Democrats vow to fight

TACOMA – In a day that started with an angry blast at Wal-Mart and a dancing, 70-foot puppet of a spine, cheering Democrats on Saturday vowed to fight for widespread health coverage, more money for education and an end to the U.S. occupation in Iraq.

“This is our time! This is our year!” said Ron Sims, who’s running for governor.

Saturday was Day Two of the three-day state Democratic convention, attended by more than 1,000 delegates. Candidates – some droning, some bellowing – vowed to oust Republicans at all levels of government. The spine puppet was a not-so-subtle message for Democrats to get some backbone.

“Are we going to stand by, with Mad Cowboy Disease? Environmentalists, will you replant a Bush in Texas?” asked Deborah Senn, who’s running for attorney general. “This is the most important election of our lives.”

The crowd cheered, over and over, in the Tacoma hotel ballroom plastered with hundreds of campaign signs. Outside, vendors sold Democrat souvenirs: styrofoam hats, donkeys, and George Bush voodoo dolls, complete with pin.

“Election 2004: the end of an error,” read one bumper sticker. “Like father, like son: One term, you’re done” read another.

Some of the biggest crowd reactions in the morning, however, came from a state race: the run for governor. Two big-name Democrats, Sims and current Attorney General Christine Gregoire, are facing off against each other in the September primary.

Gregoire marched in with a drum-beating conga line, with supporters hurling confetti, lobbing beach balls and firing streamers at the ceiling. Gregoire said she’d fight for schools, better health care, environmental protections and a thriving local economy.

“After four years of George W. Bush, I’m ready to head this state and this nation in the right direction,” she said.

Sims, backed up by an African-American dance troupe and drum corps, vowed to be “a fearless governor.” Like Gregoire, he said he’d support unions and education. Unlike Gregoire, Sims blasted the state’s tax system, calling for the elimination of the state’s unique “business and occupation” taxes and, perhaps, the sales tax. In their place, Sims called for something few candidates are willing to mention: a state income tax.

“I have no problem with a graduated income tax that taxes the rich instead of the poor,” he said, as many delegates rose to their feet, applauding.

Sims’ fiery speech impressed some local Democrats.

“I was leaning toward Gregoire, and now I’m sitting on the fence,” said Jack Miller, a 56-year-old who lives near Medical Lake. “Now the question is which one of them can win?”

Spokane Democrat Jim Lanham had the opposite reaction. He pointed out that it would take a state constitutional amendment to launch an income tax here. That’s an impossibly high hurdle, he said.

“I was hovering back and forth, but I made up my mind to vote for Chris Gregoire,” he said. “I don’t happen to believe that he (Sims) can deliver what he talks about.”

Rhonda Eik, an alternate delegate from Cheney, was uneasy at the idea of a state income tax.

“I’m afraid of it,” she said. “I don’t want just another tax. But I’m now more for it than I’ve ever been before.”

Another local face was Don Barbieri, a Spokane businessman running for Congress. He vowed to stand up for small communities, struggling hospitals, agriculture and people without health insurance.

“Let’s go out and win this state back,” he told delegates.

Saturday afternoon was spent debating a party platform, often in excruciating detail. Among the planks that won approval:

• Revamping the controversial federal Patriot Act.

• Applying the Geneva Conventions to all military prisoners.

• Supporting gay marriage.

• Abolishing capital punishment.

• Universal, publicly funded health care.

• More money for public schools and teachers.

• No charter schools.

• And making Election Day a national holiday.