Democratic Rep. Rick Larsen’s battle with Republican Doug Roulstone is a contest that’s drawn the interest and the involvement of national party figures.
Vice President Dick Cheney, House Speaker Dennis Hastert and former Speaker Newt Gingrich all visited Everett to aid Roulstone’s attempt to dislodge Larsen from his 2nd Congressional District seat.
Larsen is seeking a fourth term representing the district that stretches from Mukilteo north to the Canadian border. It includes parts of King and Snohomish counties plus all of Skagit, Whatcom, Island and San Juan counties.
The 41-year-old Arlington native served on the Snohomish County Council at the time of his first run for Congress. He worked for the Washington State Dental Association before entering politics full-time.
He serves on the Armed Services, Agriculture and Transportation and Infrastructure committees.
Roulstone, 56, a native of Virginia, served 27 years in the Navy, retiring in 1999 and moving to Snohomish. This is his first run for elected office.
His first flying assignment was as a search-and-rescue helicopter pilot at Whidbey Island Naval Air Station. He saw combat in the first Persian Gulf War and rose through the ranks to become commander of the nuclear powered aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis. Today, he runs a manufacturer of aerospace parts.
Republican Party leaders view this seat as evenly divided among the partisans.
Larsen won in 2000 with 50.01 percent of the vote. Two years later he collected 50.07 percent. In 2004, Larsen’s total soared to 63.9 percent.
That year, the Republican Party did not aid his GOP opponent, Suzanne Sinclair. This year, party leaders came out in force for Roulstone, helping him raise nearly $600,000, roughly half of what Larsen’s collected to date.
Despite the visits by GOP heavyweights, Roulstone continues to trail Larsen by a wide margin, according to polling.
This race had proceeded with little antipathy until last week, when Larsen sent out mailers criticizing Roulstone for not supporting federal funding for embryonic stem-cell research. Larsen backed funding in a bill vetoed by President Bush.
One mailer stated Roulstone’s position is “denying the promise of a cure to thousands of sick and injured.”
It also read: “Doug Roulstone talks a lot about ‘courage’ in his advertising. Roulstone’s position on stem-cell research is anything but courageous. It puts politics ahead of science and human health.”
Roulstone responded sharply.
“He’s attacking my courage and he’s not telling the truth,” Roulstone said. “He’s knowingly lied about my position for political gain.”
He said it sickened him to see photos of children, seniors and the disabled on the mailers and statements he opposed finding cures and treatments for them.
“He falsely implies that I’m against all stem-cell research,” Roulstone said. “I am opposed to federal funding of embryonic stem-cell search. Cord blood umbilical stem-cell research has proven to be much more promising.”
Larsen said Roulstone is wrong on the science.
“Adult stem-cell research severely limits our ability to find cures,” he said.
That’s not the only issue on which they differ.
On Iraq, Larsen voted against going to war and criticizes the president for not doing more to equip and train the Iraqi military to secure order. Roulstone supports the war. He contends civil strife will decline once former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein is convicted and given the death penalty.
On immigration, Larsen voted against building a fence on the border with Mexico and Roulstone backs its construction. Bush signed the bill into law Thursday.
Roulstone in his ads questions the degree to which Larsen helped keep Naval Station Everett off the Pentagon’s base closure list in 2005.
Roulstone said he and others met twice with Pentagon officials but Larsen did not attend, then showed up for photos with the group afterward.
Larsen said he set up those sessions and arranged a meeting for Gov. Chris Gregoire with Pentagon leaders.
Reporter Jerry Cornfield: 360-352-8623 or jcornfield@heraldnet.com.
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