the fReshMAn 43
Canwell was incensed by Gorton’s testimony. “Of course, Slade Gorton,
Joel Pritchard, Evans, all of these people who wormed their way into the
Republican Party were no more Republicans than I am a Zulu. They were
opportunists who moved into a vacuum,” Canwell grumped years later.^11
in1964, goRton found hiMseLf in a bare-knuckle primary of his own.
The John Birch Society already viewed the emerging Evans wing of the
party as a coven of leftists. When Gorton “defended a commie” that was
proof positive. The Association of Washington Business was also suspi-
cious. The right-wingers funded a candidate against Gorton in the 46th
District primary. Only 23, Jim Toevs was clean-cut, articulate and a true
believer. He had headed the Washington State Draft Goldwater Commit-
tee. Slade was worried. “But the race ended up making my political career
because it was a primary in which people were widely interested in that
very tough year.”
Toevs (pronounced “Taves”) borrowed a gimmick that helped an un-
known Republican from Mercer Island upset an incumbent two years
earlier. The night before the election, the candidate mobilized hundreds
of volunteers to fan out all over the district. Voters awoke to find their
front yards dotted with Popsicle sticks that featured a flag and a five-by-
seven card with a portrait of the candidate and the highlights of his
platform.
“They pulled the same stunt on me” the night before the primary elec-
tion, Gorton says. As luck would have it, however, they started out in a
neighborhood that was home to two of his most energetic supporters,
Fred and Ritajean Butterworth. Ritajean spotted the enemy troops
snollygostering from lawn to lawn and called Dick Williams, Slade’s
campaign chairman. “The boys were out roaming around—God knows
where—looking for trouble,” Ritajean recalls, but they roared back. Soon
Williams, the Butterworths, Ken McCaffree and several other campaign
workers were playing pick-up sticks almost as fast as the little signs went
in. They arrived at Gorton’s house with a trunk load and burned them in
his fireplace. Slade was particularly angry that Toevs’ cards featured as-
sertions he wouldn’t have time to refute.
“Finally, about 3 o’clock in the morning the Toevs people have gone
ballistic,” Gorton recalls with glee. “Of course what they’re doing is every
bit as illegal as what we’re doing. Our guys got to the point where it was
much easier to yank the stick out of the ground, leave it there and just
collect the card. There were neighborhoods that looked like a kindling
truck had crashed.”