booth gardner - Washington Secretary of State

With four days to go, McDermott’s hopes took two more blows. Senator Jackson
gave a posthumous blessing to Gardner in a letter mailed to Democrats around the state.
It was signed by Sterling Munro and two other former Jackson aides who testified that
electing Booth governor was one of the senator’s “last projects.” More surprising was a
letter to Gardner from Congressman Mike Lowry, like McDermott a hero to Seattle liberals,
and heretofore neutral. “I am personally voting for you,” Lowry said. Adding that he believed
McDermott was also well qualified and party unity was important, he noted that “this is not
a public endorsement.” Dotzauer, naturally, promptly distributed the letter to the press.
McDermott kept a stiff upper lip. His office door sported a poster of Winston
Churchill, complete with a quotation from Britain’s darkest hour: “Never give in. Never give
in. Never, never, never.”
On Sept. 18, 1984, Booth Gardner, buoyed by GOP crossovers, defeated Jim
McDermott two-to-one, capturing fully 46 percent of the Primary Election vote. Governor
Spellman, virtually unopposed for the GOP nomination, received 26 percent. McDermott
was third with 23 percent, a deeply disappointed but gracious loser. He told Booth to not
waste much time celebrating. Speaking from experience, he said Spellman was no pipepuffing
milquetoast. He predicted “the most vicious campaign we’ve seen in this state in a
long, long time.”
Excell was in the war room, putting the finishing touches on a three-inch briefing
book on how to beat Booth, whose lead was as high as 20 points in some polls. For starters,
the Spellman campaign handed reporters a fact sheet documenting Gardner’s appetite for
an income tax, which voters twice rejected in the 1970s. Spellman press aide Paul O’Connor
said the governor was coming out “duking,” just as he had four years earlier to defeat
McDermott. The job this time, he said, was to dispel the notion that Gardner wasn’t a taxand-spend
liberal. “There is a presumption that because he’s rich, he’s a conservative,” the
pugnacious O’Connor said, adding that Gardner’s knowledge of state issues was “candycoat,
shell thin. All he is is a trained dog on the issues.” The Gardner campaign dismissed
it as more “desperate” duplicity from “the same John Spellman who said ‘no new taxes
in 1980.’ ” Gardner spokesman Jim Kneeland warned, “John Spellman and Paul O’Connor
better put on their crash helmets if they’re going to try to run on their record.”
The gloves were off, battle lines drawn and planes on the tarmac. The finalists both
immediately took to the air to barnstorm the state and replenish their coffers.
* * *
Their handlers agreed to three televised debates – Oct. 15, 21 and 31 – with the
governor complaining there ought to be more and not all so late in the game. Spellman
said the campaign would be half over before their first face to face. The role reversal
underscored that the governor was the underdog – and a facile debater. He’d been a
national moot court champion at Georgetown Law School. Dotzauer and Kneeland said
their guy wasn’t chicken; he just had “scheduling conflicts.” Then they scheduled one of
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