Tiffany Smiley uses Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA), slogan against her while she barnstorms across Washington State in an effort to convince skeptical grassroots conservatives to believe in her and win the race for Senate.

Murray, 72, ran for the Senate in 1992 as a “mom wearing tennis shoes” and faced little opposition in a state that has become more Democratic over the years. Smiley, however, is riding in a green-and-blue tour bus with the slogan “There’s an old mom in town” and declaring Murray out of touch. She is also rallying voters from the eastern Washington red counties where she will need to score the points to win.

Smiley told about 50 supporters that he needed each one of them to win the race. They braved freezing rain and 30 degree weather to see Smiley in Ritzville, which is just off Interstate 90. “Sen. Murray is Washington, D.C. … She is not the mom in tennis shoes anymore.

Washington has been a fool’s gold for Republicans in the past, appearing to be winnable in state races at least in red-wave elections. However, the result was overwhelmingly Democrat, powered by the blue counties around Seattle. Recent public opinion polls have shown a neck and neck race. Smiley is loved by the majority of eastern Washington Republican voters. They believe that she can win.

They have never been disappointed and they are now more confident about Smiley’s prospects, despite the lack of polling for less than a week. Mike Kline (71), a rural Ritzville resident, stated that Murray’s advantage is her “space needle people”. It’s his term to describe liberal voters in Greater Seattle, and is a reference the iconic landmark.

Kline stated that Smiley must get as many votes in the east counties as possible to compensate.

“Eastern Washington will be very important for this vote. We can push Washington to the top if we get a positive vote from eastern Washington. He said that if we don’t have a positive vote in eastern Washington, then I’m not certain.” Kline stressed that Republicans in eastern Washington are often content to sit back and assume their votes will not be enough for Democrats west.

He stated that “we haven’t seen much change in [a Republican] direction for 30 years.” “It’s common to feel that we don’t have enough votes for anything. This is false.