BicentenniAL foLLies 145
A good Democrat clearly could have beaten him... .White-hatted, coura-
geous (for taking on Seafirst), a practitioner of political hardball, brilliant
and candid Gorton remains. But somehow he has failed to develop a core
issue or much deep loyalty.
And so the Democrats pounced, clumsily.... The measure is amaz-
ingly stupid. Mardesich’s signing up as a sponsor is a political blunder
that is difficult to fathom. Why the office should be plundered when
Gorton is admittedly in his last term and numerous Democrats aspire to
it and wish its power is also hard to figure.... And then there is the mat-
ter of Governor Ray. It is to be expected that Dixy would be wary of Gor-
ton, since so much of her advice is coming from the Pierce County wing
of the party that loathes and suspects him. But she never made any effort
to examine this for herself.... [A] single, three-minute accidental meet-
ing is all Gorton and Ray have had since her election. Thus Dixy quickly
joined in support of the dismemberment bill even though it is costly and
would lead to still more departmental autonomy free from executive con-
trol. It seems part of her excessive desire, verging on political paranoia,
to fire or emasculate all vestiges of Evansism. To turn the well-informed,
ambitious and scathing Gorton against her for four years is a political
blunder of immense proportions...
Whatever the outcome, it has done Gorton a world of good. If the bill
passes, a referendum would be likely—a moral crusade to restore his po-
litical stock. The bill, even in failing, has given Gorton a needed kick in
the pants... Had lawyerly John Spellman been elected, I’m afraid Gor-
ton would have lapsed into a deeper lethargy in his overrated job. Now he
can see that his office really will be a shadow government and restraining
force on a naïve new executive branch. Ironically, Gorton’s real allies are
the new Democratic leadership, who are also rapidly forming an alterna-
tive government to the embarrassing Dixy. Given this new mission and
finally out from under Evans’s shadow, Slade Gorton might emerge at last
as the state leader (and U.S. senator) he has always wanted to be. Maybe
S.B. 2213 is a good idea after all.^11The bill died an embarrassing death after O’Connell and Smith Troy,
another former Democratic attorney general, testified that it was wrong-
headed. Senator Durkan consigned it to the round file. Slade had per-
formed a long-forgotten favor for him years before and Durkan never
forgot.
By April, Bruce Brown of the Argus found “The Unsinkable Slade Gor-
ton” in an expansive mood. Gorton did his best to sound beleaguered,
deadpanning that “it has been a struggle just to stay alive.” However, “the
assertion is immediately undone by Gorton’s broad, infectious laugh....