Gun lover wonders why most of the neighbors are voting Democrat

ABERDEEN — Charles Laier has lived here since he was born 65 years ago.

He knows the political players and relishes his run-ins with some of the state's greatest — like the day in 1968 when he gave Warren Magnuson an uncensored piece of his mind to go along with the cocktail the senator was downing at the Morck Hotel.

But there's one thing he just doesn't understand: Why are people here so committed to voting for Democrats?

"You could put Mickey Mouse on the ballot and as long as he had a D after his name they'd vote for him," Laier said. "It's crazy. But that's just the way things are here."

It's not that Laier considers himself a Republican. He votes for Democrats, too. But in the 2008 presidential race, he sees only one candidate deserving of his vote: Republican Mike Huckabee.

"I base it all on one issue," Laier said. He's looking for a candidate who has a true love of guns and what he considers the proper respect for the Second Amendment.

"I'm pretty much a constitutionalist," Laier said. "If they start stepping on my toes, I don't like it. If they don't support the Second Amendment, then I don't vote for them, whether it's for president or dog catcher."

This area tends to be conservative but historically votes Democratic, so Laier and others like him can list a whole lot of Democrats they've supported over the years, including most of the county's current legislative delegation.

But those Democrats oppose gun control. This is pretty conservative territory for the party. Sen. Jim Hargrove, D-Hoquiam, for example, opposes abortion rights and gun control but is one of the Legislature's most ardent supporters of prison reform and a host of government health and social-service programs.

Laier considers Huckabee the only Republican presidential candidate with a good record.

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, now out of the race, was the only Democrat who earned his passing grade.

"I wouldn't vote for Hillary Clinton if she was the last woman on the planet," Laier said.

Laier doesn't like the gun-control positions of Republicans John McCain and Mitt Romney. More on that in a bit.

But what struck me during the conversation was that Laier had not mentioned the candidate who talks most about the Constitution: libertarian Republican Ron Paul.

"Ron Paul has a lot of good ideas but I consider him an isolationist," Laier said.

He doesn't argue that Paul should be his choice if guns were the only issue. But he sees guns as inextricably linked to national defense. And he doesn't want America's hands tied by an isolationist president.

"My foreign policy is different than any of the candidates: There's only one way to be No. 1 and that's to kick the [uh, stuff?] out of No. 2, and three, four and five won't bother you again."

That may sound angry. But it doesn't come out that way when the amiable Laier says it.

We sat at his kitchen table in a nice Aberdeen neighborhood. He wore lightly tinted aviator glasses, a small mustache and a big, steel watch. He has a habit of chuckling a bit as if to signal he's about to say something outrageous.

Laier was a union welder for Weyerhaeuser for 34 years. He and his wife of nearly 42 years have three grown children, including one in the Army.

He doesn't like globalization. But he says the world is too connected already to pretend that America could cut its international ties.

As for McCain and Romney, he says, too many times they didn't support National Rifle Association efforts to defeat gun control. He's particularly bothered by McCain, who he says should know better.

"McCain was an Annapolis grad, a fighter pilot, spent, what, seven or eight years in the Hanoi Hilton?" Laier said. "You've got to give him a lot of credit for that. But why would any military man go against the citizens and their guns?"

In his 2000 presidential campaign, McCain was criticized for supporting background checks for gun purchasers at gun shows. He also was falsely accused in anonymous phone calls in South Carolina of favoring a federal gun-registration law.

Since then, McCain has worked to firm up support from gun owners.

Laier likes guns a lot. He is an avid hunter and has a basement full of wall-mounted trophy heads and skins.

He's convinced the national Democratic Party would like the government to be able to confiscate the guns. "And when they got all the guns, they've got us all — by the short hairs," he said.

Laier said he used to think of himself as a pretty strong union Democrat. But now he's grown suspicious of many in the party and believes Democrats stole the 2004 governor's race, when Christine Gregoire narrowly beat Dino Rossi.

He proudly voted for George W. Bush in 2000 and 2004 and has no regrets about it today. He thinks the war has done what it was designed to do: keep terrorists out of America.

But he knows many others in his hometown disagree.

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