208 sLAde goRton: A hALf centuRy in poLitics
ing. One reporter dubbed him the “Yappy Warrior.” They both talked too
much, an Adams admirer observed. Their campaign managers would
cringe “as the eyes of the audience glaze over as dazzling explanations go
on and on and on.”^16
Unquestioned was their status as leading contenders. Now on tap was
the race everyone was anticipating a decade earlier before Jackson lost the
Pennsylvania presidential primary. For starters, they exchanged insults.
Gorton said Adams was a carpet-bagger who hadn’t really lived in Wash-
ington State since being elected to Congress in 1964. Adams said that
with Gorton “we’ve got a senator who talks and no one listens.”^17