Officially, Locke's still out of governor's race

Gov. Gary Locke's office said Thursday that the two-term governor still hasn't decided whether to seek a third term.

But that's apparently not what the governor's told a friend.

Tom Keefe, chairman of the Spokane County Democratic Party, said Locke told him flat-out at a $250-a-head Spokane fund-raiser Monday night that he's running again.

"I said `You are running, aren't you?' and he said `Yeah, I'm running,'" Keefe said in an interview Thursday.

In fact, Keefe said, it's the second time Locke's told him that. The first time was back in January, at the party's annual Jefferson- Jackson dinner.

But despite that - and despite Locke amassing a $460,000 campaign war chest - the governor's chief spokesman on Thursday insisted that Locke hasn't made up his mind.

"The governor and Mrs. Locke have not yet made a decision about their plans for a potential third term," said Roger Nyhus. "The key consideration is their young family."

It is, after all, a high-stress job with long periods of time away from the family. The governor and Mona Lee Locke have two children, ages 4 and 6.

"This is obviously a very personal family decision," said Nyhus. "The governor and first lady are looking at their options."

Yes, Nyhus said, Locke had three fund-raisers last week, two in Seattle and the one in Spokane, "but that's with the understanding that he's not made a decision."

Keefe did say that in public comments at the event, Locke later said that a final family decision hadn't been made yet.

The fund-raiser was at the home of Chris Marr, managing partner of Foothills Auto Group in Spokane and a friend of the governor's. Marr said that the only thing he heard from the governor on the matter were his later comments about discussing a run with his family. Another person there, state Rep. Jeff Gombosky, D-Spokane, said the same thing.

"I think there's a general sense that the odds are good that he will," said Marr. "I think what he's done in the last six to eight months is looking better all the time."

Locke has courted party leaders and continued to raise a campaign war chest. He raised $110,000 at two recent events in Seattle in addition to the one in Spokane.

But Locke insiders warn against making too much of that. Blair Butterworth, Locke's campaign adviser, said the governor told supporters to assume he's running unless he decides differently - and to raise enough money to hold his options open. He can always give back the checks, Nyhus noted.

Chris Vance, state GOP chairman, said: "The buzz I'm hearing is that he's not running. But I think I know Gary Locke and he's all about politics. If he doesn't run for governor, what else does he do? There's nothing else to run for."

All of which amuses Locke, Nyhus said.

"Everyone seems to think they know what he's decided. The governor jokes that if they know, they should let him know."

Locke, long criticized as wonky and uninvolved, won rare kudos from Republicans this year by proposing a tough, no-new-taxes state budget to fix Washington's $2.6 billion budget shortfall. That cost him friends at state-employee unions and among teachers, who argued for moderate tax increases to stave off deep budget cuts.

In the end, the governor, conservative Democrats and Republicans carried the day - most of the shortfall was covered by budget cuts, including hundreds of millions of dollars shaved off cost-of-living raises that state workers and teachers had hoped for.

"I maybe don't like every stand he's taken, but I sure like the proactiveness," said Marr. "My gut tells me he would be crazy not to run."

The governor has also gone to the mat this year to try to convince Boeing to pick Washington for the assembly plant for its next generation of passenger jets. He angered blue-collar labor unions by backing cuts to the state's unemployment insurance system - cuts that business, especially Boeing, badly wanted. And in a year of major budget cuts, Locke managed to win lawmakers' approval of a $3 billion tax cut for Boeing if the new planes are assembled here.

"I'm sure (state Republican Party chairman) Chris Vance is having a tough time finding a Republican to run against a two-term incumbent Democrat who didn't raise taxes," said Keefe. "I don't see the Republicans organized at all to come up with a credible candidate."

Copyright 2003 Cowles Publishing Company
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