184 sLAde goRton: A hALf centuRy in poLitics
though, grasped early on “that very frequently the two senators from the
same state get along better when they’re from opposite parties simply
because they don’t share constituencies to a great deal. They aren’t both
sort of maneuvering to be the number one guy in the party when they’re
home.” Jackson and Magnuson had a subtle rivalry, Gorton says. “I prob-
ably got along with Jackson better than he got along with Maggie. Now, it
wouldn’t have been as close, because they were together all the time, and
each of them was always the honorary campaign chairman for one an-
other, but their views on issues and their personalities were radically
different.”^6
theteM id RM eLections in 1982 found the economy still struggling to
climb out of a brutal recession. Joblessness was a record high 10.8 percent
by November. Reagan’s approval ratings were in the low 40s. Not much
had trickled down. The Republicans lost 26 seats in the House, greatly
strengthening Tip O’Neill’s hand, but held on to their majority in the
Senate.
Shaken by Magnuson’s defeat, 70-year-old Henry M. Jackson had run
harder than ever. He hired hard-charging young Ron Dotzauer as his
campaign manager and took seriously pollster Peter Hart’s warning that
his base had eroded, particularly on the left, which hammered Jackson
for supporting Reagan’s defense buildup and backing the Bonneville
Power Administration’s alliance with the Washington Public Power
Supply System. Few acronyms in American history have been as apt as
WPPSS (pronounced “Whoops”). The Supply System’s ambitious nuclear
power plant program was having a cost-overrun meltdown. Gorton, Dan
Evans and practically every other member of the political establishment
in Washington State were also being tarred by irate ratepayers.
Jackson’s Republican opponent was Doug Jewett, Seattle’s young city
attorney and a Gorton disciple. Slade made some uncomfortable appear-
ances at his campaign rallies, hoping Scoop would understand they were
obligatory. This time their relationship was so strong that he did. “Self-
ishly, I was very fortunate that it wasn’t a real campaign,” Gorton says.
Jackson won his sixth term with 69 percent of the vote.^7
On August 28, 1983, Jackson returned from a grueling two-week tour
of China with a deep chest cold and hacking cough. Antibiotics helped,
and he resolved to go into his Seattle office on September 1st. He called
Gorton to brief him on the trip. Daybreak brought the appalling news that
the Soviets had shot down Korean Air Flight 007 when it strayed into
their airspace. All 269 people aboard the Boeing 747 perished. It was a