Article by Erik Smith. Published on Wednesday, August 18, 2010 EST.

Democrat Murray Polls Poorly in Senate Race; Rossi is Challenger – It’s Heck vs. Herrera in the Third

By Erik Smith

Staff writer/ Washington State Wire

OLYMPIA, Aug. 17.—There weren’t many surprises in the highest-profile races in Tuesday’s primary election, but when you start looking further down the ballot – that’s something else. It was a bad night for Democrats.

            A big-spending attack by the left on two Democratic state senators and two conservative Supreme Court justices appeared to have misfired. All of them appear to have made it through the primary, and one of them – state Supreme Court Justice Jim Johnson – was able to declare victory Tuesday night.

And misfire may not be the right word – backfire might be more like it. While traditional Democratic constituent groups were spending big money to punish Democrats for political incorrectness and training their resources on those races, several Democratic incumbents in the state’s swing districts got less than 50 percent of the vote and appear vulnerable to Republican challengers in November. If the primary results were to hold, Republicans would be within two seats of a takeover in the state Senate.

            In the state’s top-of-the-ballot race, veteran Democratic U.S. Sen. Patty Murray polled surprisingly poorly, finishing with just 46 percent of the vote. She will face a challenge from Republican Dino Rossi, a two-time candidate for governor who came within a whisker of occupying the mansion in 2004.

            And in the highest profile congressional primary race, Democrat Denny Heck will face Republican state Rep. Jaime Herrera for the open Third District seat in southwest Washington that will be vacated by Democrat Brian Baird.

            Progressive Attack Goes Awry

            In one of the biggest stories of the election season, labor leaders and left-wing activist groups teamed up to send a message to Olympia. But it looks like the telegram will never get there.

            They dumped $275,000 into a state Senate race in Everett to unseat state Sen. Jean Berkey, a centrist Democrat who didn’t toe the line. After a month of hit pieces – mailings, doorknob hangers, commercials – they managed to propel their favored candidate, Democrat Nick Harper, into the top position, with 35 percent of the vote. But Berkey was right behind, with 34 percent. Under the rules of Washington’s primary election, the top two vote-getters advance to the ballot regardless of party.

            The third candidate in the race, self-described conservative Rod Rieger, failed to campaign and wound up about 300 votes shy of Berkey’s score when ballots were counted election night. Last-minute ballots could affect the outcome – a controversial mailer favoring Rieger, from the same firm doing work for the left, landed in Everett homes just before the deadline for mail-in ballots. If Berkey makes it through, Rieger’s supporters are more likely to switch to Berkey in the general election – because all the attack mailings have made it clear she isn’t a liberal.

            In the adjacent Snohomish County district of state Sen. Steve Hobbs, D-Lake Stevens, a somewhat smaller independent-expenditure campaign didn’t do much to dent his score. Hobbs was the top vote-getter in his race, with 37 percent, and will face Republican Dave Schmidt, who got 35 percent.

            “I’m just pleased the voters saw past the $100,000-plus expenditures from the far left and the far right,” Hobbs said. “It shows me as the representative of the people of the district and not the special interests.”

            Meanwhile, a similar attack from the left on Supreme Court justices Jim Johnson and Richard Sanders went nowhere. Johnson got 63 percent of the vote against Stan Tacoma attorney Rumbaugh, which means he wins – any judicial candidate getting more than 50 percent in the primary is declared the victor. Meanwhile, Sanders got 48 percent of the vote, meaning he advances to the general election ballot against Charlie Wiggins, who got 39 percent.

            A Self-Defeating Strategy

            While the attention and the money went to the Hobbs and Berkey races, Democratic incumbents were dying on the vine elsewhere in the state. Results were bad enough for the Dems in the swing districts that if the results hold in November, Republicans will make significant gains in the Senate and will have a fighting chance at the majority. 

Incumbent Democrats also finished with less than 50 percent of the vote in several House races, including House Ways and Means Chairwoman Kelli Linville, D-Bellingham. She got 49 percent of the vote against Republican Vincent Buys, who had 51. Geoff Simpson, D-Covington, the troubled state representative who has landed in court on an assault charge, got an anemic 40 percent.

Imperiled Senate Democrats are:

n      Chris Marr, D-Spokane, who got 49 percent against Republican Michael Baumgartner’s 51 percent.

n      Randy Gordon, D-Bellevue, who got 49 percent against Republican Steve Litzow’s 51 percent.

n      Eric Oemig, D-Kirkland, who got 49 percent against Republican Andy Hill’s 51 percent.

n      Claudia Kauffman, D-Kent, who got 45 percent against Republican Joe Fain’s 55 percent.

Rodney Tom, the party-switching senator from Bellevue who joined the Dems, also may be in for a fight. He had 52 percent of the vote to Republican Gregg Bennett’s 48.

Striking Results

Looks like Tom Campbell, R-Roy, may be in for big trouble this time. Prominent area farmer J.T. Wilcox swamped him in the primary. Both are Republicans, but Campbell is a fence-straddler. He was elected his first term as a Democrat but switched parties, and yet has maintained close enough ties with the majority Dems to win a committee chairmanship. Campbell had 41 percent of the vote to Wilcox’s 59 percent.

Meanwhile, state Sen. Pam Roach, R-Auburn, kicked out of her party caucus for not playing well with others, has survived to fight another day. She was the top vote-getter in her crowded primary election, with 40 percent, and will face fellow Republican Matt Richardson.

            ‘Outsider’ Looks Like Underdog

            Incumbent U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, an 18-year veteran of the Senate who still sounds the outsider theme in her speeches, is looking more and more like an underdog. She got just 46 percent of the vote – a danger sign for any incumbent. Murray will face Republican Dino Rossi, who got 34 percent in a spirited Republican campaign.

            Meanwhile, tea partier Clint Didier got 12 percent of the vote. The former NFL footballer, now an Eltopia farmer, had some of the most enthusiastic supporters in the election – but not enough of them. Sure, he’ll be there for Rossi, he told a reporter for KING-5 TV:

“When I played in the NFL, there was a T-shirt that I wore, and it said I supported two teams. The Redskins and whoever is playing Dallas. And I still feel that way.”

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