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Last Updated June 22, 2005
From the Pacific Ocean to the majestic row of active and inactive volcanoes from Mount Rainier to Mount St. Helens to Oregon's Mount Hood, southwest Washington was long one of America's most productive lumber areas. The moist air and almost constant rains blown in from the Pacific keep the trees on the coast growing rapidly; precipitation remains heavy in the valleys just past the Coast Range, and additional fast-growing forests. Then come the high mountains: The Cascades are a genuine divide, wrenching almost all precipitation out of the air so the climate eastward for a thousand miles is arid. Americans were reminded of the force of the volcanoes when Mount St. Helens, dormant for 123 years, erupted in 1980, killing 65 people, destroying its own peak and paving the land around with lava. Americans had long been taught that the lower 48 states had no active volcanoes; Mount St. Helens proved that wrong, and one of her sisters may do it again. In October 2004, a series of rumbles there punched a 200-foot hole in a glacier and attracted scientists and curious tourists, but the dome remained in place. Lewis and Clark came here in 1805, down the Columbia River to a rainy and foggy winter by the ocean; for many years this part of Washington was sparsely settled, with lumber-mill and fishing-boat towns interspersed between mountains and water. It was flannel shirt country, Democratic since the New Deal days. In the early 1990s its resource-based economy was threatened by the environmental movement, which restricted fishing practices and got a court decision shutting down old growth forest logging to save spotted owl habitat. This roiled local politics and gave Republicans an opening. An important demographic shift has been the spread of two great metropolitan areas into these valleys. Clark County across the Columbia from Portland, Oregon, has filled up with new residents, eager to avoid Oregon's income tax and still able to make big purchases in Oregon free of sales tax; its population grew by 45% in the 1990s, the largest increase in the state. From the north, the Seattle-Tacoma conurbation has been moving past the small state capital of Olympia. This is one of America's great international trading areas, with big exports of logs and timber and vast imports on the docks of Portland and the Puget Sound. The 3d Congressional District of Washington covers the land between the ocean and the Cascades, from Olympia on an inlet of Puget Sound, south to Vancouver, site of the Hudson Bay Company headquarters in the 19th century. Economic growth and diversification and the coming of many new residents with no roots in the old industries have made the 3d a politically marginal district; George W. Bush won here with 48% of the vote in 2000 and 50% in 2004. The congressman from the 3d District is Brian Baird, a Democrat first elected in 1998. Baird grew up in northern New Mexico and western Colorado. He got a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Wyoming, and worked with veterans and families dealing with cancer, with juvenile delinquents in prison and with families of murder victims. He wrote a book called Are We Having Fun Yet? for couples on vacation. He moved to Washington in 1980 and was a professor at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma and living in Olympia when he ran for the House in 1996 against Republican incumbent Linda Smith, who had strong support from Christian conservatives. Baird led on election night and was pronounced the winner by an overeager media. But when the more than 40,000 absentee votes outstanding were counted, Smith won by 887 votes, 50.2%-49.8%. Taking a leave from his job, Baird never stopped running, while Smith ran unsuccessfully against Senator Patty Murray in 1998. Republicans nominated state Senator Don Benton, who called for a flat tax and respect for gun rights and property rights. Baird spent twice as much money and won 55%-45%. In the House, Baird has a moderate voting record that trends liberal on foreign policy. He kept a campaign promise by sponsoring a bill to restore income tax deductibility for state sales taxes; with a big boost from the Texas delegation, a modified two-year version was passed in the 2004 corporate tax bill. He was among a handful of white Democrats who joined Black Caucus members in walking out of the Electoral College count to protest the Florida result in 2000. He proposed incentives for owners of gas-electric hybrid cars and owns one himself. He voted against Bush on trade promotion authority and the use of force in Iraq. He sought middle ground with a medical malpractice proposal with incentives for mediation and high caps on damages. On local issues, he helped to secure funds to deepen the Columbia River shipping channel to accommodate larger cargo ships. He sought more money to monitor volcanoes. After September 11, Baird gained national attention when he focused on the issue of continuity of government--what would happen if many members of Congress were killed or incapacitated by an attack? He proposed a constitutional amendment providing that, if one-fourth of House seats became vacant, governors must appoint a successor within seven days. This would be quite a change; as House members like to note, under the Constitution no one has ever served in the House without winning an election. And Baird's amendment could result in a change of party balance. Baird argued that if many members were killed or incapacitated, the House might not be able to achieve the quorum of half the living members required to act. Many members thought that proposals from Baird and his allies were too radical; Congress usually moves cautiously on constitutional amendments, only 17 of which have been ratified since 1792. In July 2004, the House defeated his proposal, 63-353. But some members of both parties thought the problem should be addressed, and Republican Christopher Cox, working with Democrat Martin Frost, proposed modest rules changes to help the House adjust to such a catastrophe. When Baird objected to additional procedural changes to redefine a House "quorum," he lost on a party-line vote. Baird opposed House-passed legislation that would require special elections to fill House seats within 49 days following a catastrophe. On a separate internal issue, he made the novel suggestion that the House should enforce its three-day waiting period for consideration of major legislation. Baird has been reelected easily. His 2002 opponent, state Senator Joseph Zarelli, was damaged when he acknowledged that he drew unemployment checks while serving in the legislature. Baird won 62%-38%. In 2004, he won by an identical margin even as George W. Bush was carrying the district a second time.
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