“I didn’t want to split the party,” Hash, a Democrat, said Tuesday.  His decision means that David Carrier, an economics instructor at Washington State University Vancouver, will get the backing of 17th District Democrats when their central committee meets next Monday.

The committee was prepared to vote May 19 on whether to endorse a candidate or let state Democratic Party chief Dwight Pelz make the choice of which candidate to “nominate” to run against Benton.  Current bylaws in the 17th call for letting voters choose the party nominee in the August primary election, but Pelz said that’s not an option after a recent Supreme Court ruling cut the political parties out of the primary election process.

Hash, a political newcomer, said he realized that he needed to spend more time building relationships in the 17th before plunging into a high-profile race to unseat Benton.

“David Carrier had been active in the 17th and had a loyal following,” he said. “When it became clear that the state was going to probably endorse me and the 17th was going to endorse him and that was going to split the party, I dropped out. “

Pete Aller, the 17th District Democratic chairman, said Hash informed him of his decision last Friday. “I let him think about it over the weekend,” Aller said. “He’s not out of politics. No one asked him to leave.”

Hash said his role as a pledged delegate for Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama helped him clarify his own situation.

After the May 6 Democratic primaries, in which Obama carried North Carolina easily and nearly upset Hillary Clinton in Indiana,  “I looked at what was happening nationally,” Hash said.  “Hillary still hadn’t withdrawn. I thought, ‘I wanted her to withdraw for Obama’s sake, and here I am doing the same thing.’”

Soon after, he said, he called Carrier and told him he was going to withdraw from the campaign.

“It sure makes the campaign a lot easier,” Carrier, an elected precinct committee officer from the 17th, said Tuesday.  “Martin was a good candidate and I really respect that he did the right thing.  It’s great for the party, but more than that, it  really highlights the contrast between me and my opponent and leaves voters with a very clear choice now. My campaign is about investing in people and in the future of the district and addressing the economic problems that we face. Benton’s campaign is about conservative ideology.”

Hash has given his campaign $50,000. He said he hasn’t yet decided what to do with that money but may leave it in his campaign fund for a future race.  And he didn’t rule out helping Carrier, who had raised just $884 by April 30 and has pledged to accept no contributions from political action committees in the primary.

“I have nothing but admiration for David Carrier,” Hash said.  “We have  zero conflict. We didn’t even have competition between us. Give it a couple of weeks and I’ll probably help.”