Reichert's new challenger Suzan DelBene sat out several elections

It's been less than six months since U.S. Rep. Dave Reichert won re-election by fending off Democratic challenger and former Microsoft manager Darcy Burner.

He's already got another former Microsoft employee, Suzan DelBene, campaigning to unseat him in 2010.

Like Burner, who first took on Reichert in 2006, DelBene is making the leap to congressional candidate without having run for public office before.

And like Burner, she's off to a strong start in fundraising, saying she's got more than $314,000 in contributions after two months of campaigning — although $200,000 of that is her own money she loaned her campaign.

There's one notable difference, though, between Burner and DelBene. Burner voted in every primary, general and special election since 2000, according to King County Elections. DelBene did not cast a ballot in nine elections in the last five years. (Reichert has just one blemish; his absentee ballot for the 2007 primary was postmarked after Election Day making it invalid, according to King County Elections.)

As first reported by The Stranger's blog, DelBene failed to vote in last year's Democratic presidential primary and sat out November elections in 2005 and 2006 — neglecting to vote for Burner in a relatively close race in 2006.

"I'm not perfect, and I regret that I don't have a perfect voting record," DelBene, 47, said.

How will she persuade voters to elect her if she hasn't bothered to mark a ballot in important elections? "I bring a variety of things to the table, and you have to look at the total package and what people can do," she said.

"The voting record probably most relevant in this campaign is Dave Reichert's," she added, noting that the Republican incumbent voted against the federal stimulus package.

DelBene's voting history could hurt her, said Matt Barreto, a University of Washington political-science professor. "It will make it easy for Reichert to paint her as someone who doesn't care about the political process. Especially bad is not voting in the 2006 general election when Burner narrowly lost to Reichert," Barreto said.

But DelBene's spotty record is not necessarily devastating, he added, because she can portray herself as a newcomer who wasn't that interested in the past, but now has become "fed up" with Washington, D.C., politics.

Despite their similar paths to politics, DelBene said she's not a Burner clone. While Burner was a midlevel manager at Microsoft, DelBene was corporate vice president for mobile communications.

She also played a key role in leading two technology companies, drugstore.com and Nimble Technology. She left Microsoft in 2007 to work with Global Partnerships, a nonprofit group that gives small loans to Latin Americans.

"I have a lot of respect for what Darcy did. ... But I think these are different times with different issues. We have a huge financial crisis, and we really need to get back on track. My for-profit and nonprofit experience is about creating opportunities. I think that's what we want as a country."

DelBene describes her politics as "relatively moderate ... socially liberal and fiscally moderate."

She said she supports equal rights for gay couples but stops short of endorsing gay marriage. "My job as a representative is to support their legal rights. I think marriage implies a religious view, and churches need to make that decision themselves."

On fiscal matters she said her signature issue would be "creating jobs and long-term sustainable solutions" for her district.

DelBene lives in Medina with her husband, a Microsoft executive. They have two children, 18 and 16. She graduated from Reed College and the University of Washington.

Campaign reports for the first quarter of 2009 were due to the Federal Election Commission on Wednesday.

DelBene's report shows 88 donors who gave at least $200; 21 donors were Microsoft employees who contributed a total of $18,950; 10 University of Washington employees gave $15,000.

Reichert reported $194,000 in contributions and 157 donors who gave at least $200. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer gave $2,400, as did Microsoft founder Bill Gates. Reichert's donors included 42 political-action committees that gave $81,750. DelBene reported no PAC contributions.

Bob Young: 206-464-2174 or byoung@seattletimes.com