378 sLAde goRton: A hALf centuRy in poLitics
100 th birthday party. “I know how you are feeling,” McCain told Lott. “You
have been treated unfairly.” The shared grievance forged a new alliance.
McCain, like Gorton, profited greatly from being in Lott’s orbit, dimin-
ished though it was for the time being. “Previously a marginal player
better known for heckling the Senate”—and flipping off colleagues who
annoyed him—than wielding major influence, McCain tempered his
maverick image with new political sophistication.^3
A delegate to the GOP National Convention for only the second time in
his life, Gorton signed on as honorary state chairman of McCain’s cam-
paign. Though annoyed by this development, most of the state’s tribal
leaders understood that Indians accounted for only 150,000 of Washing-
ton’s six million voters. “So it’s just pure math,” said Ron Allen of the
Jamestown S’Klallams, Gorton’s old adversary. McCain’s alliance with
Gorton didn’t diminish their faith in his commitment to Indian country,
Allen said.^4 Despite McCain’s strong record on Indian affairs, a hundred
tribal leaders nationwide defected to Obama.
If McCain had a fighting chance for the Indian vote in the Evergreen
State, Boeing workers likely were less pliable. They would not soon forget
his vociferous opposition to the Pentagon’s plan to lease air-refueling
tankers from their employer. It was “one of the great rip-offs in the his-
tory of the United States of America,” McCain fumed. Gorton doubted
the dustup would have much impact. “I think I can say with some confi-
dence he isn’t going to be prejudiced against Boeing in any fairly competi-
tive procurement.”^5
Washington stayed resoundingly blue. Obama and Biden won nearly
58 percent of the vote. Rossi lost again to Gregoire, this time decisively.
Gorton’s former assistant attorney general racked up almost 64 percent of
the vote in King County, home to one out of every three voters. McKen-
na’s re-election as attorney general was one of the few bright spots for
Republicans. Absent a candidate—Gorton hopes it’s McKenna—who can
capture something beyond 40 percent in King, he concedes that Republi-
can chances of reclaiming the governor’s office or a seat in the U.S. Sen-
ate are slim. Gorton’s old boa constrictor strategy of strangling King by
carrying most everything around it increasingly has become a garter
snake. Patty Murray made Rossi a three-time loser in 2010, winning a
fourth term in the Senate with 63 percent of the King County vote.
Cantwell took 66 percent against McGavick four years earlier.^6
Gorton and J. Vander Stoep took hope from the success of Jaime Her-
rera Beutler, who was elected to Congress from Southwest Washington in
- Gorton hosted a D.C. fundraiser for the telegenic young Hispanic