Foley Running Neck And Neck With Gop Foe -- Speaker Using Clout And Money In Re-Election Bid

SPOKANE - He's spending three times as much as in previous campaigns.

He's touting his clout as speaker of the House.

But still Tom Foley finds himself in a dead heat with a neophyte Republican.

His opponent, George Nethercutt, has battered Foley by making issues of what previously were considered the 15-term Democratic incumbent's strengths.

In a series of debates, the two have sparred over:

-- Term limits.

-- Crime and gun control.

-- The federal government's role in education.

-- Congressional reform.

-- Entitlement spending.

-- Farm subsidies.

-- The influence of the speaker's office.

"Foley can't represent the Democrats' and the president's program and the voters of this district," Nethercutt said.

A poll published Sunday in the Spokesman-Review newspaper showed the race statistically tied. Nethercutt had 46 percent and Foley 44 percent, with 10 percent undecided, in the Mason-Dixon Political-Media Research Inc. survey conducted for the newspaper and KHQ-TV.

In another poll, conducted for KXLY-TV and released Tuesday, Nethercutt had 46 percent and Foley 45 percent, and 9 percent were undecided.

Both polls had margins of error of 4.5 percentage points.

As he campaigns across Eastern Washington, Foley, 65, has touted the value of his clout. He raised the specter that the benefits of being the speaker's home district would move to Marietta, Ga., home of Minority Whip Newt Gingrich, if Republicans capture the House.

"It's clear to everybody that the speakership is the most powerful single office in the House," Foley said.

"There's no question that it adds strength to the voice of this district, and George Nethercutt wants to deny that to the people of the 5th District."

Foley has tried to convince voters that the Democrat-controlled Congress has passed meaningful budget cuts and reduced the federal deficit, while the Republicans' "Contract with America" would gut popular farm programs and spending for the elderly.

Nethercutt, 49, a lawyer and former Spokane County Republican County chairman, is making his first bid for public office with a campaign attacking incumbency, taxes and congressional spending.

"We have the power to send a stunning message around this country that what we want from our representatives is not more of the same, not more tax increases, not coordination of everything with Bill Clinton, not more satisfaction of every Democratic Party idea for spending your money and mine," Nethercutt said.

"The system must change, and it won't change if he's re-elected."

Foley, who until recently spent less than $500,000 on his re-election campaigns, has raised $1.7 million this time. Nethercutt has raised $680,000. About half of Foley's contributions have come from political-action committees, compared with $38,000 for Nethercutt.

But Nethercutt's campaign has benefited from an estimated $500,000 in anti-Foley TV advertisements paid for by independent groups, including the National Rifle Association, an organization supporting term limits and a Virginia group opposed to statehood for the District of Columbia.