Hope on the decline for former Bush backer

Our chief political reporter is traveling the state, talking to voters about the highly charged presidential campaign.

POMEROY, Garfield County -- Mary Dye said it'd be easy to find the farmhouse where her family lives.

Go through Pomeroy, population 1,520; through Pataha, population one Gypsy Java stand; turn right after the dinosaur sculpture made from old sickle blades; and start climbing miles up into the Blue Mountains.

And don't forget to turn at the shrub at the top and look for the big, red barn.

In 2000, Mary and Roger Dye attended a "Save Our Dams" rally in the Tri-Cities promoted in part by the Republican Party to boost voter turnout and then-candidate George W. Bush.

I stopped by their farm to see how engaged Republican voters were feeling about this year's slate of GOP presidential candidates.

But these are no longer the energetic Republican backers who in 2000 spent $3,000 of their own money to make a batch of 4- by 8-foot "Save Our Dams" signs that urged people to vote Republican.

While Mary had "a totally intense feeling" about the campaign in 2000, today the couple have a palpable sense of disillusionment, largely due to what they see as failures by the Bush administration.

Roger, 54, called John McCain "a press hound," while Mary said the Arizona senator's "core principles are untrustworthy."

Congressman Ron Paul, they said, is an anti-government nut.

The Dyes have nothing bad to say about former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, but they definitely don't feel the excitement. Mary sees former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee as self-destructing in the next few weeks.

"Just in the last week I'd say I'm leaning toward Romney," Mary said of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. She's impressed with his management of the Salt Lake City Olympics. Roger likes Romney, too, and he's bothered by those who say Romney can't win because he's Mormon.

But there's little chance the Dyes will be as active in the campaign as they were in 2000, the last time the White House was open.

"In 2000 I was enjoying a sense that the ordinary guy would have a say in the system," Mary said.

The loss of that feeling began with a decline in world wheat prices in recent years. It was as bad as it had been since the 1980s. Agricultural exports were hit particularly hard by the recession that descended after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Exports suffered from political fallout, too.

Before the first Gulf War, and the first President Bush, Iraq was the United States' best customer for wheat. With Iraq and the U.S. at odds, Australia grabbed the Iraq market.

American farmers thought they might regain some market share in 2003, when then-Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman said "the United States will aggressively pursue that market as the economy becomes more stabilized." But the Iraqi Grain Board chose Australian over American wheat.

U.S. farmers alleged that Australian farmers had been paying kickbacks to Saddam Hussein's government as part of the oil-for-food program.

"The administration made the decision not to make a fuss over it," Mary said. "Australia was our ally in the war."

Bush was right to attack Iraq, Mary said. But she said the U.S. "should be reaping the benefits of the Iraqi oil to pay back our costs" and American farmers should be first in line to sell wheat in postwar Iraq.

Roger says that not only did exports lag because of the war, the fighting took all the Bush administration's attention.

Meanwhile, to make ends meet the Dyes sold off their life-insurance policies, scaled back their health insurance and put their children on the state's Basic Health Plan.

Mary stayed involved in politics until mid-2004. She was a Bush supporter and leading the Washington state effort to draft that year's party platform. But as her family and friends struggled, she no longer wanted to be part of the system that once had energized her.

"I felt really helpless," Mary said. "You couldn't touch the Bush administration. You couldn't reach them. The rank-and-file grower had no input in the process with this administration."

She quit the campaign and all the party business. She didn't tell anyone why, and everyone apparently was too polite to ask.

There's been some good news recently with higher wheat prices. The increase came too late for many farmers, who had presold at lower prices. But the Dyes were able to do well, and the financial pressures have eased.

The Dyes say they'll vote this November. But they're as skeptical now as they were excited eight years ago. They look forward to better times for farmers and hope they can continue to work themselves out of debt and out of disillusionment.

"Next year is everyone's hope," Roger said.

I didn't ask, but I'm sure they've said that before.

David Postman is The Seattle Times' chief political reporter. Reach him at 360-236-8267 or at dpostman@seattletimes.com