Boeing

Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) is facing a political headwind from the breath of Boeing here in Washington state, according to a report from Politico.com's Jeanne Cummings.

She cites the relative success of Dino Rossi (R-Sammamish) in his race to unseat Democratic Gov. Chris Gregoire, and Rep. Dave Reichert's (R-Auburn) ability to keep his race a tossup in the 8th Congressional District.

Both Republicans have held polling leads during the campaign, although their opponents are currently on top. 

Similar races across the country have been riding a strong wave behind Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) to lean Democratic.

McCain has taken many legislative stands against Boeing, and has even mentioned them during presidential debates this fall.

The Air Force tanker deal that caused so much uproar among Washington's elected officials The Air Force tanker deal that caused so much uproar among Washington's elected officials because a large military contract was given to European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co. and Northrop-Grumman instead of local firm Boeing has not been used to score political points until Mondaday.

Politico.com reports on a new development where the campaign of Darcy Burner (D-Carnation) is accusing Rep. Dave Reichert's campaign of trying to have it both ways on the issue.

Reichert has been an outspoken critic of the deal, attempting most recently to get pro-EADS advertisements off the radio in Washington, D.C., but Burner's campaign is airing the fact that a recent fundraiser organized for Reichert was arranged by a group called Club 218 which is led by lobbyists for, among other organizations, EADS and fellow Boeing competitor Alabama Aircraft Industries.

Washington's Congressional delegation spoke out in favor of today's decision by Secretary of Defense Robert Gates' decision to re-open the bidding process for the Air Force KC-767 tankers. Airbus had won the initial contract, which would have cost the state's economy a significant amount of money, but the process was discovered to be flawed by the Government Accountability Office.

Representatives Brian Baird (D-03), Doc Hastings (D-04) and Cathy McMorris Rodgers (D-05) have yet to speak on the matter. Links to and excerpts from the rest of the state's elected officials statements are below.

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Washington's full delegation, with the exception of Rep. Brian Baird (D-Vancouver) spoke out on the Government Accountability Office's decision today to uphold the protest against the decision making process that led to a US Air Force tanker contract to go to Airbus over Boeing earlier this year.

The group unanimously celebrated the GAO's decision because of initial unfairness in the decision making process, and used their statements as an I-told-you-so to those who supported and helped usher the deal through.

"It has been clear all along that the process was flawed, as evidenced by the clear recommendations made by the GAO," said Rep. Dave Reichert (R-Auburn). "This is a great victory for Boeing, Washington state and every American who values our nation's economic and homeland security."

Read all available statements below the jump.

Representatives Cathy McMorris Rodgers and Dave Reichert have gone kosher and sworn off the pork. Which sounds admirable but also correlates to their effectiveness rating, and will likely get them less goodwill than a couple of good projects for their districts would have. On the other side, Rep. Norm Dicks won Citizens Against Government Waste’s “April Porker of the Month” for trying to get the Air Force to buy from Boeing. What nerve!