Nethercutt-Murray race for U.S. Senate to get nasty?

By Alex Fryer
Seattle Times Washington bureau

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WASHINGTON — Election night is a little less than a year away, but already fingers are pointing in the race for U.S. Senate.

The charge? Which candidate in Washington state is going to run the most negative campaign.

While supporters of Democratic incumbent Sen. Patty Murray and Rep. George Nethercutt, R-Spokane, say they will stick to the issues, the first volleys in the contest have been about tactics that, for the most part, have yet to be seen.

Already, even staffing decisions are becoming campaign fodder.

Nethercutt is said to be close to hiring veteran political operative Dick Wadhams as his campaign manager, a signal, say Democrats, that the contest will soon turn nasty.

"If George Nethercutt is hiring this guy, he's clearly tipping his hand to the kind of campaign he's going to run," said Brad Woodhouse, a spokesman for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee in Washington, D.C.

"He'll run a low-down, dirty campaign."

Wadhams could not be reached for this story.

Nethercutt spokeswoman Mary Lane would not confirm the Wadhams hire, but she said the only aggressiveness in the race so far has come from Murray supporters.

"When they start talking about negative campaigning, they should look in the mirror," she said.

Lane cites comments from state Democratic officials who compared Nethercutt to a poodle and pig in newspaper accounts and press releases that refer to him as "Weasel King."

The Spokane Democrats' Web site has a link to "Nethercutt Watch" that contains various unflattering quotes and articles.

"I don't know what their strategy is, but they've called George about every name in the book, beyond what you'd expect in rough-and-tumble politics," said Lane.

Wadhams is relatively unknown in Washington state, but he's recognized in political circles for his win record — seven statewide victories in 15 years, according to Roll Call, a political newspaper in Washington, D.C.

He is press secretary for Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo. He worked on Allard's campaign in 1996 and 2002, and he has been involved in Colorado politics since he helped then-Rep. Bill Armstrong win a Colorado Senate seat in 1978.

Wadhams is known to be fiercely committed to his candidates, and supporters say he never passes an opportunity to laud his boss or take a poke at his adversary.

A recent example came during the 2002 Senate race in Colorado, when Allard's opponent, attorney Tom Strickland, announced he was going to take a hike in the Rockies to tout his environmental record.

Wadhams got his people to start up the mountain at 4:30 a.m., and they were holding Allard signs when Strickland climbed past, press corps in tow.

And there are many other Wadhams stories.

"It's unfortunate that Nethercutt would go with someone with a history of dirty campaigning," said Carol Albert, campaign manager for People for Patty Murray. "That talks a lot about the kind of campaign Nethercutt will run."

For months, Murray supporters have warned that the Republicans will mount a bare-knuckle effort next year.

In October, the Murray campaign sent out a package to reporters noting that GOP officials in Washington, D.C., were calling Washington state their "2004 Georgia."

Daniel Allen, communications director for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said the connection is simple: Georgia was a sleeper race last year that matched a Democratic incumbent against a Republican challenger, and the Democrat lost.

But state Democrats see something more insidious in the Georgia comparison.

Although Wadhams did not work on the Georgia race, Albert sees it as the type of campaign that "is not in the best interest of the state."

The Republican, Rep. Saxby Chambliss, ran a television ad that included images of Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden, and criticized the homeland-security record of incumbent Democrat Max Cleland, a Vietnam War veteran who lost three limbs in combat.

The ad angered Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and others who said it unfairly questioned Cleland's patriotism.

Allen defended the ad, saying: "The only thing negative about the ad was Max Cleland's record."

Murray and Nethercutt have not criticized each other personally, but Nethercutt took the state's senior senator to task for comments she made to a group of high-school students last year.

In an interview with The Rocky Mountain News three months ago, Wadhams "cheerfully recalled" the incident, during which Murray pondered the popularity of Osama bin Laden in the Arab world.

"He's been out in these countries for decades, building schools, building roads, building infrastructure, building day-care facilities, building health-care facilities, and the people are extremely grateful. We haven't done that," she told the students.

Murray later said she was simply asking the young people to question how the United States was perceived abroad.

News outlets across the world carried Murray's remarks, and Nethercutt said at the time "it borders on negligence."

The Vancouver, Wash., School District received public-disclosure requests for video of the school forum from Fox Television and a local talk-radio host.

But Lane said the comments will not become a Nethercutt television ad. "We're not going to get into that kind of name-calling. We are going to talk about the issues."

Nethercutt, too, has found himself taking heat for comments he made to students, this time at the University of Washington in October.

He said the reconstruction of Iraq is "a bigger and better and more important story than losing a couple of soldiers every day, which heaven forbid is awful."

He was later criticized for appearing insensitive to U.S. casualties.

Albert said Murray has been an effective senator, and will run on her record.

"We're going to make this a campaign on the issues," she said.

As for Nethercutt's statements at the UW, Albert said: "I don't want to comment about the quote."

But there is video of that, too.

Alex Fryer: 206-464-8124 or afryer@seattletimes.com

Copyright © 2003 The Seattle Times Company