the coMeBAcK 239
nounced as “homeporking”—
Gorton’s welcome was espe-
cially warm. He said a strong
military was essential to pro-
moting peace and protecting
America’s strategic interests.
In this, he said, he and Sally
had a new stake: A five-week-
old grandaughter whose fa d -
ther was a bombardier/navi-
gator with an A-6 Intruder
squadron on the carrier En-
terprise in the thick of things
in the Persian Gulf.
Peace activists outside
one of Gorton’s press confer-
ences parted like Moses at
the Red Sea when Sarah
Gorton Nortz arrived with
baby Betsy in her arms. Gor-
ton commercials soon fea-
tured Slade giving Betsy her
bottle. He was hugging, high-fiving or jogging across the tube to the soar-
ing strains of the theme from “Chariots of Fire” or emphasizing that ad-
versity can be character-building. “We lost some tough cases while I was
attorney general,” Slade told the camera, “but the Senate loss was even
more personal. I needed to listen more and the voters made that point
crystal clear. But my parents taught me that you can come back from a
loss and be even stronger.” McGavick was really in the driver’s seat this
time, leaving no detail to chance.^22
Marchioro, the Democratic chairwoman, allowed it was too bad the
Academy Awards were handed out the week before. Lowry gave his pat-
ented little incredulous chortle, and his campaign manager, hard- charging
Rose Kapolczynski, said she doubted the voters were gullible enough to
buy an old wolf in a new Mister Rogers cardigan. Though still profession-
ally wary, some reporters couldn’t help but note the change in Gorton.
Bob Partlow, the political writer for The Olympian and the other Gannett
papers in the state, had covered Gorton’s first public appearance after his
loss to Adams, a speech at The Evergreen State College in Olympia early
in 1987. At a reception afterward, Gorton studiously avoided him. Partlow
Slade with Betsy Nortz, his first grandchild,
on Primary Election night 1988. Gorton Family
Album