No good political turn goes unpunished
With Congress debating the war in Iraq over the last week, it was a sure bet that Washington’s U.S. Senate candidates would bring up something on the subject.
What was surprising is that the discourse between Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell and Republican challenger Mike McGavick was decidedly one-sided.
Cantwell took to the Senate floor on Wednesday morning to deliver her take on the war. Remember that the junior senator was relatively fresh from the state Democratic convention, where her supporters’ chants of “six more years” had to contend with the anti-war faction’s retort of “no more war.”
She seemed to finesse the issue fairly well. She didn’t repudiate her vote for giving the president the authority to go into Iraq, or call for an immediate or date-certain withdrawal of U.S. troops; but she did have a list of recommendations that, taken as a whole, say “enough is enough.”
Cantwell wants President Bush to name a special envoy to Iraq to step up diplomatic efforts there, call a summit, have the United States go the U.N. Security Council and get a high commissioner for Iraq. Get some better oversight of incidents like Haditha and pony up more money for veterans’ health care, too, she added.
Which prompted McGavick to say, essentially, “You go, girl.” OK, the former Safeco exec doesn’t really talk like Oprah, so here are his exact words in denouncing the call of the tiny minority in the Senate that supported Sen. John Kerry’s deadline for troop withdrawal.
“Sen. Cantwell has clearly laid out her Iraq policy position. She has said success in Iraq depends on a stable Iraqi government and Iraqi forces taking over their own security,” he said. “The issue is far more important than partisan politics, and Sen. Kerry’s amendment is contrary to the clear position Sen. Cantwell and I have taken.”
Wait a minute, said state Democrats. McGavick has been backing Bush’s position on the war for months and had Vice President Dick “stay the course” Cheney campaigning for him on both sides of the state. Cantwell’s calling for a course correction, they said. McGavick seems to want to have it both ways.
Which just goes to show, that even if you can say something nice about your opponent, someone will still give you a hard time.
A hat in the ring, or a ball in the hoop?
An independent candidate’s hopes of running for Congress may rest on Hoopfest, although not on how well his team does in the bracket.
John Waite, the owner of Merlyn’s book and game store, and a potential congressional candidate in Eastern Washington’s 5th District, is trying to jump through all the hoops necessary to appear on the Nov. 7 general election ballot as an independent.
“They don’t make it easy,” Waite, 41, said on Friday.
An independent congressional candidate must have petitions signed by at least 1,000 voters, collected at no more than four gatherings, between the last weekend in June and the first weekend in July. Ordinarily, that’s a tough time to be convincing folks to come to a political event rather than head for the lake, the campgrounds or the coast.
But this year, the sign-up period happens to include Hoopfest weekend. A unique opportunity because there are going to be approximately two gazillion people milling about downtown, trying to get an iced latte, snow cone or burger while waiting for the next game on their next matchup.
Waite said he plans to set up a table at Howard and Spokane Falls Boulevard next Saturday and Sunday, following it up with a table outside of his store on West Main the next Friday and a gathering at Corbin Park on July 1.
If he can’t get 1,000 signatures, well, the campaign just isn’t meant to be. If he can, he’ll take a run at what he calls “a regular guy’s” campaign, trumpeting fiscal responsibility, government accountability and energy independence.
Stay tuned.