Cantwell Headed To Senate After Close Election Gorton Began Political Career The Year Cantwell Was Born

Maria Cantwell became the newest U.S. senator-elect Friday, surviving a recount that kept her, incumbent Slade Gorton and the rest of the country waiting three weeks to learn the winner of the race and the makeup of the Senate.

Democrat Cantwell, a former member of the U.S.

House of Representatives who became a high-tech industry executive, bested Gorton by just 2,200 votes out of some 2.5 million cast.

With such a close margin of victory, it’s hard to point to one thing that made the difference, Cantwell said Friday evening.

“I think it came down to people who wanted change, a new outlook,” she said. She had called for changes in Medicare, Social Security and campaign finance reform.

Although she won the race with a strong showing in King County, she pledged to be a senator for “all of Washington.”

In a victory speech in Mountlake Terrace, Cantwell praised Gorton for years of service and devotion to the state and nation.

“He has had a distinguished career that will long be remembered for his effectiveness and as an intelligent lawmaker,” Cantwell said, according to Associated Press reports. “In part, I’m sure that is why this has been a very tough and close race.”

A spokeswoman for Gorton said he would not seek further recounts. “It’s over,” Cynthia Bergman told the AP.

Gorton congratulated Cantwell on Friday evening, adding, “it is a dubious honor to come in second in what must have been the closest major election in our state’s history.

“This is my opportunity to thank the wonderful people of the state of Washington for the privilege of serving them in a long and rewarding career, the last 18 as their United States senator,” he said. Gorton said the stress of the past three weeks “cannot be overstated.”

Cantwell’s win gives Democrats a 50-50 split in the Senate, at least until the next occupant of the White House is known.

If George Bush is the next president, Dick Cheney as vice president can vote to break ties in the Senate.

If Al Gore is president, Joe Lieberman must give up his Senate seat and will likely be replaced by a Republican.

Cantwell’s victory knocks out an 18-year veteran who held key positions on powerful Senate committees, including the chairmanship of the Interior Appropriations Subcommittee.

Gorton, 72, began his political career in 1958 - the year Cantwell was born.

Democrat Patty Murray, who campaigned extensively for Cantwell and becomes the state’s senior senator, said it’s too early to know how the Washington delegation’s clout will be affected by Gorton’s ouster.

Murray serves on the Appropriations Committee also, and the state won’t get two members of the same party on the powerful, money-spending panel.

But Cantwell could receive an appointment to the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, which would be key to finding a solution to the fight between dams and salmon, as well as handling energy deregulation, Murray said.

“We don’t know how the Senate is going to be reorganized,” she said.

For the first time in history, the Senate is evenly split between Democrats and Republicans, with no independents to hold sway in deciding a majority. Murray said there is some discussion about each party having the same number of members on each committee, although Republicans would probably hold the chairmanships.

Republican Rep. George Nethercutt, who campaigned frequently with Gorton, said the coming change means a loss of clout for Washington.

“He was positioned perfectly for Eastern Washington with his (chairmanship) on the Interior Appropriations Subcommittee,” Nethercutt said. “We also lose his institutional memory on salmon issues.”

Gorton’s name has been mentioned as a candidate for Interior secretary or Energy secretary if Bush becomes president, Nethercutt said.

Cantwell said the state has survived previous losses by powerful members of Congress, such as when Gorton was first elected to the Senate by beating Democratic powerhouse Warren G. Magnuson.

“Obviously, the Spokane area knows about starting over,” she said, referring to Nethercutt’s victory over then-House Speaker Tom Foley.

Dixie Riddle, president of the Washington Association of Wheat Growers, said Friday that many rural voters supported Gorton because they knew him better than Cantwell.

“He has supported us, and his office has always been open,” Riddle said after the wheat growers’ annual luncheon. “We’ll need to go to her office and get to know her. It’s going to take some work, no question about that.”

But farmers are comfortable working with Murray, who knew little about rural issues when she was first elected in 1992, Riddle said.

Murray, who with Nethercutt was a featured speaker at the association’s luncheon, said she has learned to come to Eastern Washington often enough to know the important issues.

“I have to make sure they are represented. I know Maria is committed to that as well,” Murray said.

Gorton had counted heavily on big victories in farm and timber counties, usually areas that are conservative and Republican, where he portrayed himself as the savior of federal dams on the Snake River. He blasted President Clinton and Vice President Gore, who also did poorly in rural Washington on Election Day.

But in doing so, he and business allies may have gone too far in antagonizing Seattle and the rest of metropolitan Puget Sound. They made derogatory references to Cantwell’s “dot-com millions” and suggested her fiscal judgment was clouded by drinking “$4 grande lattes.”

Cantwell waged a campaign focused on broad-based issues, such as changing Medicare to cover prescription drugs, and campaign finance reform. When she ventured into more local issues, such as her criticism of a proposed gold mine in Okanogan County, she may have antagonized local residents who want the new mine’s paychecks, but gained points with the state’s environmental groups.

The weeklong recount highlighted a sharp political split in Washington state between the urbanized Puget Sound and the rest of the state.

As recount totals trickled in from around the state, Gorton maintained a significant lead over Cantwell, bolstered by victory margins of 2-1 and 3-to-1 in rural Eastern Washington.

With all but one of the state’s 39 counties reporting their new vote totals, Gorton led Cantwell by about 151,000 votes at 2 p.m. Friday. But that last county was King County, the state’s most populous, where Cantwell picked up nearly 59 percent of the vote.

Cantwell received about 153,000 votes more than Gorton in King County, and when those numbers were added in, she won the Senate seat by 2,200 votes.

Friday evening, she said she hopes to build the kind of relationships around the state that she had in her Western Washington congressional district.

“I plan on being pretty aggressive getting around the state,” she said.

“I want to start traveling around the state, to talk to groups and organizations that will be impacted by the next Congress,” she said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.