Democrats Pull No Punches Rivals Senn, Cantwell Take Swipes At Gorton During Stump Speeches

Two would-be senators dueled for the hearts of Washington state’s Democrats Saturday, and if body count, enthusiasm or presentation are indicators, Debra Senn was the winner.

Insurance Commissioner Senn and former U.S. Rep. Maria Cantwell offered similar messages when they addressed the Democratic State Convention at the Spokane Center: Improve education, clean up campaigns and the environment, offer better health care, support abortion rights. And, of course, dump three-term incumbent Republican Slade Gorton.

Neither mentioned the other by name, and their messages were so similar that at one point, each used the same baseball terminology - three strikes, you’re out - to criticize Gorton.

Cantwell’s supporters marched sprightly around the convention floor to a Dixieland band playing “When the Saints Come Marching In.” But Senn’s sign-waving supporters flooded the hall and rocked to Tina Turner’s “Simply the Best.”

Cantwell said America’s students need a “first-class ticket to the future” that includes smaller class sizes, higher pay for teachers and improved schools. Senn promised to work for all that, plus children who are well-fed and healthy enough to learn.

Senn ridiculed a proposal by Gorton to lower prescription drug costs in the United States by amending federal law to require drug companies to charge no more in America than they do in other countries. Consumers in Canada, Mexico and elsewhere now pay far less for the same American-made drugs. “Slade’s going to make drugs more expensive in Canada,” Senn said.

Cantwell called Gorton’s record on health care reform one of his strikes. She, too, has criticized his drug cost proposal and said Congress should instead add prescription drug coverage to Medicare.

In the competition for union support, Cantwell noted she recently made a stop during her 39-county bus tour of the state to visit locked-out Steelworkers picketing at the Kaiser Aluminum rolling mill in Trentwood.

“I walked the picket lines with Kaiser Steelworkers from Day One,” responded Senn.

They only mentioned each other indirectly.

“With me, you get a record, not just a commercial,” said Senn, a reference to her two terms in state office, and Cantwell’s advertising blitz funded by an infusion of the former high-tech executive’s own money.

“I’ve taken the tough votes,” said Cantwell, a reference to her single term in the U.S. House, in which she voted on tough tax and gun control bills, and the fact that Senn hasn’t served in the legislative branch.

Cantwell had a few good lines, like a joke about old movies: “In those Hollywood westerns, there’s never a good guy named Slade.”

But Senn had better planning, such as ending her speech by introducing two struggling patients whom she helped as insurance commissioner when they were denied drugs or treatment by their health care companies.

Senn and Cantwell revved up the crowd for Energy Secretary Bill Richardson, a former New Mexico congressman who is being mentioned as a vice presidential candidate. His speech, by comparison, was tame, sticking with praise for a strong economy, a balanced budget and federal surpluses under the current Democratic administration. He accused Republicans of wanting to “turn Social Security over to Wall Street” with plans to allow workers to invest some of their money.

“They want to destroy the Department of Education. We want to hire more teachers,” he said.

Richardson called Washington a battleground state in the fight for control of the U.S. House of Representatives, and praised a decision by President Clinton to name the Hanford Reach on the Columbia River a national monument. But he failed to mention anything about one of the federal facilities in Washington that his department controls, the Fast Flux Test Facility on the Hanford Nuclear Reservation.

While Richardson spoke, supporters and opponents of restarting the facility jockeyed on the convention floor’s periphery to get the best positions for their signs. Opponents’ signs warned that FFTF would pollute the nearby Columbia River, while supporters’ signs said it could help discover new treatments for cancer.

This sidebar appeared with the story:

AT A GLANCE

Party issues

The convention passed a state platform Saturday that included opposition to restarting the FFTF or naming Hanford a national waste facility.

That platform also supports the abolition of capital punishment and decriminalization of marijuana. It supports same-sex marriage.

The platform affirms Americans’ right to own firearms, but calls for gun registration, mandatory use of trigger locks, mandatory safety training for gun owners, and background checks and a waiting period for all gun sales. A resolution passed later would ban minors from possessing a gun “not secured by a trigger locking mechanism,” a requirement that - if taken literally - would preclude hunting by anyone younger than 18.

Other resolutions oppose the use of public money for private schools; call for salary increases for public employees; and support breaching dams, if necessary, to restore endangered runs of salmon.

Staff writer Dan Hansen contributed to this report.