My Own Side

I went to Marymoor Park in Redmond to see Mike McGavick speak today. Mike is the GOP 2006 candidate for the Washington state US Senate seat currently held by Maria Cantwell. My immediate (and sustained) impression is that he deserves the good buzz that he has been getting.

He’s been touring the state on his “Open Mike” tour in his big red RV.

I picked up a flyer from the crowd of activists who follow him around. They rotate somewhat, I’m told, because some are paid. That seems like it’s violating the spirit of grassroots activism, but I must be young and naive. The flyer itself was quite lame. Many of the claims on it about his positions on issues were completely contradicted by his website and his answers to questions. It seems like they are just slinging the same old fear, uncertainty and doubt around as usual.

In addition to sending out people to oppose him, they have a guy who is at every one of his appearances videotaping Mike.

The Democratic Party won’t definitively rule out footage from one of these videos being used in a campaign attack ad. It doesn’t take someone very cynical to see that they are hoping for him to commit a gaffe. Fortunately, Mike is smart and savvy, while also being articulate and refreshingly straight talking.

Cantwell is considered vulnerable this election ( perhaps because we are still trying to figure out exactly what she has done for Washington) and so this race is being watched nationally as well as locally. Many Washington voters are unfortunately going to reflexively pull the big ‘D’ lever this November, but there has always been an independent streak in our demographics, and if the right candidate comes along, many will cross over. I talked to a 2004 election recount observer and he told me that he was amazed by the number of ballots that he saw where a voter had chosen Democrats right down the list, but then voted for Republican Dino Rossi for governor.

I would urge people to keep an open mind about Mike.

More pictures are available here.