The Gortons and Slades - Washington Secretary of State

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McGavick and Gary Smith, the campaign’s communications director,
were pleased to see Bonker beating up on Lowry, although they also
worried that if he managed to win the primary he would be harder to
beat. By August, Bonker had no choice but to style Lowry as an unelectable
liberal ideologue, using the same themes the Gorton campaign
hoped would resonate with voters. Bonker railed that “when almost
the entire Congress worked hard to pass a major anti-drug bill,
Mike Lowry said no.” He also “consistently backed radical budget proposals
that would slash defense spending $300 billion over a three-year
period. . . . Scoop Jackson and Warren Magnuson would be appalled to
hear someone say just what Mike said about being against farm programs
and the Everett port . . .”
McGavick and Smith carefully indexed all those nuggets. When Bonker
also took a strong poke at Gorton, claiming better bona fides with the
agricultural community, the campaign immediately responded with radio
and TV spots, but only in Eastern Washington. Bonker’s claim was
“hogwash,” the ads said. “We didn’t want to draw the attention of the Seattle
media because we were afraid we’d set up an unwanted dynamic,”
McGavick says. “It was
amazing how much affect
that had on the outcome
of the primary. I
think if that hadn’t happened
we would have
faced Bonker, and I think
we would have lost.”
Gorton was in good
hands. His campaign
manager was pursuing
victory with the agility
of an old pro and the
single-minded determination
of youth. With
the primary looming,
McGavick’s wife went
The “new” Slade at the
Pacific County Fair in
1988. Brian DalBalcon/
The Daily World