booth gardner - Washington Secretary of State

their own. While Spellman was addressing the Pacific Northwest World Trade Conference
in Tacoma on Oct. 1, Booth called a news conference in another room and accused the
governor of timing the event to boost his campaign. Gardner said Spellman had failed to
do enough to promote international trade and was taking credit for programs developed
by the Legislature. Spellman said Gardner’s move was “pretty gross.” The Seattle Times
editorialized that it was neither pretty nor gross, just “a meaningless mole hill.” Excell called
it a hit-and-run strategy destined to fail. A few days later, when Gardner said his schedule
couldn’t accommodate a joint appearance before the Seattle Rotary Club, Spellman said
he felt “like a Ghostbuster fighting a phantom.” He branded Gardner “a shill for big labor,”
adding that “inside that Brooks Brothers suit is a carbon copy of Jim McDermott.” Outside
the hotel a Spellman stalwart wheeled a toy duck symbolizing Booth’s no-show.
Weyerhaeuser and Boeing, as well as well-heeled businessmen like M. Lamont
Bean, were hedging their bets by making substantial donations to both candidates. Gardner,
however, was still some $400,000 ahead with Election Day five weeks out. He was poised to
make the campaign another substantial loan and the Clapps were coming through. So were
the unions. The teachers loved it when he said he wanted to be “The Education Governor,”
and he promised to spend at least one day a month in the public schools.
Next came dueling salvos of press releases, immediately analyzed right and left by
the pundits. The Spellman camp said Gardner had made so many “backroom deals” that
if he became governor “Washington residents may have to consider using the union label
for the state seal.” Soon, Booth supporters sported buttons boasting
“Hi! I’m a ‘Big Labor Boss.’ ” Gardner called the governor a hypocrite
and handed out copies of Spellman’s 1980 campaign speech to the
State Labor Council convention. It began with a fulsome salutation
to his “Brothers and sisters in the labor movement” and ended with
a promise that labor would get its “fair share” of appointments to
boards and commissions.
The campaign was growing more nasty by the day and the
consensus in the press was that both sides were being alternatively silly and shrill, with
Gardner often overreacting and Spellman overreacting to the overreaction, as the Seattle
P-I’s Mike Layton put it. In the Times, Dick Larsen wrote: “Good grief! Before our very eyes,
The Wimp and The Waffle have turned into The Walloper and The
Whipper.” Dotzauer wasn’t worried. Their tracking polls showed
Booth with a 17-point lead. Excell was, but he took hope in the 25
percent undecided and felt strongly that their strategy to puncture
Booth’s breath-of-fresh-air image was working. The Spellman
campaign changed its slogan from “You Can’t Beat Spellman!” to
“Why Gamble on Gardner?”
A landmark joint appearance occurred in mid-October when the
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