PORT TOWNSEND — Gov. Chris Gregoire came away from a campaign stop Thursday recommending that state transportation executives should perhaps talk more with downtown merchants and community leaders to see if larger Island Home-class ferries are preferred for the Port Townsend-Keystone route.
The first-term governor was greeted Thursday morning by about 200 cheering, sign-waving Democrats at the Public House restaurant in downtown Port Townsend.
There, she rapped off her main issues: education, the state economy and jobs, Puget Sound’s environment, health care and health insurance.
The quick stop was part of the final leg of her four-day, 14-stop biodiesel bus campaign tour of the state. The tour ended Thursday in Everett and Seattle after the bus hopped the Kingston ferry.
As Gregoire expected, it was the future of ferry service that weighed heavily on at least two downtown business owners’ minds.
