out of primaries and the conventions.

But GOP candidates who drop out of next year’s primaries won’t find a spot on the Taxpayers presidential ticket, he said. The Taxpayers Party will pick its nominee at a national convention this fall.

DEMOCRATS Gore in Seattle Democratic presidential hopeful Al Gore also will visit Washington this week, paying his first visit to the state since his re-election as vice president in 1996. He will be in Seattle to address the Unity ‘99 convention of minority journalists. Gore plans no fund raising this time, but will be back in October, said Tracey Neuman, western finance director for Gore 2000. - Associated Press