Schmidt to manage Ishmael campaign
Published 2:49 pm Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Ex-legislator Dave Schmidt is returning to politics but not as a candidate.
The former Republican state senator from Mill Creek is going to run the congressional campaign of Larry Ishmael who is trying to oust incumbent Democratic U.S. Rep. Jay Inslee this fall.
Schmidt, who lost his bid for re-election in 2006 to Democrat Steve Hobbs, shared the news Tuesday in Olympia where he had come to visit GOP lawmakers. Today he sent out a press release.
“Senator Schmidt has been my number one choice from the beginning,” Ishmael states in the release.
Schmidt’s job will be very tough. Ishmael ran against Inslee in 2006 and only got one-third of the votes. It didn’t help that Ishmael jumped into the race too late to raise much money.
This time around the Redmond businessman announced his campaign in November in a four-minute video posted online on YouTube.
Schmidt said he’s traveled to Washington, D.C. and thinks the National Republican Congressional Committee will make this a targeted race. That means money and high-powered GOP leaders could be coming to town.
Inslee’s knees aren’t buckling yet. As he has said before, he fears no opponent.
