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Chris Mulick has worked for the Herald since 1998 and has served as the statehouse correspondent covering state government and politics since 2000. He works year-round out of the Herald's Olympia bureau on the state Capitol campus. Have a question? Send Chris an e-mail and he'll answer the best questions regularly. |
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I talked with Senate Minority Leader Mike Hewitt, R-Walla Walla, this week about how this year’s campaigns are shaping up for the caucus and he offered a few interesting tidbits.
First, he has high hopes for Linda Haddon in her bid to unseat Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen, D-Camano Island, and for Randi Becker, who is running against Sen. Marilyn Rasmussen, D-Eatonville.
Haddon hadn’t filed her monthly report as of yesterday afternoon but a quick check of the Public Disclosure Commission database showed she had raised at least $34,000 so far. She’ll need to keep it up as you can expect the Democrats will be able to afford to offer Haugen quite a bit of help.
Republican Kelly Mainard also is running against Rasmussen but the caucus has higher hopes for Becker. But she’s not managed to raise much money so far. Again, no monthly report had been filed by yesterday afternoon but the database, which included some April contributions, showed she’d raised a little over $8,000.
But Hewitt is encouraged by Becker’s doorbelling prowess.
Hewitt also spoke highly of former Rep. Steve Van Luven who jumped into the race for the seat being vacated by Sen. Harriet Spanel, D-Bellingham, just three weeks ago.
“I have not talked to a lobbyist yet that he has not contacted,” Hewitt said. “He knows how to do this.”
He’d like to pick up three seats to give Republicans 20 in the upper chamber. And he quickly mentions he’d be shooting for 21 had Mercer Island Rep. Fred Jarrett not switched parties. Jarrett, who once was going to run for the Senate as a Republican, is now running as a Democrat.
“I’m still upset about that,” Hewitt said.
He said earlier this year the caucus had spent $10,000 on preparing for Jarrett’s candidacy and that he’d have walked all over incumbent Sen. Brian Weinstein, D-Mercer Island, if they faced off in November.
“The polling clearly indicated he was going to beat Weinstein hands down,” Hewitt said, indicating Jarrett figured to win by 25 percentage points or more. “It wasn’t even going to be a race.”
Now Hewitt jokes he’d personally contribute the maximum allowed to Weinstein if he were to run for re-election against Jarrett.
But, alas, Weinstein isn’t running.
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