Cantwell came to Washington in 1984. Two years later she became, at 27, the youngest woman elected to the Legislature. She went to Congress in 1992, the first Democrat elected to the 1st District seat in 42 years. Cantwell sought immediately to establish herself as a deficit hawk, backing an effort to roll back growth of the federal government. The ad was denounced as a smear even by newspapers that endorsed Cantwell, and many believe it contributed to her defeat.
Many politicians are better at rhetorical flourishes than operational substance.
Maria is far more versatile. Cantwell spurned Democrats' urgings in 1996 that she go for a rematch with White, choosing instead to take over development of RealNetworks' consumer business. It grew to account for 40 percent of the company's revenues. RealNetworks has run into controversy on the privacy front. It was revealed in November that its RealJukebox system had the capacity to secretly track songs its users were downloading.