U.S. Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Pasco, and his opponent George Fearing, a Democrat from Yakima, don't have much in common politically, but they do share one thing: They're both running campaigns based on Hastings' record.

Hastings, a seven-term congressman, points to success in getting funding for local programs, working across the aisle with Democrats and his support for increasing stability in Iraq.

Fearing, who suspended his Tri-Cities law practice and moved to Yakima as part of his campaign, believes Hastings has represented Republican interests more than those of Central Washington and failed to recognize the futility of the Iraq war.

The question then, as Republicans nationwide deal with an ailing brand, is whether traditionally Republican Central Washington agrees with Hastings' perspective or Fearing's.

Hastings, 67, said he is campaigning as he has in each of his previous elections, not taking his opponent for granted. And he cautioned against reading too much into the supposed woes of the Republican Party as the country faces tough times.

"Every voter has to make up their mind as to how they view current events. ... Sometimes we don't give the individual voter enough credit for making those decisions," he said.

Fearing, who finished behind Hastings 62 percent to 33 percent in the August primary, said he is counting on a general-election surge from Obama voters and others frustrated by the GOP.

"The Obama 'wave' will be helpful," Fearing said.

Democrats in the 4th Congressional District generally show up in greater numbers in the general election, though no challenger has come within
20 percentage points of Hastings in since 1996 when he defeated Rick Locke by 6 percent -- 53 percent to 47 percent.

When Fearing, 50, launched his campaign last year, he said it would take $500,000 in donations to unseat Hastings. Despite help from former Congressman Pete McCloskey, a Republican-turned-Democrat from Southern California, and $10,000 from state Democratic Party sources, Fearing will not come close to that goal.

At the end of July, he had raised $212,311, according to the Federal Election Commission. And he had spent nearly all of it, leaving him with a little more than $48,000 on hand. His campaign says the fundraising total is now closer to $300,000. Hastings, by contrast, had raised $585,000 by the end of September and still had more than $288,000 on hand.

Fearing has compensated by putting his law practice on hold, moving to Yakima about a month ago and generally being as visible as possible.

The move to Yakima has symbolic value, he said, allowing him to campaign from the 4th District's largest city in its largest county. And it's one more way to distinguish himself from Hastings, whose political base is in the Tri-Cities.

"You've been represented by a Tri-Citian for 14 years," Fearing said. "And although we have common interests, there are significant differences between Yakima and the Tri-Cities. ... I want the people of Yakima to know I want to be part of your community when I represent you."

Hastings, however, believes he has served Yakima well despite not living here. Among his list of recent accomplishments, he points to the $325,000 he secured for anti-crime efforts in Yakima, $8 million for the ongoing Yakima River Basin Water Enhancement Project to improve habitat and restore more normal river flows, and grants for improvements at State Fair Park.

He also has been a key supporter of the proposed Black Rock reservoir being promoted by agricultural and political leaders in the Yakima area. The $6.7 billion project would involve construction of a 1.6 million acre-foot reservoir, 30 miles east of Yakima along State Route 24.

Elected during the Republican wave that swept through Washington, D.C., in 1994, Hastings serves on the influential House Rules Committee, which helps determine which bills live or die. But he has otherwise kept a low profile in Republican caucus leadership.

He says he enjoys the constituent work that comes with his job. The issues can be as simple as answering a question or using the influence of the office to clear up a bureaucratic issue for a constituent, he said.

"That's very, very gratifying to me, when we can solve those issues," Hastings said.

Despite Fearing's assertions that the incumbent is in lock-step with the Republican Party and President Bush, Hastings points out that he voted to override Bush's veto of the farm bill this year. He also voted twice against the $700 billion bailout for the financial markets. He says he also consistently leads bipartisan efforts to allocate federal money for cleanup of the Hanford nuclear site, a massive project that has generated thousands of jobs for the Tri-Cities area and is expected to take decades to complete.

"I have had very good success, frankly, in working across the aisle," he said.

Fearing, however, says Hastings' votes against tax credits for alternative energy this year show that he puts his party ahead of voters. According to Open Congress, a nonpartisan organization that tracks voting records, Hastings has voted with Republicans 94 percent of the time.

"He just represents his party," Fearing said. "We should be an alternative energy capital of the world, and he has done nothing."

Though they differ on many issues, the contrast is particularly stark when it comes to the war in Iraq.

Ending the war was a big part of why Fearing decided to run in the first place. Hastings consistently has supported President Bush's view that the war must continue in Iraq to keep terrorists from attacking here.

Fearing doesn't buy that, or the argument that withdrawing U.S. forces from Iraq will leave the country in turmoil. Iraq's political instability is not likely to change even if American troops stay in the country, he said.

"Why is that going to be any different in 10 years, in 20 years, in 50 years?" Fearing asked. "That's why it's time to get out now."

Hastings, though, insists that it is important for the U.S. to win the war. A near-universal agreement among American politicians that last year's "troop surge" has made Iraq less volatile in the short term may have vindicated Hastings' pro-war stance in the minds of some voters.

"That's for them to judge," Hastings said. "But I always thought that Americans didn't want to lose."

By Fearing's estimation, though, the war is already won. President Bush's goals of instilling democracy in Iraq, ridding the country of Saddam Hussein and ensuring it had no weapons of mass destruction have all been accomplished, he said.

"The safety of our soldiers is more important to me than having another (war win)," he said.

Fearing is not just battling Hastings.

He's up against the political reality that Central Washington has been Republican ground for a long time. Congressional Quarterly, a publication that tracks House and Senate races, still lists Washington's 4th District as "safe Republican," which it defines as: "The Republican nominee is/will be a strong favorite, and an upset is virtually impossible."

None of Hastings' last five Democratic opponents has come close to unseating him. In 2006, Richard Wright drew 40 percent of the vote; in 2004, Sandy Matheson took 37 percent; in 2002, Craig Mason took 33 percent; in 2000, Jim Davis got 37 percent; and in 1998, Gordon Allen Pross took 24 percent.

McCloskey, the former GOP Congressman from California who campaigned on Fearing's behalf in August, disregards all that.

During the campaign swing on Fearing's behalf, McCloskey said every Republican should be beatable this year. But Democrats at the national level haven't signed on to that possibility in Central Washington.

Not yet.

McCloskey said he would personally lobby the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee to support Fearing.

That committee selects candidates it believes can win and donates large amounts of money to give them the lift they need to defeat a well-financed incumbent. The DCCC has not donated to Fearing.

"He's still working on that," Fearing said of McCloskey's efforts.

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