Cold feet [Nethercutt may not run]

SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER ^ | June 11, 2003 | JOEL CONNELLY

[Impy]

I know, I'm just struck by how many Ryan's there are.

[Abram]

A Western Washington's perception here is that Nethercutt cannot win this race even if he gets into it. What the Republican Party needs in Washington State is a fiscal conservative and social moderate from the Western portion of the state with positive name recognition. We have a very narrow slate of candidates that could do it. Names like former Congressman John Miller and Rick White from C-1 come to mind...but besides that from the public sector...the slate is pretty narrow. We only have two Republican state-wide office holders left. We also have former state Attorney General Ken Eikenberry who got trounced in 1992 for his bid for Governor. Why don't we look at U.S. Attorney McKay. He spoke at my sister's law school graduation at Seattle University. A Bush appointee and obviously a fiscal conservative.
As for governor. King County Sheriff Reichart is mentioned so is Safeco CEO Mike McGavick who ran Slade's comeback in 1988. Washington State's problem is that we nominate these right-wing extremists to be our standard bearer only to be defeated by 10+ points in the general.
Murray, Cantwell, and Locke aren't even the Democrat's top tier candidates. Murray is about as stupid as they come and is a horrible campaigner. We put up Chandler in a very tough year (1992) and Linda Smith (2000). Both years that Republican's had really tough years in Senate races.

If we don't have anyone else..why not Secretary of State Sam Reed or Commissioner of Public Lands Doug Sutherland? We are turning into California Jr. with soon to be no state-wide Republican officer holders.

[JohnnyZ]

My old Referendum 51 campaign partner, ex-Sen. Slade Gorton, is privately touting telecommunications mogul John Stanton as articulate conservative-but-not-angry-about-it, and a CEO who would be a change of pace from "politicians" running things now.

This guy would be great for senate vs. bin Murray or Cantwell, but he's been mentioned more for governor. However, it seems Reichert may be the candidate in 2004 (guv). He may not want to get into politics just yet, either.

[Abram]

I have met John Stanton a couple of times. I think he would be great and could deliver a strong message. We would need to pour a lot of money into getting his message out and delivering a clear, concise message. If he comes across too conservative, he will lose the moderate, independent swing voters. We are not in Utah, Idaho, or the deep South in Washington State...we cannot elect the hard-right people, but rather, we have to work to elect many people deemed on this website to be RINOs. Just like down in many parts of the South. To win as a Democrat, you have to be a DINO.
Nona Brazier ran for Governor a couple of years ago. An articulate, conservative African American woman. I haven't seen anything about her for a long time, but she was extremely articulate and sharp. Anthony Lowe ran against Debroah Senile for Insurance Commissioner several years ago. Another articulate, intelligent conservative African American. I wish he would consider moving back to this state and running for another office. That was a disappointment that he lost as we may actually have some health care choice in this state. Senile drove all competition out of this state with her anti-industry tactics. I understand he was appointed by the Bush Cabinet for some federal job in Washington D.C.
What we can't do is dig up some old fossil and run them against Patty. The Democrats tactics to resurrect Mondale was a dismal failure, but he got really close. The the bait and switch of Lautenberg replacing the Torch. It demonstrated that they want rich old men in the Senate vs. real diversity. I want people to run on message this time around. Jennifer Dunn would have been excellent and we would have had a real chance to take out Murray. She is really an embarrassment to this state. Many of my Democratic friends don't like her and wish that they could get rid of her. I hope that the Ds run someone against her in the primary.
I hope that we don't nominate someone like a Pam Roach or a Phil Fortunato to run. They will polarize our own party and not attract the numbers needed to win.

I am encouraged that there is a whole lot more diversity in this year's string of candidates. We have two conservative African-Americans running in Georgia. Mark Foley in Florida and if the White House can convince them....Marin in California and Martinez in Florida. I would like the Senate to reflect more the demographics of this country, but let's make sure they really represent this country and not like some of the wackos that the Ds put up...Loretta Sanchez, Cynthia McKinney, Major Owens, Sheila Jackson Lee. We minorities can speak up and be heard without being angry and accusing everyone of oppressing our rights. We are American's first and then whatever ethnic background we come from next.

[byteback]

How about Rick Neuheisel? I'd make him a 2:1 underdog.

[Coop]

You may be on to something here! Rick just might throw some very entertaining fundraisers. And he'd only have to raise maybe $500K or so, which he could quickly turn into $5 mil or more at the racetrack!

[Clintonfatigued]

If George Nethercutt backs out of this race after announcing, than Republicans should find someone to oppose him for renomination to the House. It was hard enough to forgive him for going back on his word on seeking a fifth term. I don't have respect for opportunistic liars.

[JohnnyZ]

The cold feet stuff was old news, and turned out to be incorrect. He's in it to stay now, from everything I've heard.

[Clintonfatigued]

If Nethercutt backs out of the race, than Secretary of State Sam Reed would be the best candidate to challenge Osama Bin Murray.

[JohnnyZ]

Again, the cold feet stuff was from June 11th. Since then he's announced he's running and hasn't looked back. What we need is a nominee for governor, after Stanton, Herbold, and Reichert all took a pass. Although Reichert could get back in if that murder case is plea-bargained.