Camas-Washougal volunteers ‘GOTV’ for Democrat Carolyn Long

Four days before the midterm elections on Nov. 6, dozens of Camas-Washougal volunteers gathered in downtown Camas today to help “GOTV” — get out the vote — for Congressional Democratic candidate Carolyn Long.

“You lift my spirits and inspire me,” Long, the Washington State University, Vancouver political science professor who is hoping to unseat U.S. Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler in Washington’s 3rd Congressional District on Nov. 6, told the group of volunteers.

Former Camas Mayor Nan Henriksen and former Washougal City Councilwoman Joyce Lindsay joined the Long campaign’s GOTV efforts Friday afternoon, saying the Democratic candidate was “perfect” for the 3rd District and had won their votes.

“She has worked her buns off going from one end of this very big district to the other, and then back again,” Henriksen said. “It’s exemplary that she’s doing that, but we can’t count on the candidate to all that — we need volunteers like all of you.”

Lindsay told the Long supporters gathered outside the candidate’s Camas field office near the Subway restaurant on Northeast Third Avenue that she believed the WSU-V professor exemplified the type of qualities, including leadership abilities, intelligence, confidence and “the ability to keep on keeping on,” that 3rd District constituents “need so desperately” in Washington D.C. right now.

Long made the crowd laugh with stories about her husband — a Republican who didn’t decide to vote for his wife until he heard her speak about her platform on Oregon Public Broadcasting a couple weeks ago — and about a “logger’s jubilee” she attended in conservative town of Morton, Washington.

Long said she was handing out campaign literature at the jubilee, when a sudden downpour left her drenched, standing in a white T-shirt and no shoes. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw her opponent, Herrera Beutler, sitting atop a horse, completely dry, and giving the crowd her best princess wave.

Long said she dreaded reading about the event the next day, but went online anyway and saw a photo of her, “looking like a drowned rat” and “Jaime on her horse, looking great.”

When she read the photo cutline, however, Long said she couldn’t believe it.

“It said, ‘This is why Carolyn Long is going to win: Jaime Herrera Beutler is sitting on her high horse while Long is working for every vote,’” Long said, making the crowd laugh. “It’s been a sprint for 11 months, but that sprint is coming to an end.”

Ballots must be postmarked by Nov. 6, or dropped into a ballot box by 8 p.m. on Election Day. For ballot box locations and more information, visit clark.wa.gov/elections.