Locke Defeats Carlson

WASHINGTON GOVERNOR

Gov. Gary Locke, who focuses more on consistency than charisma, won a second term Tuesday over Republican challenger John Carlson.

“I think the strong support we’re getting all across the state is a vindication of my leadership style,” he said. “I get results. I may not be pounding the table like Jesse Ventura, but we get results.”

Carlson repeatedly attacked Locke as a poor leader during the campaign.

Still unknown is whether the governor will enjoy the support of a Legislature led by his own party. The Senate may remain Democratic, but the House of Representatives could go either way; the parties have shared leadership in the House for two years.

Final results on the governor’s race and other elections won’t be known until hundreds of thousands of absentee ballots are counted in the coming days. But Locke held a comfortable lead over Carlson and Libertarian Steve LePage of West Richland. The Associated Press declared him the winner based on those votes and exit polling.

Carlson, who had no immediate comment, is a Seattle radio talk show host who stepped out from behind the microphone to take on the popular governor.

Beyond the reach of his airwaves, Carlson was best known for popular statewide initiatives he championed in recent years - for tougher prison terms, to end affirmative action and to roll back the cost of car license tabs.

Locke led in 28 of 39 counties Tuesday, and dominated across the board in terms of gender, age and income, according to preliminary exit poll results from Voter News Service, a partnership of the Associated Press and television networks.

Early results showed Carlson carrying many Eastern Washington counties, where his conservative message was well received.

Carlson wanted to roll back the state’s Growth Management Act, which is unpopular in rural areas. He opposes gun control and abortions in most instances, and repeatedly said the governor had not fought hard enough against a proposal to breach four Snake River dams.

The candidates appeared in Spokane for one of their three debates, and were greeted by Medical Lake residents protesting the possibility that their town will be chosen as a site to house sex offenders. The offenders, who have been judged likely to re-offend, have served their jail time but require monitoring.

Carlson returned a week later to hold a town hall meeting on the subject. He promised that if he was elected governor, the state would put the halfway house elsewhere.

Locke had promised to follow the recommendations of an advisory commission. Late last week, the group recommended siting criteria that fit Medical Lake.

Locke not only raised more money than Carlson, but he got more of it from Eastern Washington.

State campaign records show that Locke received nearly 7 percent of his individual contributions from roughly the eastern third of the state. He got 3 percent of his money from Spokane.

Carlson got less than 3 percent of his money from Eastern Washington and less than 1 percent from Spokane.

But those figures don’t show the huge contribution one Spokane resident made to the Republican party.

Millionaire Bernard Daines gave $537,000 to the state GOP, out of at least $13 million raised by the party. The GOP contributed a total of $544,500 to Carlson.