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Thursday, September 14, 2006

A Race to Watch on Tuesday

Posted by on September 14 at 12:40 PM

Washington state has a Lamont/Lieberman primary of its own next week…at the state house level.

It’s the race in the 35th District (Mason County, Kitsap, Thurston & Grays Harbor). The “Democratic” incumbent is Sen. Tim Sheldon. Sheldon, who was first elected to the state senate in 1996, is essentially a Republican.

Sheldon votes with the GOP caucus on just about every issue: from nay on education funding, to nay on health care spending, to nay on improved car emission standards, to nay on stem-cell research, to nay on strengthening unemployment-insurance benefits…the list goes on…nay on raising the minimum wage, nay on lowering prescription drug costs, nay on family leave…

Here’s an article I did on Sheldon last year.

Sheldon even headed up Democrats for Bush in Washington state.

His Republican allegiance is especially galling to the Democrats because it undermines their claim on the majority. At 26-23, Sheldon’s faux Dem status knocks it down to 25-24. Voting with the GOP, Sheldon famously killed the gay rights bill in 2005.

So, Democratic interest groups (SEIU, Washington Conservation Voters, Progressive Majority) have set up a trio of independent expenditure committees with names like Seniors Who’ve Had Enough and Democrats Who’ve Had Enough, and they’re spending bank on mailing and TV ($200k so far) to take Sheldon out.

They’re getting behind Sheldon’s primary challenger, Kyle Taylor Lucas a public interest pr consultant and a member of the Tulalip tribe who was Gov. Locke’s Executive Director of the Governor’s Office of Indian Affairs.

Moxie Media, the Seattle-based firm that also did the mail for Ned Lamont, btw—is doing Lucas’s mail. We’ll see if they do as good a job taking down Sheldon (the black and red mailer with a lackluster picture of Sheldon holding a sign that says “Had Enough?” blares: Vote No on Tim Sheldon, Leader of Democrats for Bush in 2004.)

Polling in August had Lucas trailing the longtime incumbent by about 7 points.


CommentsRSS icon

isn't the reason sheldon has gotten re-elected all these years because he represents a not very democratic district?

rossi took mason and kitsap counties in 2004 there and kerry didn't win by a hell of a lot either...

Isn't it Tulalip?

Yeah, we hear that the NRA and other right-wing groups are encouraging their members to cross party lines and vote Democrat in the primary to support Sheldon.

Stonewall Dems and Equal Rights Washington have done some doorbelling, phone banking, and soliciting for donations because of Sheldon's hatred for gay people.

Lucas has also been endorsed by the state party who don't appreciate having D.I.N.O. Sheldon in the office, and Pelz recorded some robo-calls for her, which unfortunately had a factual error in them.

As to the district - that was back before people hated Bush even in the red states.

Now, being pro-Bush is the kiss of death.

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