Today I spent several hours participating and observing the progress of the candidates in the race for the fifth district of Washington: Republican incumbent Cathy McMorris and Democratic challenger Peter Goldmark. The professionalism of the two campaigns is showing through, and if competence has anything to do with politics, this will be a Democratic pickup on Tuesday.
Goldmark's events today were professional and enthusiastic. McMorris' campaign suffered from gaffes which border on the comical.
Veterans Rally
Early this afternoon, I attended a rally of Spokane area veterans. They were a diverse group, including vets from WWII, Vietnam, Iraq I, Bosnia, and Iraq II. The rally started with Ian Anderson, who appears in a recent Goldmark advertisement (click on "Iraqi vet"). After the group sang the national anthem, a veteran passionately told the story of Clinton L. Fuller, a veteran of World War II, Korea, and Vietnam, who died of emphysema and asthma because the Spokane VA hospital called 911 rather than treat him on the spot.
Allow me to depart from this story for a moment to quote military.com:
God Bless You, Clinton Fuller. May you rest in peace, Brother. Your country walked away from you in life. May they remember you in death.
Then Peter Goldmark spoke passionately at how the Republican congress has walked away from all veterans, making more and more combat veterans with the Iraq war, but failing to take care of them when they return home. How has McMorris failed us? From the Goldmark campaign:
The Iraqi war is producing a large number of young veterans with special needs for post trauma medical and psychiatric care. Goldmark says, "If we ask young people to serve their country, we owe them this care when they return."
McMorris voted against an amendment to provide $53 million for veterans who have had head trauma and who need artificial limbs-two injuries that have become much too common among Iraqi veterans. That amendment failed by one vote in Congress [HR 2528, Vote #224, 5/26/2005]
She had the power, all by herself, to fix it. She chose not to, and she failed us.
The most moving story came from a World War II veteran who has known Peter since Peter was 7. He told us how he knew what it was like to come home with a $42 pension after leaving his shoulder back on the battlefield. Peter helped him on the farm near Curlew, Washington, and challenged the McMorris campaign's charge that Peter was some kind of gentleman farmer. "He's a real farmer!" he stated.
One Goldmark staffer stated that more veterans showed up at this rally than had appeared at the recent McMorris veterans rally.
Lit drop
This afternoon Republicans were trolling my neighborhood and when they came by I was, fortunately, unable to come to the door. But, they did leave their literature, including one for the entire Republican slate in this area, one for the sheriff candidate, one for Mike! McGavick, and one for Cathy McMorris. See one side of the Cathy McMorris slim-jim below, and notice what's in the marked circle:
The obvious question is: who's really steering? Karl Rove? Jack Abramoff, perhaps? Joking aside, it's clear that while she attempts to smear Peter Goldmark's rancher bona fides, she can't even handle sitting up straight in a tractor without help. Not even her supporters trust her with the wheel.
Pitiful.
Sign Waving
This evening I proceeded to the corner of Trent and Hamilton in Spokane to wave Goldmark signs to the hundreds of cars which pass through each hour. It was a great experience despite the cold rain. We had over a dozen volunteers, and lots of cars were honking their support.
Most of the traffic at that location is north-south coming off of and on to I-90. That's important because, lo and behold, there was a small group of McMorris/McGavick sign wavers nearby as well, but one block to the west at Spokane Falls Boulevard and Cincinnati.
Not only is that corner off the beaten path, but it is also so dark that Gonzaga University's campus patrol puts a car with their lights flashing at that intersection during basketball games so that pedestrians don't get hit. The McMorris supporters were in the dark.
Poetic.