Clinton gets warm welcome

He was introduced as "one of the greatest Democrats of our time and a dear friend of Washington," and the whoops went up before he even uttered a word.

Former President Clinton, dressed in a lemon-colored suit, bowed his head and pursed his lips as he acknowledged the applause. "You need to calm down or I'll forget I'm not president," he quipped.

And then the 42nd president ripped into Republicans in a speech that often inspired applause from the 1,500 people who paid between $250 and $1,000 to hear it.

In town Monday for an event at the Washington State Convention and Trade Center, Clinton raised about $500,000 for U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., according to her campaign.

Later Monday evening, Clinton spoke to about 2,400 people at Benaroya Hall to benefit U.S. Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Seattle, who is embroiled in a costly lawsuit with a Republican congressman. The event was expected to raise between $120,000 and $240,000 for McDermott.

At both events, Clinton offered a defense of his party's policies while characterizing Republicans as "favoring ideology over evidence, attack over argument."

On Iraq, Clinton noted that he did not support the invasion, but that Democratic votes to authorize force were misread by the administration as permission to go to war when many believed it was a necessary step to prompt negotiations with Saddam Hussein.

"For all our differences about Iraq, most Democrats believe that while we can't set a fixed deadline, we can't give a blank check," he said. "It is very important that this issue should not be able to divide the Democrats. ... "

Democrats support raising the minimum wage and other policies that bolster the middle class, Clinton said, while Republicans in Congress want to abolish the estate tax, which, he said, favors wealthy people like himself. Republicans have also given short shrift to homeland security and federal educational loans, he said.

Noting that Cantwell lost her House seat in 1994 in part because she voted for his budget that raised taxes, Clinton said his administration oversaw a period of economic expansion and shrinking deficits.

On the environment, Clinton said the nation should embrace alternative energies that would present new economic opportunities while helping to solve environmental problems.

"The glaciers are melting, and if you put that with deforestation and erosion of topsoil, we are facing a serious international security crisis if we don't deal with this," he said.

He received waves of laughter when he took issue with a passage in a recent book about President Bush's national-security policies that said the White House believed Clinton suffered from being in a "reality-based world" and was too constrained when dealing with international problems.

"Folks, I grew up in an alcoholic home," Clinton said. "I spent my childhood trying to get into a reality-based world. I like it here."

Diane Tebelius, chair of the Washington state Republican Party, said Clinton may get a warm reception in Seattle, but she noted President Bush was heartily welcomed when he appeared at a fundraiser in Medina on June 16.

"Clinton will get a warmer welcome from the left-wing base of the Democratic Party than the president. If Clinton came over to Bellevue, he wouldn't get the reception President Bush did," she said, adding: "The lake seems to divide us."

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