Campaigns going down to the wire

Don't be surprised to see candidates for the state Legislature or the Yakima County commission waving signs on street corners over the next few days.

With thousands of primary ballots still out there and precious little time before they are due Tuesday, local candidates are trying to squeeze out as many last-minute votes as possible.

In addition to their street-corner politicking, they'll be knocking on doors, making phone calls and straightening fallen campaign signs -- all in effort to be among the top two candidates in a couple of crowded fields.

"It's definitely a sprint to the finish at this point," said Al Schweppe, a Yakima attorney running as a Republican for the open 14th District state House seat.

That race, which will determine a successor for retiring veteran lawmaker Mary Skinner, R-Yakima, features a particularly crowded field of five Republicans and one Democrat. Only the two highest vote-getters among them, regardless of party, will advance to the November general election under the state's new top-two primary system.

Besides Schweppe, the Republican candidates are Norm Johnson, a Yakima city councilman and retired school administrator; Bob McLaughlin, a former Union Gap school superintendent and Yakima principal; Aubrey Reeves, a former Union Gap mayor and owner of Aubrey's RV; and Scott Hess, who works for the National Federation of Independent Business. The Democrat is Vickie Ybarra, president of the Yakima school board and director of planning and development for the Yakima Valley Farm Worker's Clinic.

A seventh candidate, Republican attorney J.J. Sandlin will appear on the ballot. But he dropped out of the race in June, about two weeks after filing to run.

Ybarra jumped out to an early fundraising lead in the race and never looked back. She heads into the primary having raised more than $45,000, more than a third of the $114,000 total contributed to candidates in the race.

The race for the District 2 seat on the county commission is only slightly less crowded, with one Democrat and three Republicans, including incumbent Ron Gamache. Besides Gamache, the Republicans are Toppenish farmer Kevin Bouchey and Union Gap Councilman Dan Olson. The Democrat is Wapato Mayor Jesse Farias.

That race, too, has been big with donors, bringing in more than $111,000. The bulk of that has gone to Bouchey, who is headed to the primary with more than $73,000.

Those two races are predicted to resonate with voters as well as donors. Their drawing power combined with the popular new top-two primary system has county elections officials predicting 48 percent participation, a sharp jump over the 33 percent turnout for 2006, the last even-year primary, and the 37 percent in 2004, the last presidential-year primary.

The bulk of those predicted votes have not been cast yet. As of Thursday, only 20,703 of the 93,989 ballots sent out by the county auditor to registered voters had been returned. That's about 22 percent. There are more than 230,000 residents in the county, a number that includes children and noncitizens who are ineligible to vote.

And each of the 10 candidates for the two positions has his or her own last-few-days strategy. Johnson is running ads featuring endorsements from 14th District state Sen. Curtis King and 14th District state Rep. Charles Ross. He's also doing the street-corner sign thing, although he concedes that most voters probably aren't going to be swayed by seeing that.

"You might get one or two, though," Johnson said.

McLaughlin is running print and radio ads and is still out there knocking on doors -- "hundreds and hundreds and hundreds," he said.

"I'll continue up to the end," he said. "I am starting to find people who have already voted, though."

Reeves has been standing on the corner with a sign and plans to ramp up his own doorbelling efforts, which he said he hasn't done as much of as he'd like.

"I'm going to hit it heavy," Reeves said.

Schweppe launched a new TV ad this week, critical of Gov. Chris Gregoire and House Democrats, and he's still doorbelling despite having already reached between 3,000 and 4,000 doorsteps.

"I'm looking for voters who have not sent back their ballots yet," he said.

Ybarra has been doorbelling every day and last weekend sent 58 volunteers out on a massive doorbelling mission. All told, she and her volunteers have knocked on more than 5,000 doors she said. That will continue right up until Tuesday.

"We're spending more time -- if it's possible to spend more time -- in direct contact with voters," she said.

Hess said he is switching from a doorbelling emphasis to phone calls and sign-waving in the final days of the campaign. It's quantity over quality at this point, he said.

"They're getting tons of cars as they go by," Hess said of his sign-waving volunteers.

Among the county commission candidates, it's more of the same. They all have their last-minute plans.

Bouchey is running print and radio ads and is still out there in the mornings and evenings, knocking on doors.

"We have not let up," he said.

Farias, too, has been a regular on local streets. And a local Vietnam Veterans of America group plans to help him hold signs on street corners Monday.

"We've also been hitting the phones pretty hard the last few days," Farias said.

Olson has been out straightening fallen campaign signs and knocking on doors.

"There's a lot of (ballots) left out there," he said.

Gamache, who is seeking his third term on the commission but is well behind in fundraising, said he doesn't want to tell all his campaign secrets. But he doesn't have any dramatic last-minute stunts planned, either.

"I'm stepping back and taking a breath," he said. "Most of the hard work is done, and I'm just waiting for the results."

* Pat Muir can be reached at 577-7693 or pmuir@yakimaherald.com.

The top-two, mail-ballot primary

* Voters have until Tuesday to return their ballots to the Yakima County Auditor's Office on the main floor of the county courthouse, 128 N. Second St. They may be delivered or mailed by that day. If mailed, they do not necessarily have to arrive at the county office by that day.

*Voters may select candidates from any party and do not have to declare an allegiance to one or the other.

* Candidates list their preferred party, but that does not mean they are endorsed by that party.

* The top two candidates, regardless of party, advance to the Nov. 4 general election.

* For more information, go to www.yakimacounty.us/vote or www.vote.wa.gov

* People with questions can call the county auditor's office at 509-574-1400 between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.

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