WA-03: Heck Of A Race
By Reid Wilson
The Dem field running to replace Rep. Brian Baird (D-WA) is likely to get more crowded next week when ex-state Rep. Denny Heck (D) announces his intentions.
Heck, a former CoS to ex-Gov. Booth Gardner (D), is well-known in local political circles, though he has not held office since the mid-'80s. He founded TVW, WA's answer to C-SPAN, and was an early investor in some tech companies that made him wealthy. Heck has filed papers with the FEC and has given himself $100K in seed money, should he decide to make a bid.
He was in DC last week meeting with Baird, Reps. Norm Dicks, Rick Larsen and Jay Inslee, all WA Dems. He also met with DCCC chair Chris Van Hollen, according to Heck's spokesman. Heck has discussed a potential candidacy with Rep. Jim McDermott (D) and Gov. Chris Gregoire (D) as well.
If he does make his campaign official next week, as expected, he will join a packed field. State Rep. Deb Wallace (D), who holds Heck's old state House seat, and state Sen. Craig Pridemore (D) lead the field, and state Rep. Brendan Williams (D) has yet to rule out a bid. Heck, Wallace and Pridemore all hail from the Vancouver area, the population base of the district, while Williams is from the northern part of the district, near Olympia.
On the GOP side, the NRCC is excited about state Rep. Jaime Herrera (R), a former aide to Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R). But Herrera has her work cut out for her as well; ex-Veterans Affiars official David Castillo (R) is already in the race, while Tea Party activists may rally around accountant David Hedrick (R), whose claim to fame was confronting Baird at a town hall meeting earlier this year.
Baird announced last month he would not run for a 7th term, a move the NRCC cited as evidence that Dems know they are in trouble next year. But Baird, who has a reputation as something of a maverick, has repeatedly said he wanted to spend more time with his young twin children.
The district will produce a competitive general election contest almost regardless of who comes out of both primaries. Baird won his 6 terms easily, but the district, in its current incarnation, voted for the GOP pres. nominee in '92, '96, '00 and '04. Pres. Obama won the seat by a 53%-45% margin, largely on the strength of a growing blue collar Dem base in Vancouver, the state's fastest-growing large city.
Check out election results for Baird's district, which covers all of Clark, Cowlitz, Lewis, Wahkiakum and Pacific Cos, most of Skamania Co. and part of Thurston Co. on the WA Sec/State's website, which has great county-by-county graphics and results.
"the NRCC is excited about state Rep. Jaime Herrera (R)"
How did this lie get started?
The NRCC didn't know Herrera was alive until she jumped the gun, and the shark, by announcing before Baird's political body was cold. Her lies (that they had been recruiting her for "6 months") and her obvious lack of preparedness (in an interview shortly after she announced on Portland's Victoria Taft Show, she didn't know anything about anything, hardly the actions of a serious candidate who'd been "recruited") and the fact that she hadn't said ONE WORD about this before Baird wised up and the NRCC hasn't verified her statement proves it.
There's no excitement among those who know her, and for those of us unfortunate enough to have been represented by this empty suit in the Legislature (who accomplished nothing during her abysmal tenure) certainly don't want her to move to Congress. Herrera is nothing more then a rank political opportunist.
While a staffer, she spent our money like a drunken sailor. For me, what excites me is that when the 2010 is done, she'll be out of politics and she can go back to pouring McMorris's coffee or something, which is about all this career intern is qualified TO do.
Where do you D.C. folks get your info? To mention Hedrick with any legitimacy is laughable. Also, Just A Guy is right...Herrera is already being called a political opportunist throughout the district. This is now a job interview, folks. And as far as qualifications, experience and character go - Castillo is head and shoulders above the field.
It looks like someone has fed someone pure nonsense from the House in support of a candidate who showed her timidity by rapidly announcing her candidacy less than 2 hours after Baird announced he would not run again.
That shows an extreme lack of political courage looking as if she will not run unless she has a clear shot at it. Calls for her to run by a small handful were ignored until she saw an easy run.
So far in this race in the 3rd District, we have spend and tax happy Democrats who willfully bankrupt the district and drive jobs away, an opportunistic Republican who speedily jumped in, in expectation of an easy run, a city council member who failed at his council job of oversight of a small-town mayor, a former Marine who really has no experience other than a video confronting Baird and David Castillo, the only candidate running worth anything.
He's not a party insider. He was the first to file and begin campaigning, building grassroots support and funds from the ground up.
He has business knowledge that gives him experience answering to people for their money, not voting to take our money away from us.
Neither party has run a candidate like Castillo for many years.
Just A Guy and D.C. Spin are both correct.
If you are as fed up with the bitter partisanship as I am, Castillo is ready to represent all of the people in the 3rd Congressional District.
Two Republican names that could run are State Rep. Richard Debolt of Chehalis and State Sen. Joe Zarelli of Ridgefield; Zarelli, particularly, could make it really competitive, IMO.
David Castillo appears the best for the job due to the fact that he showed the true ability to be a leader when he announced his candidacy BEFORE Baird dropped out. It is a lot easier to make the decision to run when the incumbent is no longer in the race. It is these qualities that will make Mr. Castillo a good congressman.