Locals soared on Reagan popularity

By David Postman
Seattle Times chief political reporter

COLE PORTER / THE SEATTLE TIMES President Ronald Reagan in the mid-'80s visits Seattle Center, where he is given a University of Washington football and hat.

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Ronald Reagan's ascension to the White House atop a new ideological movement brought Washington state Republicans their best electoral success in decades and sparked a generation of true believers who continue to shape the party.

Reagan's coattails helped topple the Democratic legend of Sen. Warren Magnuson, swept in Washington's last Republican governor and inspired Republican Congresswoman Jennifer Dunn's career.

Mr. Reagan stands today as the last Republican presidential candidate with broad enough appeal to win votes from a majority of Washingtonians. Accomplishing this in a state so heavily dominated by Democrats is a testament to his appeal to disenfranchised Democrats as well as his personal style and charisma.

"I'd call myself one of the Reagan babies," said Kirby Wilbur, a Seattle talk-show host who began his political life by volunteering for Reagan.

"I hope he gets credit for the good things he has done and history is right and kind in its judgment. I think the biggest thing he did was restore our confidence, he made patriotism OK, he helped restore our economy and he confronted the communists in a way that many thought couldn't be done."

Reagan babies were mostly college age when Mr. Reagan won the presidency. In Washington they included Wilbur's fellow KVI talk-show host John Carlson, political consultant Brett Bader, and Floyd Brown, the political consultant who produced the Willie Horton ad in 1988. Brown grew up in Olympia, worked on the Reagan campaign in 1980 and held administration jobs during both of Mr. Reagan's terms.

	AP Mr. Reagan attends a campaign rally in Seattle in October 1984 with Jennifer Dunn, then chairwoman of the state Republican Party.

Today, Brown runs a foundation that owns Mr. Reagan's Santa Barbara ranch and operates it as the headquarters of an organization to train young conservatives.

The ranch stands exactly as it did when the Reagans were last there. The former president's cowboy boots still stand in the bedroom. The dresser drawers are full.

It's not open to the public. But thousands of college students come to the ranch each year. "Our goal is to bring a new cadre of young people that keep the torch of Reaganism alive," Brown said yesterday. It remains alive in Washington state, he says.

"When you look at Washington state's politics for the last 20 years, the key leaders all came out of the Reagan campaign," Brown said.

None is more identified with Mr. Reagan than Dunn.

She named her son Reagan even before Ronald Reagan ran for president. Dunn's position today as the Republicans' senior elected official from the state is directly linked to her work for Mr. Reagan. That work began in 1976. Although Mr. Reagan lost his run for the Republican nomination, Wilbur said the Reagan forces, led by Dunn, controlled the state party delegation that year.

(Wilbur's role was more modest in the bicentennial year. He remembers volunteering to clean pigeon droppings off the stands at Sick's Stadium before a Reagan appearance there.)

Dunn was equally involved in Mr. Reagan's 1980 campaign and became chairwoman of the state Republican Party in 1981.

In 1992, she was elected to Congress — the only Republican among eight Democrats in the delegation.

Through a spokesman, Dunn declined to be interviewed but issued a statement: "We loved him and felt proud to be led by him. Through his ideals and determination, he challenged our country to achieve greatness and to be the shining city on the hill."

Mr. Reagan's landslide in 1980 swept in a Republican governor, state House and Senate.

"He helped give us the coattails to win," said former Republican state Rep. Bob Eberle. "That gave us the ability to do a whole bunch of things. Big things and small things."

One little one Eberle remembers was a Republican bill that extended driver's licenses from two years to four years.

Mr. Reagan's victory propelled Republicans John Spellman to a victory in the governor's race and Slade Gorton to topple Magnuson, who had served since 1944.

"It wasn't the Dan Evans Republican Party," said Brown, referring to the moderate Republican governor of the late '70s. "It was the conservative party of Ronald Reagan."

That was true among many of the grass roots. But Spellman was not a Reagan conservative, nor were some other Republicans who won statewide office that year.

"We were all much more moderate or liberal than Ronald Reagan," said former Secretary of State Ralph Munro, first elected that year. "But no doubt he played a very significant role in our election."

Spellman yesterday remembered Mr. Reagan most of all as a "very kind and relaxed and considerate man." He did not turn out to be as "hard line" as Spellman had worried, and he proved to be good for the country.

The Republican domination of Washington lasted just two years, however. Democrat Booth Gardner was elected governor in 1984, and since that year — Mr. Reagan's re-election — no Republican presidential candidate has been able to carry Washington state on election day.

"I think that's the magic of Reagan the communicator," said Eberle, who held a regional post in the Reagan administration. "He talked in ways that the average, common-sense American could say, 'Yeah, that sounds right.' "

Former Democratic Party Chairwoman Karen Marchioro said the Republican Party in Washington was formidable during the Reagan years.

"We lost everything here during the Reagan landslide," she said. "The prospect of him was kind of like a big bang, and we lost a lot of good people."

Mr. Reagan's policies weren't the key to the Republicans' success in the 1980s, it was his sunny demeanor, Marchioro said. "It was hard not to like the guy," she said. "You might have thought he was a little off. But there was something about him that went more with the way politics had been played here. I think he enabled Republicans to show a more gentle, compassionate face."

Walt Crowley, executive director of Historylink.org, an online encyclopedia of Seattle-King County history, said Mr. Reagan influenced Seattle politics, too.

He "accelerated and sharpened the leftward movement" of local politics as Seattle saw frequent marches and protests, particularly against Mr. Reagan's Central American policies. And as liberals moved left, Republican moderates on city council "took hard-right turns" to fit better with the party's prevailing conservatism, Crowley said.

Seattle Times staff reporters Beth Kaiman, Bob Young, Andrew Garber, Jim Brunner and Ralph Thomas contributed to this report. David Postman: 360-943-9882 or dpostman@seattletimes.com