Laptops stolen from Bush campaign

SEATTLE -- Three laptop computers containing campaign plans were stolen overnight from the Bush-Cheney state headquarters office, Republican officials said Friday.

Between 2 a.m. and 8 a.m., after the last campaign worker had gone home from the office in the Seattle suburb of Bellevue, someone threw a rock through the office window of Jon Seaton, executive director for President Bush's state campaign, said Chris Vance, state GOP chairman.

Vance said two of the stolen laptops belonged to Seaton and Chris Taylor, head of the office's get-out-the-vote campaign. A third had been slated for a field office.

The computers contained much of the Bush-Cheney campaign strategy for the state, Vance said.

"This looks like it was politically motivated," Vance said in an interview from the Republican party offices in Tukwila.

Bellevue police confirmed the burglary Friday afternoon but offered no support for Vance's claims about motive.

"No evidence at the scene indicated this was politically motivated," police spokeswoman Jessamyn Poling said.

State Democratic Party spokeswoman Kirstin Brost said Democrats knew nothing about the break-in. "We think it's awful and we definitely condemn the actions of those who stole these computers," she said.