'Microsoft senator' vies with RealNetworks exec for Senate seat

From James Hattori
CNNdotCOM Correspondent

SEATTLE, Washington (CNN) -- In a U.S. Senate race still too close to call, both candidates are portraying themselves as champions of the state's flourishing high-tech industry.

"The Microsoft lawsuit was totally ill-conceived from the beginning," said Sen. Slade Gorton. "It should have been a private action because it was primarily aimed to benefit a number of Microsoft competitors."

The Microsoft issue is one issue on which both candidates agree. Gorton's opponent is Maria Cantwell, a 42-year-old Democrat who got in on the ground floor of multimedia software company RealNetworks. Cantwell went to Congress as a Democrat from the Seattle area in 1992 but was ousted by the Republican Revolution two years later. RealNetworks recruited her to help market a product in direct competition with Microsoft.

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After five years as an executive, she amassed stock estimated to be worth more than $20 million. Now on leave from RealNetworks, she's spent more than $7 million trying to unseat the Republican incumbent.

"It's time for a change, and it's not an issue of being old. It's an issue of longevity," Cantwell said.

The 72-year-old Gorton, a three-term incumbent and long-time marathon runner, finds himself in yet another sprint to the political finish line.

"All the races I'm involved in are tight races. This state, very frequently, doesn't treat Republicans particularly well," Gorton said.

And the race is far from a simple one for Cantwell, since her boss, Rob Glaser of RealNetworks, was at one time openly critical of Microsoft.

Testifying before Congress in 1998 that Bill Gates was out to hurt competitors, Glaser said, "I'm here because Microsoft is taking action that simply stops our company's products from working for computer users around the country and all over the world. It isn't fair play, and it's not fair to consumers."

Gorton, in his TV ads, accuses Cantwell of being vague on the Microsoft issue. And in this campaign, Bill Gates and Microsoft employees have donated the legal limit -- more than $100,000 -- to Gorton. The company says it's supporting all incumbents. While Gates has given nothing to Cantwell, some of his workers have contributed to her campaign.

The candidates made their first joint appearance of the campaign before The Seattle Times editorial board

Cantwell said her high-tech experience plays a big role in her run for the Senate.

"Well, I'm a little less patient about our political system," she said. "I guess after being in the software industry for the last five years and working with a whole generation of young people who think that politics doesn't get anything done, I very much want to change that system."

Counters Gorton, "She has said that she is for the new politics and the new technology, and I am for the old. In fact, exactly the opposite is true."

Despite supporting Gorton in all four of his previous senatorial campaigns, last weekend the state's biggest newspaper, The Seattle Times, endorsed Cantwell -- largely because of her promotion of the new economy.

The paper stated that while Gorton is "a vigorous 72," the campaign is about "old and new thinking."

"If Cantwell wins, even some Republicans concede she'd be a major presence on an array of high-technology issues," the Seattle Times editorial states.

In a record-setting $20 million campaign battle, Gorton is outspending Cantwell. That's close enough to bring out the Hollywood crowd -- director Rob Reiner and actor Martin Sheen -- to stump for Cantwell in the 11th hour.

Veteran independent political pollster Stuart Elway said Gorton's seniority and influence carry more weight with voters than do high-tech issues.

"I don't think it's as big a factor for the voters as it might be between the two candidates," he said. "For one thing, everyone recognizes that Microsoft and high-tech is a big economic factor in this area. But in terms of employment, it's not that big an employer. And let's face it: The Microsoft employees are all 30 years old, and they don't vote."

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