Reichert Wins Again

Republican David Reichert wins the House seat for a third time, this being his second victory over candidate Darcy Burner. Burner wanted to wait until all the votes were counted to concede, but once she saw that she was trailing by 8,500 votes, she knew it was time to wave the white flag. Towards the end of the race the major issue concerning voters was the problems facing our nations economy. Reichert was able to take advantage of this by motivating people with his economic policy, where as Buner seemed to be less concerned in this area, which may have cost her the race.

Burner takes lead in poll

In October 12-21 poll run by SurveyUSA, Darcy Burner is showing a 4 point lead over Reichert, this represents the first lead for Burner in the race with less than 2 weeks left until election day. Reichert has enjoyed leads as big 10 on September 8-10 and in a Research 2000 poll 8 on 10/05-07. This is a seat democrats are not exactly expecting to pick up but the change in polls may represent a good momentum shift for Burner who has raised more money than Reichert but has been questioned as to where all the money came from, some republicans indicating perhaps some donars outside of the 8th district contributed. A recent visit by Burner to Tacoma Rally by Joe Biden who gave a stump speech for the Washington governor and Burner. And finally according to and article posted on TheHill.com, Burner has also benefited from the money the Democratic party and specifically in her case the Democratic Congressional Campaign Commitee who paid for an ad against Reichert.





http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/10/0157/0059
(http://www.surveyusa.com/client/PollReport.aspx?g=1e89f25b-f539-428b-bcd1-2d084fa17f20)
http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/dccc-held-24m-edge-nrcc-hits-the-air-hard-2008-10-21.html
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Campaign Finances and Early October polls

One candidate leads in the polls while the other leads in fund raising and spending. Darcy Burner has raised $3.2 million thus far to Reichert's $2 million. Reichert however leads Burner in the polls 49% to 41%, with 8% undecided according to Daily Kos (http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/10/0157/0059)
On October 12, Reichert got an unofficial endorsement from the Seattle Times which indicated Burner is still playing catch-up and going through a learning curve as a fresh-faced politician, the article also goes on to note both candidates are against the government's proposed $700 Billion bailout (the following link is from the Seattle Times: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/editorialsopinion/2008253052_edit12eightdistrictendorse.html).

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Debate!

On October 10, C-Span held a debate for Burner and Reichert which can be viewed with Flash player by following the provided link:

http://www.c-spanarchives.org/library/index.php?main_page=product_video_info&products_id=281714-1







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The Incumbent

Incumbent Republican, Dave Reichert, is facing Democrat, Darcy Burner, this November for the 8th District House seat in Washington State. Reichert is now serving his second term and is on three committees: Homeland Security, Transportation and Infrastructure, and Science and Technology. As a freshman, Reichert was appointed Chairman of the Subcommittee on Emergency Preparednes,and Science and Technology. In this position, Reichert worked to draft legislation to enhance the emergency FEMA response systems that were found deficient after Hurricane Katrina. Dave Reichert is a graduate of Concordia Lutheran College in Portland, Oregon. Congressman Reichert has over 35 years of public service beginning as a member of the U.S. Air force Reserve followed by a distinguished career with the King County Sheriff's office. As head of the Green River Task Force, Reichert became nationally known for solving the largest serial killer case in the United States.

The Challenger

Democrat Darcy Burner is running for Washington's 8th District House seat against incumbent Republican Dave Reichert. In the 2006 Election Reichert beat Burner 51% to 49%. It is because of this margin that this years race should be very interesting. Burner should expect help from the state and national level Democratic party in terms of financing and campaign help as they will try to oust Reichert whose ties to the Current Republican administration will probably hurt him some in this race. Burner has with fellow politicians and consultants come up with a plan to end the war in Iraq. Darcy Burner has a strong background having studied Computer Science and Economics at Harvard, and then eventually becoming a product manager for Microsoft after growing up in a middle class family. The democrat leaning district could favor Darcy Burner for the 8th District House Seat.

http://www.historyguy.com/politics/burner_darcy.html