Seattle Sports Heroes For McKenna

By Sarah Mimms  //  November 5, 2012 | 6:28 a.m.

Republican Attorney General Rob McKenna is making a last-minute pitch for campaign cash using two of Seattle's biggest-name sports stars. Former Seattle Marines right fielder Jay Buhner and former Seahawks fullback Mack Strong both sent out fundraising pleas on McKenna's behalf on Sunday, begging for last-minute donations to help McKenna get out the vote.

"I just placed a friendly bet with Mack that I can do better at getting more people on board to support Rob in the final push. ... Regardless if it's Mack or me who rally more supporters -- all of us in Washington win when we support Rob," Buhner wrote in an email to supporters on Sunday.

Full of corny sports metaphors -- "Rob has put in his training," "It's truly the bottom of the 9th of this election" -- the emails are standard fundraising fare, soliciting small donations to help with phone banking and other get out the vote efforts. Both Buhner and Strong are long-time backers of Republican causes in Washington State.

McKenna lead his Democratic opponent, for Rep. Jay Inslee, in available cash by more than ten-to-one as of Thursday, though late reports filed by the Inslee campaign through Friday indicated that he had taken significant steps to catch up. Still, turnout will be particularly key for McKenna in the deep blue state where voters cast their ballots by mail.

McKenna, who is running to be the first Republican to move into the governor's mansion in nearly 30 years, began the race with much higher statewide name ID than Inslee. But the race has remained a virtual tie since the August primary, in which Inslee outpaced McKenna by four points. Though McKenna has largely trailed Inslee since the August primary, a new Elway poll released less than two weeks ago showed McKenna ahead, albeit within the margin of error.

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