The top two vote-getters in the Aug. 19 primary will advance to the general election regardless of their political party.

Baird, a 52-year-old moderate Democrat, has provoked his share of controversy lately by endorsing President Bush’s troop surge in Iraq, dressing down a scientist over a post-fire forest-regeneration study and supporting the shooting of sea lions at Bonneville Dam.

But it’s hard to say how much that has eroded his popularity in the sprawling 3rd District, which covers Clark, Cowlitz, Lewis, Wahkiakum, Pacific, Skamania, and part of Thurston counties.

Baird keeps his fences mended and travels frequently through the district, from the mill town of Morton in the Cascades to Cathlamet on the lower Columbia.

Making the case for his reelection, he cites his efforts to restore sales tax deductibility for Washington residents, his fight to control the methamphetamine trade and his championing of comprehensive health care, among many other issues.

As a senior member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Baird is positioned to win federal funding for a new Interstate 5 bridge over the Columbia River, an issue that will be ripe in 2009 as Congress drafts a new multiyear transportation budget.

He said he likes the idea of a “signature span” over the Columbia River but worries about the cost, estimated at nearly $4 billion. “I don’t think we’re clear about how we’re going to fund the project,” he said.

Baird also chairs a Science and Technology subcommittee on education and research, which has allowed him to indulge his interest in science — and travel to the Galapagos Islands recently at taxpayer expense.

Peace activist

Democratic peace activist Cheryl Crist, 63, is challenging Baird over his support for the troop surge in Iraq.

“I fully believe that Brian was sold a bill of goods by a general, and maybe more than one,” she told The Columbian’s editorial board Friday. “I think it will come to no good.” The money being spent on military engagements in Iraq and Afghanistan is desperately needed to rebuild infrastructure at home, she said.

To solve the nation’s economic ills, she proposes a tax on all financial transactions. “The financial services industry is not pulling its own weight,” she said. “We could have college and health care for everyone.”

Crist, who has worked as a teacher, stockbroker and real estate agent, favors a single-payer universal health insurance program like those available in many western nations. “It is not a far-left, avant-garde idea in the world,” she said.

She said she once supported Baird but now believes he has lost touch with his core constituency.
“There are many in the Democratic Party who feel our voices aren’t being heard, that the representation we’re getting now is not what we voted for 10 years ago.”

Grass-roots Republican

Christine Webb, 35, of Olympia is a former school board chairwoman and part-time director of economic development for the Lewis County Chamber of Commerce who filed for the seat at the last minute. She’s active in Republican party politics as a precinct committee officer and chairwoman of the Thurston County Republican Committee.
She said she plans to campaign on the nation’s need to develop its domestic energy resources, reform health care and exercise fiscal discipline. If elected, she said, she would insist on more accountability by federal agencies for wasteful spending.
Webb said she supports the surge and opposes withdrawal of U.S. troops at this time. “It would be a great detriment if we pulled out right now,” she said.

Ron Paul supporter

Michael Delavar, 34, a Washougal airline pilot, is a supporter of maverick Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul, whose highly organized backers won more than two-thirds of Clark County’s 89 delegates to the state Republican Party Convention in May. Paul, a Texas congressman, has since suspended his campaign.

Delavar is running on a platform of sound monetary policy, no amnesty for illegal aliens, opposition to abortion and a strong national defense. Like Paul, he favors returning to a currency system backed by silver and gold. He also supports the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq and advocates using paid militias to pursue terrorists.

Webb won the state Republican Party’s endorsement after Delavar refused to sign a pledge of support for presumed GOP presidential candidate John McCain. He said the choice was presented to him as a quid pro quo — in effect, an effort to buy his vote.

He told The Columbian that he won’t be involved in any presidential campaign this year.

If elected, he said, he would work to restore the constitutional role of Congress in deciding when the United States will engage in war.

“My focus is adherence to the Constitution,” he said. “Congress hasn’t declared war since World War II.”