Oh, those crazy 3rd CD congressfolk
Much ado about my congressman Brian Baird the last few days. He's talking a different course that I'd suggest on talking about the war in Iraq, so people are taking him to task over it. Good for them, but it also reminded me of our last Democratic Rep. in the 3rd CD: Jolene Unsoeld.
Rep. Unsoeld was pretty liberal all around, she ended up losing to Linda Smith in the 1994 congressional elections. Hoo boy, remember Linda Smith? Thank God, she wanted to run against Patty Murray in 1998, because Olympia might still be represented by her. Smith was bad in any number of ways (choice, budget, environment, etc...) and she wouldn't have bothered explaining in the Seattle Times how she felt about Iraq. Doc Hastings and Cathy McMorris wouldn't have, why would Smith have bothered?
Anyway, Unsoeld was great on pretty much all the issues, except gun control. In 1993 she was one of 70 Democrats that voted no on the Brady Bill. Despite policy differences, I still wish she wouldn't have lost to Linda Smith.
Since Baird has been around, Republicans in the 3rd CD have had a hard time finding a good opponent for him, mostly because he's a good fit for the district. He's moderate enough so the GOP has a hard time getting traction against him, but he's smart enough to make the good votes (FISA, for example), but we'll see how he does on the upcoming Iraq votes.
I'm not saying don't criticize Baird, go ahead, he should hear it when he's home. But, it could be much worse down here without him.
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