Biden addresses political rally

Vice President Joe Biden told Democratic supporters in southwest Washington Tuesday that they have a “stark choice” this November and must send Sen. Patty Murray back to Congress.

“If we do not prevail in this election, we will be set back for a long time,” Biden told more than 760 people gathered at Vancouver’s Pearson Air Museum.

Biden railed against the legacy of Republican leadership of Congress, saying that the current administration inherited from the GOP many of the problems that led to the current economic situation.

“These guys did nothing, nothing to fix the problems,” he said. “They drove us into this great recession.”

Biden said that if re-elected, “Patty will be the person at the dike with her finger in the hole.”

Murray, a three-term incumbent first elected in 1992, has won re-election twice by wide margins. But polls show her in a competitive race against Republican Dino Rossi, a real estate developer and former state senator who lost two gubernatorial races in 2004 and 2008.

Murray warned the crowd that if elected, Rossi would continue the “tired economic policies of the Bush administration that got us into this mess in the first place” and said that Rossi wants to “repeal, rewind and retreat.”

“Not on my watch,” she said, to cheers.

Republicans were quick to criticize the visit, one of many high-level stops this week made in support of Murray.

In a statement issued before the rally, the state Republican party referred to Biden and other visiting administration Democrats as Murray’s “flown-in D.C. bosses.”

Even though the rally was held in Vancouver, the heart of the competitive 3rd Congressional district race, Biden didn’t mention Democratic candidate Denny Heck during his 45-minute speech. Heck and Republican Jaime Herrera are vying for the U.S. House seat being vacated by retiring Democrat Brian Baird, who held the seat for 12 years. The only Republican to hold it since 1960 was Linda Smith, who won a write-in campaign during the 1994 Republican takeover of Congress. Baird was elected after Smith gave up her seat for an unsuccessful run for the U.S. Senate.

Heck took the stage before Murray and Biden and told the crowd, “We will win the ground war and get out the vote.”

In a statement issued before the rally, Herrera’s campaign spokesman, Casey Bowman, wrote that Biden’s visit “is a welcome reminder to voters of their choices: elect someone who supports an agenda that has failed to create jobs or improve health care, or vote for Jaime Herrera to lead us in a new direction.”

Southwest Washington has long been politically split, with President George Bush winning it in both 2000 and 2004 and President Barack Obama winning it in 2008 with 53 percent of the vote. Rossi won the district in both of his unsuccessful runs for governor.

Battle Ground resident, Denise Hutzenbiler, 34, said she came to the rally because she was worried that Democratic supporters were being overshadowed by the tea party movement.

“Us Democrats who voted for Obama and Biden need to show our support,” she said. “We don’t fight loud enough.”

Hutzenbiler said she’s among those who have been directly affected by the recession. She lost her job as an administrative assistant in January 2009 and said she has been fighting foreclosure on her home. Hutzenbiler said that while she’s frustrated, she doesn’t blame Democrats.

She said if Republicans gain control of Congress, she’s worried that “all the work we’ve been trying to accomplish will be undone.”

Debbie Peterson, of Vancouver, was among a small group of Rossi supporters who gathered outside the event.

Peterson said she came to the rally “out of concern about the direction our country is going in.”

“The Democrats have spent our country into a very precarious position,” she said.

As Peterson was speaking, Murray supporters near her started yelling “Vote Patty Murray” while the Rossi crowd shouted “Go Dino Rossi” in return.

In an earlier trip to the state this month, Biden raised money for Heck in Seattle and campaigned for Murray in Tacoma. Biden’s latest visit comes a day after former President Bill Clinton campaigned with Murray in Everett. Obama will be in Seattle on Thursday for another Murray event, and first lady Michelle Obama will be in Seattle on Monday with Murray.