Former Black Panther Aaron Dixon to run for SenateBy NEIL MODIE
P-I REPORTERAaron Dixon, a black community activist and icon of Seattle's political left for nearly 40 years, is running for the U.S. Senate, posing what could be a potent threat to Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell's chances for re-election.
Dixon, 57, a co-founder of the Seattle chapter of the Black Panther Party in 1968, is announcing at a news conference Thursday his candidacy for the Green Party nomination. In a close general election, he conceivably could peel enough liberal votes from Cantwell to help hand the election to Republican businessman Mike McGavick.
In other words, Dixon could do for McGavick what another third-party candidate, Libertarian Jeff Jared, arguably did for Cantwell when she unseated Republican Sen. Slade Gorton in 2000. Cantwell won by 2,229 votes, and many Republicans think the 64,734 votes for Jared cost Gorton the election.
"This has got to be great news for McGavick and bad news for Cantwell," University of Washington political scientist David Olson said of Dixon's candidacy. That's particularly so, he said, because Dixon could pull votes from two reliably Democratic constituencies, environmentalists and African Americans.
Some liberals are angry at Cantwell for having voted for the 2002 Iraq war resolution, the USA Patriot Act and the 2005 Central American Free Trade Agreement.
In a news advisory about his candidacy, the Dixon campaign said he is running because "Mr. Dixon believes Sen. Cantwell's positions -- and votes -- on crucial issues such as peace and war, fair trade and corporate control, as well as civil liberties vs. unchecked government surveillance, are no longer representing the majority of Washington State residents."
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