It's about beating Bush, Dems say

By J. Patrick Coolican
Seattle Times staff reporter

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Whoever can beat President Bush.

That was the prevailing theme of a state Democratic Party meeting yesterday, where representatives of the major presidential candidates courted undecideds, often citing electability in their pitch.

The meeting, at a circular restaurant atop a SeaTac hotel, came as the campaigns sought votes for the Feb. 7 caucuses.

The candidates themselves are hunting for stray votes during the final weekend of the New Hampshire primary campaign. The race there has shifted markedly since Sen. John Kerry's victory in the Iowa caucus, where polls had showed him trailing badly just weeks before.

Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, who has the endorsement of many state party leaders here, is now trailing in New Hampshire polls.

At SeaTac, an undecided party committee member said she's watching closely, with one thing in mind.

"Whoever's gonna beat Bush," said Angela Henry, who lives in Seattle's University District. She'll wait until Washington's caucus day, she said, to hear more before making any decision. Rank-and-file Democrats she knows are starting to pay attention to the race in a way they weren't before, she said.

Jesse Salomon, a child-welfare attorney from Bellingham, said he's undecided but leaning toward Dean because he believes the physician-politician has "revived the party's basic principles" and gathered support outside of Washington, D.C., power circles.

"Here's the dilemma," he said. "Do you want a candidate who stands in broad contrast to Bush? That's Dean. Or do you want someone more moderate? It's unclear what kind of Democrat is more electable."

Azziem Hassan Underwood, vice president of Washington State Black Democrats, is also undecided. He said he wants to know which campaign will be inclusive and pay attention to black voters, because that will mean victory.

"All roads to the White House lead through black voters," he said.

Voter-trend experts agree that a large turnout among African Americans — 90 percent of whom traditionally vote Democratic — could be a deciding factor for the Democrats.

The effort is more important than ever, Underwood said, because he senses a slight shift to the right among black voters in the middle and upper classes.

Kerry and Dean have been most active in reaching out to state black Democrats, Underwood said.

When Dean said he wanted to attract the kinds of voters with Confederate flags on their pickup trucks, he hurt himself among black Americans, though not mortally, Underwood said.

Tough rhetoric about Bush was a staple of the speeches yesterday, with many representatives outlining their candidates' ability to take on the president's re-election campaign, which is expected to raise a record $170 million.

Sen. John Edwards is the best candidate because of his Southern, working-class pedigree, said Jenny Durkan, a Seattle attorney from a politically active family.

"Michael Dukakis couldn't compete in the South," she said, referring to the former Massachusetts governor's big loss in 1988 to President Bush's father.

Kerry is in the best position to beat Bush because he passes the "commander-in-chief test," said Ali Wade, Kerry's state campaign director. She referred to his military experience and policymaking role as a longtime member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

"George Bush can't beat Wesley Clark because he can't stand next to Wesley Clark," said John Ladenburg, Pierce County executive. The former supreme allied commander of NATO has drawn on his extensive military résumé and is second to Kerry in some New Hampshire polls.

At least one of Dean's representatives emphasized his distinguishing characteristics and issues, rather than electability.

"He was the one who had the guts to say the war is wrong, and he said it without equivocation," said state Sen. Margarita Prentice, D-Renton.

South Tacoma state Sen. Rosa Franklin, however, said Dean has the grass-roots operation to beat Bush.

"The enemy is circling the wagons," she said of the Bush campaign.

Speaking for U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio, who has a strong volunteer base in the state, Patty Kuderer said her candidate represented the best, most progressive instincts of the party.

Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut and the Rev. Al Sharpton did not have representatives.

Kirstin Brost, a Democratic spokeswoman, said the Clark, Dean, Edwards and Kerry campaigns are well matched. Kerry just got a busload of campaign workers from Iowa; Dean has a well-established organization; Clark has a strong volunteer effort; and Edwards has Gov. Gary Locke's chief fund-raiser on his team, she said.

J. Patrick Coolican: 206-464-3315 or jcoolican@seattletimes.com

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