Peter Goldmark's Campaign Takes Flight

Being in the 8th it is easy for me to focus a lot on the Darcy Burner challenge to Dave Reichert, but there is another race in Washington State that we should all be paying very close attention to, and that's the race in WA-05 between Democratic challenger Peter Goldmark and first term incumbent Republican, Cathy McMorris.

Peter Goldmark is the real deal folks. This is his bio (pilfered from the campaign site):

Peter Goldmark began his education in a one-room schoolhouse at Duley Lake near Okanogan, Washington. He graduated from Okanogan High School in Okanogan and in 1967 received a degree from Haverford College near Philadelphia. After receiving his Ph.D. in molecular biology from the University of California at Berkeley in 1971, he traveled to Harvard University for a postdoctoral fellowship in neurobiology. Following his marriage in 1972, he moved back to Okanogan with his wife, Georgia. Together, they raised their five children on the family ranch. Sadly, Georgia succumbed to cancer in 2003. Goldmark has had a lifelong involvement with agriculture, science, education, and public service. Included among his public service positions are the following:

- Director of Agriculture for State of Washington, appointed by Governor Lowry in 1993
- Chairman of the Governor's Council on Agriculture and the Environment in 1994-1996
- Governor's Council for a Sustainable Washington in 2002-2003
- Governor's Council on Biodiversity in 2004-2005
- Founding board member and past Chairman of the Board of Farming and the Environment, a unique coalition of farmers, ranchers, and conservationists founded in 1999
- Board of Regents of Washington State University, 1996-2005; President of the Board in 1999-2000
- Board of the Washington State University-University of Washington Policy Consensus Center, 2003-2006
- Okanogan School Board, 1998-2005

Goldmark maintains a small scientific research facility at his ranch and has published scientific articles in national and international journals. He currently maintains a wheat-breeding program at his facility and has recently released new varieties for Washington wheat farmers. Goldmark left the Washington State University Board in 2005 to run for the U.S. House of Representatives from Washington's 5th District. He recently remarried and lives in Spokane with his wife, Wendy, splitting his time between campaigning from his Spokane office and managing operations on the family ranch near Okanogan.

A number of NW bloggers have been occasionally touting Goldmark's credentials for the past couple of months, but a new blog has emerged that looks like it will focus on this race on a much more frequent basis: EWpolitics.com.

The blog is based near Spokane and will focus on progressive politics in Eastern Washington, and is a welcome addition to the growing progressive blogosphere in the Pacific NW.

EWpolitics.com writes today about Goldmark's first television campaign ad. Goldmark needs media exposure because so far the media have completely ignored this race, probably conceding that McMorris cannot be defeated. That is so far from the truth. Goldmark is the perfect candidate to defeat the freshman Bush rubber stamp congresswoman, and her numbers in an early poll show Goldmark stampeding down her neck, in a statistical tie.

So, go educate yourself about Peter Goldmark, and consider contributing to his campaign or volunteering to help him get his message out to the vastly disperse population in the 5th.

This November a huge wave of voter discontent could sweep out the do-nothing Republican Congress (that does nothing except drive this nation into a huge hole of debt and struggles), and give Democrats a majority in the House. Candidates like Darcy Burner and Peter Goldmark would bring fresh faces into a stagnant Legislative branch, and give Democrats the votes needed to lead this country into a new, positive direction.