Plan to end war may not help Reichert's rival

In her rematch with Republican U.S. Rep. Dave Reichert, Democratic challenger Darcy Burner is again playing the Iraq card, although this time with more heft: She has put forth a 21-page plan to end the war, drawing support from dozens of other Democratic congressional candidates and attracting favorable notice in the national media.

But it's unclear how much good that will do her this time around on the Sammamish Plateau or in the rest of the 8th District, which covers eastern King County and reaches south into Pierce County.

The 2006 midterm elections were widely viewed as a referendum on Republican President Bush and the Iraq war. Both were unpopular with voters, and that helped the Democrats wrest control of both the House and the Senate from the GOP.

Burner sought to ride the wave, attempting to tie Reichert closely to the White House and expressing general criticism of the administration's Iraq policy. It almost worked: An unknown making her first run for elected office, Burner came within 3 percentage points of defeating Reichert, a famous former King County sheriff first elected to Congress in 2004.

But Bush is on his way out, so he won't be a target in November. The war issue also is more muddled than in 2006: Republicans, including Reichert, are claiming success for the surge in U.S. troop strength in improving security in Iraq, while the Democrats in the House and Senate haven't come up with an alternative strategy they can force on the administration.

Beyond that, another issue has taken over the political spotlight: the economy. Exit polls in the Democratic primaries Tuesday in Indiana and North Carolina showed economic worries ranking first among nearly two-thirds of voters -- more than in any previous contest this year, and three times the number who listed Iraq as their top concern.

Burner campaign spokesman Sandeep Kaushik thinks pocketbook issues stand foremost with voters in the district, too. But Iraq remains a major item as well, he said, adding that voters increasingly are making a connection between the high cost of the war and the worsening economy.

The district's voters understand that Burner opposes Bush's war policy, Kaushik said. But especially after the Democrats' midterm victories failed to change that policy, he said, the voters asked her, "What are you going to do about it?"

In response, Burner consulted with retired military officers and foreign policy experts and produced what's called "A Responsible Plan to End the War in Iraq." She rolled it out in March at a conference of the progressive group Take Back America in Washington, D.C., with an initial group of nine other Democratic congressional challengers signing on (the list is now close to 60, Kaushik said).

The plan rejects a military solution in Iraq, instead emphasizing diplomatic, political and economic approaches. It advocates an immediate start to withdrawing U.S. troops, leaving no residual force, although it does not set a timetable for completing the withdrawal. It cites numerous recommendations advanced by the bipartisan Iraq Study Group in December 2006 as well as several bills introduced in Congress. But Bush, and Congress, have not taken those steps identified in the plan.

"It's calling for a different approach than what we've seen before," Kaushik said.

The plan has won praise from such national publications as The New Republic, The Nation and Mother Jones. Christopher Hayes of The Nation described Burner as "articulate, impressive and infectiously energetic."

"It's hard for us to imagine that we could have gotten a better response," Kaushik said.

The Reichert campaign is unimpressed with the plan: "It's anything but responsible," spokesman Mike Shields said.

"It's not a plan to end the war in Iraq," Shields said. "It's a plan to raise money in the campaign."

Reichert was not in Congress when the decision to invade Iraq was approved, Shields said. Reichert has backed more than half the bills cited in the Burner plan, and he has co-sponsored a measure to adopt the recommendations of the Iraq Study Group, Shields said (although, at the time the group issued its report, Reichert reportedly said he was unimpressed by it).

But Reichert supports the surge and urges the U.S. to press on to victory, which Shields defined as the establishment of a stable Iraqi government that is able to defend itself and provide freedom for its people, without offering a haven for terrorists.

"If we were to draw out immediately based upon political issues in the United States, it would create a disaster security-wise for the United States and it would create a disaster humanitarianwise for the people in the region," Shields said.

It's hard to predict how big a role Iraq will play in this year's election, Shields said.

"Any time you have young men and women in this country in harm's way, it's going to be an issue," he said. "There are deep concerns about this issue, as there should be."

Burner seems to be fanning those flames, he said. As for Reichert, Shields said, he's focused on an economic agenda: creating jobs, especially through trade in a trade-dependent state; making the Bush tax cuts permanent; and protecting the child tax credit and the absence of a tax penalty for married couples.