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Wednesday, April 21, 2004
Talmadge sticks it out in his bid for governor
By ANGELA GALLOWAY SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Phil Talmadge said yesterday he plans to see through his long-shot campaign, despite a frustrating setback last week.
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... Talmadge will stick it out -- and intensify his anti-Gregoire theme, he said.
"I have not decided to pull the plug on this campaign," Talmadge said. "I'm going to get a lot more into Christine Gregoire's face."
"There's so much material there," he said.
Talmadge yesterday accused Gregoire of flip-flopping on tax issues. Her campaign accused Talmadge of flip-flopping on other matters.
Talmadge, 52, a Yale-educated appeals lawyer who served in the state Senate for 16 years and on the state Supreme Court for six years, was the first Democrat to announce -- two years ago, long before Democratic Gov. Gary Locke bailed out. Until then, Talmadge's campaign was sharply critical of Locke.
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Regarding his plans to sharpen his target on Gregoire, Talmadge said he didn't think voters would cringe to more negativism. "I don't think so. Because, first of all, the reason I ran against Gary Locke was because Gary Locke did extraordinary damage to the health care work that I did."
Locke also failed in education, Talmadge added.
"This candidate -- this attorney general -- is a continuation of those kinds of policies," he said.
The campaign is planning a Seattle event Friday, sponsored by a number of activists who backed Howard Dean for the Democratic nomination for president, Talmadge's spokesman said.
:dem:
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