Dean sees close contest here as Kerry gains steam

By David Postman and J. Patrick Coolican
Seattle Times staff reporters

	TOM REESE / THE SEATTLE TIMES Teresa Heinz Kerry, right, the wife of Sen. John Kerry, appears yesterday with members of the League of Conservation Voters, the Seattle City Council and her staff.
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The one moment Howard Dean said he was nervous in his longshot-to-front-runner-and-back campaign for president came last summer in Seattle, when he looked out at thousands of supporters clogging downtown.

He could be excused if the Evergreen State is causing him butterflies again. "I really do think we're going to win Washington. But it's going to be close," Dean told reporters yesterday.

Tomorrow's Washington Democratic caucuses were once seen as such an easy win for Dean that opponents openly campaigned for second place.

But Sen. John Kerry's momentum is proving as powerful as Dean's affinity with state voters. Even Dean's top supporters, such as Congressman Jim McDermott, say it's hard to beat winning as a way to convince Democrats you're the candidate to beat President Bush.

"While people say this is just the herd mentality, people want to beat George Bush with an intensity like I've never felt," McDermott said. "They say, 'He won Iowa. He won New Hampshire. He must be the guy.' "

End in sight?

Dean backers acknowledge their job was made tougher by Dean's e-mail to supporters yesterday morning pleading for money and saying if he doesn't win the Wisconsin primary Feb. 17, he'll quit the race.

"I kind of wish he hadn't said that," said King County Democratic Chairman Greg Rodriguez, a Dean supporter. But he said backers might rally to the cause tomorrow to give Dean a bump in the polls to help him win in Wisconsin and stay in the race.

There's another complicating factor for Dean: Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich. He's a longshot, finishing in single digits so far in the presidential primaries and caucuses. But his liberal views are popular in Seattle and in pockets around the state. Kucinich appears particularly well organized in King County.
Rodriguez said he thinks Washington will be Kucinich's best finish yet. Dean spokesman Steve Haro agreed, saying, "It wouldn't surprise me if Congressman Kucinich doesn't have a larger following in Washington than he does in Ohio."

Help from Machinists

Kerry is getting a boost in the final days before the Washington caucuses from one of the state's most politically influential unions.

The Machinists union, which represents Boeing workers, remains officially neutral after Rep. Dick Gephardt, backed by the Machinists international union, withdrew from the campaign.

But Machinists union leaders in the Puget Sound area have personally endorsed Kerry and now are encouraging their members to turn out tomorrow, said Linda Lanham, political director for the union in Washington.

Washington State Labor Council President Rick Bender said Gephardt's endorsement of Kerry yesterday will move members of other industrial unions, who had been sidelined since Gephardt's early departure.

Another Kerry in Seattle

Teresa Heinz Kerry, the Massachusetts senator's wife, was in Seattle yesterday campaigning for her husband.

At a news conference with officials from the League of Conservation Voters, which has endorsed her husband, Kerry said she recognized the importance of biodiversity while in the Amazon, where she saw the significance of the forest floor in the life of towering trees.

Born Teresa Simões-Ferreira, Kerry was born and raised in Mozambique. She was educated in South Africa and speaks five languages. She served as a full-time consultant to the United Nations in New York City and became a citizen.

Kerry inherited an estate currently estimated at more than $500 million when her husband, Sen. John Heinz, R-Pa., died in a 1991 plane crash. She's chairwoman of the $1.6 billion Heinz Family Philanthropies and The Heinz Endowments, which focus on environmental work, early-childhood education, economic development and the arts.

For Republicans hoping to use Kerry's unique if privileged biography as a way to portray her current husband as out of touch with ordinary Americans, she offered a pointed message.

"I'm going to put a mirror in front of their faces and tell them to look in it," she said. "When I was married to a Republican senator, they didn't seem to mind my money. It was as green as Bush's money. Bullying on the playground does not convince people."

Information from The Washington Post is included in this report.

David Postman: 360-943-9882 or dpostman@seattletimes.com

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

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