OLYMPIA – Democrats are counting on voter frustration with the war in Iraq to help win elections next week.
On Monday, Republican Mike McGavick showed he thinks it’s an issue that can help boost his own bid to unseat incumbent Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell.
He launched a new 30-second TV ad he said is intended to show her views on the war lack “clarity.”
“As the election draws nearer, the vagueness grows more pervasive,” he said in an interview.
At a subtler level, the ad also seems designed to peel anti-war Democrats from her and steer them toward two anti-war candidates in the race.
It begins with McGavick praising Bruce Guthrie, a Libertarian, and Aaron Dixon, a Green Party member, for having the “the guts” to call for an immediate troop withdrawal.
McGavick says Cantwell voted for the war and is now vague on how to proceed. He even jabs at President Bush by saying he “doesn’t understand our frustrations.”
McGavick suggests victory may mean breaking up Iraq.
“It’s time to be decisive,” he says in the ad’s conclusion. “Beat the terrorists. Partition the country if we have to and get our troops home in victory.”
McGavick said he disagrees with Guthrie and Dixon but mentions them to accent the point that “we don’t see the same clarity” from the incumbent.
Guthrie is running his own TV ads criticizing Cantwell’s votes for the war and the original Patriot Act.
Travis Wright, Guthrie’s campaign manager, said “Many people just don’t know Maria Cantwell’s record on the war. Anything that draws attention to it can be helpful for us.”
He wasn’t willing to say McGavick’s new ad would push Democrats away from Cantwell to Guthrie.
“Some Democrats will respond to this and say McGavick is getting a little desperate. It may shore up their resolve and backfire on him,” Wright said.
Iraq is an issue where McGavick and Cantwell share more similarities than differences. She voted for the war, and he’s said he would have too, based on what senators knew then.
Today, both say if they knew then what they know now about the situation, they would not have voted for the war. Neither supports immediate troop withdrawal and both consider partitioning an option of last resort. Only recently has McGavick publicly distanced himself from the president and talked of needing new options in Iraq policy. It is unclear whether Iraq remains an electoral problem for Cantwell. Her refusal to repudiate her vote for the war did anger the progressive flank of the Democratic Party.
Hong Tran challenged Cantwell in the Democratic primary and focused her campaign on the war. Some of her supporters could turn to Guthrie or Dixon.
Amanda Mahnke, a Cantwell campaign spokeswoman, declined to speculate how many.
Regarding the ad, Mahnke said, “Mr. McGavick has consistently supported President Bush’s stay-the-course policy in Iraq and opposed Sen. Cantwell’s efforts to hold the Bush administration accountable for a plan to change the course and bring our troops home.”
Continuing, she said, “Clearly, these are desperate days for the McGavick campaign.”
Reporter Jerry Cornfield: 360-352-8623 or jcornfield@heraldnet.com.
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