The Gortons and Slades - Washington Secretary of State

goRton v. zAppA 207
heavens. But President Reagan strongly supported the plan. Backers in
the House prevailed in October of 1985. Gorton, however, was stymied by
opponents on the Commerce Committee. After six months of frustration,
he hit on an end-around, attaching his measure to a benign proposal to
boost federal fire prevention efforts. He also made an important concession
by jettisoning the one-week extension into November. Greatly disappointed
were the candy manufacturers, who had counted on extra hour of
daylight for trick-or-treaters, all the better to sell more M&M’s. The coalition
was more excited by the prospect of an extra three weeks in the
spring. The Fire Prevention Bill with Gorton’s rider sailed through the
Senate on a voice vote and won overwhelming approval in the House.
Reagan signed it into law on July 8, 1986. 11
Gorton would need those extra hours of daylight for his re-election
campaign. Brock Adams, the former six-term Democratic congressman
from Seattle, formally announced his candidacy on March 20 after nearly
two years of “tiptoeing around the notion, surveying, scoping—like a biggame
hunter at the edge of the jungle.” When Lowry bowed out of the
race in January, the man Tom Foley thought of as “the young prince of
politics” was off and running. He had a long way to go. Adams’ own polls
agreed with Gorton’s and one conducted by Elway Research for The Seattle
Times: He was at least 23 points behind—48 percent to 25 percent. The
undecideds—27 percent—offered optimism. 12
At 59, Adams was a year older than Gorton, yet he seemed perpetually
youthful. The first student body president in University of Washington
history to graduate at the top of his class, Adams went on to Harvard Law
School. He and Gorton first met early in their careers when their law
firms were on the same side in a protracted antitrust case. Adams’ first
foray into politics resulted in the only electoral setback of his career. In
1958, he lost to the entrenched incumbent, Charles O. Carroll, in a race
for King County prosecutor. 13
While Gorton was making a name for himself in the Legislature, Adams
was busy campaigning for John F. Kennedy. At 34, he was rewarded
with an appointment as America’s youngest U.S. attorney. Seattle sent
him to Congress three years later. Serving in the Carter cabinet was an
unhappy two years, as it was for most. Being senator had always been his
goal. Now Scoop and Maggie were gone. 14
“We had no money,” Adams’ campaign manager, Ellen Globokar, recalls.
“We didn’t have momentum. But we had a great candidate, someone
who really knew the state and had great political instincts.” 15
Adams’ effusiveness—like Gorton’s professorial air—could be grat-