Biden to campaign locally for Murray

Vice President Joe Biden will be in Vancouver on Tuesday, Oct. 19, to support U.S. Sen Patty Murray’s campaign for a fourth term.

The Get Out the Vote Rally is free and open to the public. Registration begins at 11 a.m. at Pearson Air Museum, 1115 E. Fifth St.

Those interested in attending are asked to RSVP to http://www.pattymurray.com/home/clark or call 1-206-286-9199.

“Vice President Biden is a champion for our working families. He knows from firsthand experience how hard it can sometimes be for families to make ends meet and he also knows how important it is that we put middle-class families first,” Murray said in a bulletin. “I look forward to seeing him again in Clark County and talking to the voters about how important it is that we continue to fight for our working families.”

Murray, the fourth-ranking Democrat in the Senate, is locked in a tight race with Republican Dino Rossi for re-election. The outcome of the race could help determine which party controls the U.S. Senate in 2011.

The visit will be Biden’s second trip to Washington state to campaign for Democratic candidates this month. The vice president was in Seattle Friday speaking at a fundraiser for 3rd Congressional District candidate Denny Heck. He’s been crisscrossing the country recently, stumping for candidates in local, state and national races at more than 100 events.

The Seattle Times reported Monday that President Obama will return to Seattle Oct. 21 to headline a get-out-the-vote rally for Murray, another indication of the critical importance the White House places on the Senate contest. That event will be held at Hec Edmundson Pavilion at the University of Washington and is open to the public.

It will be the president’s second visit of the campaign season for Murray. Obama also campaigned for Murray in Seattle on Aug. 17, raising $1.3 million for her campaign and the state Democratic Party at two fundraisers, the Times reported.

With a hot Senate race and two highly competitive congressional contests, Washington Secretary of State Sam Reed is predicting a 66 voter turnout this year — the highest for a midterm election in 40 years.

In a news release Monday, Reed said those races and a slew of initiatives, with the accompanying heavy television spending, should help make this the most robust midterm since 1970, when 72 percent of registered voters cast ballots.

In more recent years, the midterm turnout has averaged about 60 percent, Reed noted. Washington’s turnout record was set in 2008’s presidential election, when 85 percent of voters participated.