Who's behind Locke?

WASHINGTON - As the Queen of England does in committee-written speeches from the throne, the Democrat chosen to respond to President Bush's State of the Union address, Gov. Gary Locke of Washington, articulated with resonance and modulated perfectly.

He avoided items that were overly arguable and likely to create political friction. But this was not Her Britannic Majesty visiting her ancestors' former colony; it was the Democratic National Committee playing its ethnic card in its high visibility prime-time challenge to the constitutionally mandated presidential report.

The Democrats' pollsters are an opportunistic bunch realizing that their weary old party's hope of success in 2004 depends on flash and glitter. Indeed, that long has been the secret of Dems winning the White House.

In the 1960s and 1970s, the DNC promoted black and Hispanic candidates; in the 1980s and 1990s, women politicians were all the rage. Today, microwave ovens, sports equipment, athletic shoes and Christmas decorations are made in China. So, why not politicians, too•

In fact, Asian-Americans are somewhat a rarity among the Democrats. Those who immigrated from China, Korea and Japan and their descendants usually have strong and traditional American family values; in schools and colleges, most study hard and are in the upper academic percentile. Hard workers, they save money and are fiscally conservative. Most often they are to be found in the Republican Party.

ATTRACTIVE LOCKE

The speaker selected by the DNC, Gov. Locke, was not only an Asian-American, but also a near perfect "New Democrat." He was born in the United States to Asian parents, is Baptist by religion and has an achievement-packed resume: a law degree, civil service positions, political posts and aspirations, one telegenic and career-minded wife, two delightful children (one girl, one boy) and hobbies related to "nesting" — home improvement and plumbing.

Gary Locke must have scored 100 percent when a selection committee calculated whom to choose to respond to the State of the Union Address. Back home, where the governor is under attack by his own party for his proposed budget cuts, they also oppose his cautious support of the president's Iraq policies so far.

Locke faces a $2.4 billion state budget chasm and transportation problems that seem insoluble during these anti-tax times. He has staked out a no-new-tax stance with unexpected vehemence — to the unbridled delight of Republicans and much to the chagrin of his state's Democrats — who complain that their leader has become a Republican.

Locke's poll numbers have slumped to an all-time low and he faces primary challenges next year from traditional Democratic tax-and-spend liberals — that is, if he decides to run for re-election instead of fund-raising to make an attempt possible.

Gary Locke, who is only 53, was one of five children. He grew up living in a Seattle veteran's housing project and working in his father's grocery store. Gary's grandfather immigrated to Olympia at the beginning of the last century, worked as a house servant and returned to China to marry. Gary's dad returned to Washington, fought with Gen. George Patton's tankers in World War II as a member of the 5th Armored Division, then went to Hong Kong for his own bride and returned to Seattle.

Gary became an Eagle Scout, won a scholarship to Yale where he took a degree in political science, from there to Boston University Law School and to King County (Seattle) as an assistant prosecutor. There his reputation as being tough on crime catapulted him to the State Assembly, to chief executive of King County and to the governor's mansion in Olympia for two terms.

In 1994, the governor married Mona Lee, a former KING-TV reporter who, after

graduating from the University of California at Berkeley and taking a journalism degree at Northwestern University, collected news in Washington, D.C., and Green Bay, Wis. She gets things done; even Democrats complain about poor Gary. One said, "He's a high-potential underachieving governor," and another, "He's a thinker; he mulls things over forever and ever; politics demands quick action sometimes."

BROKEN PROMISES

Even worse for a politician, Gary Locke does not follow through on his public promises.

Seattle's large community of homosexuals and lesbians opened their checkbooks when he first ran for governor. Disenchantment followed when Locke, facing a conservative opponent, suddenly changed his mind after supporting domestic-partner benefits for four years.

Then there is Locke's effort to restart nuclear-weapons production at the Hanford facility. Outside the public view, Gary Locke is supporting a private company to commence work again at Hanford, under a pretext that a new cancer cure is possible but with material for nuclear weapons as a sideline. The possibility, however, depends on government funding and the credibility of a Bill Clinton on a massive scale.

The best thing Gary Locke has going for him is his network of friends. We need mention only two: Paul Allen and Bill Gates. Paul Allen was a co-founder of Microsoft, who, after a bout with Hodgkinson's disease, started both a new investment company and a production company. He also owns the Seattle Seahawks and their state-of-the-art stadium as well as Portland's NBA Trail Blazers. Even more influential are Microsoft's Bill Gates and his wife, Melinda, close friends with Gary and Mona and partners on many philanthropic enterprises.

THE KICKER

Now that we know all we ever needed to know about Gov. Gary Locke and his family, it begs the question — what is all this about?

First, it is a fund-raising ploy to persuade Asian-Americans to contribute to Democratic Party candidates in the next election. Locke is an American dream candidate — the very first Chinese-American to become a state governor.

In less than 100 years, the Locke family has gone from servant's shacks through the battlefields crawling with our country's enemies and long, back-breaking hours serving grocery customers to the governor's mansion.

And now the Democratic National Committee has promoted him to high national visibility. But who is calling the shots• Is it the multibillionaires of the Microsoft millions• Is it the bankers of Hong Kong or the mandarins of the Riady family or the People's Liberation Army, selecting a "new and improved" Bill Clinton?

There are many unanswered questions, chief of which is: Why were none of the contenders for the presidency asked to make the response?

Before we see an East Coast-West Coast Democrat alliance for the presidency — the Hillary and Gary show — there are a multitude of questions to be answered. Stay tuned.

Dateline D.C. is written by a Washington-based British journalist and political observer.