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After four terms in the legislature—two as Republican House floor leader —Evans reached for the governorship in 1964. Few people thought that he would have much of a chance. His reluctance to mix with crowds won him the sobriquet "Old Gluefoot." Says State G.O.P. Chairman C. Montgomery ("Gummie") Johnson: "We'd go out to meet a crowd and Dan would go off in a corner to talk to some old guy about how to redesign a bridge." Even so, while Lyndon Johnson won 62% of the state's vote and both houses of the state legislature went nearly 2-to-1 Democratic, Evans trounced two-term Democratic Governor Albert Rosellini by 150,000 votes.
Evans swiftly made himself known as a forceful executive. He established air-and water-pollution controls, initiated a $242 million school-building construction program and moved to preserve recreational areas. Determined to restore muscle to the lower levels of government, Evans increased state grants to localities. An admirer of New York's John Lindsay, Evans conducted walking tours in Seattle's Central Area ghetto. Evans has promoted self-help ventures in the ghetto, also set up a center there to bring under one roof all the state's social-service agencies. Evans' efforts notwithstanding, Seattle's ghetto erupted last week after police raided a Black Panther headquarters.
Unemployment is down from 6% to 4% since he took office and personal income has risen from $8 billion to nearly $11 billion. Not that he can take credit for all this. And he has had his troubles with the legislature. During his first year, Evans vetoed 14 measures. "We used to have an Italian named Al Rosellini," quipped a Democratic representative. "Now we have Danny Veto."
Evans faces a tough re-election fight. Ultraconservatives are still fuming over his blistering denunciation of the state's small but virulent John Birch Society in 1965. His opponent, to be chosen in next month's primary, is likely to be State Attorney General John J. O'Connell, a popular Democrat in a state whose voters are 5-to-3 Democratic. As far as a vice-presidential nomination goes, Evans noted a couple of years ago, "If I had to make my choice between the two Washingtons, I would select Washington state any time." Washingtonians have come to regard their handsome Governor as a sort of natural resource, like Mount Rainier, and the odds are that they will vote to keep him right where he is in November.