Clinton attended fundraising events for freshman U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, who faces a potential re-election problem and U.S. Rep. Jim McDermott, who continues to face a nine-year legal battle.

At both fundraisers, Clinton urged Democrats to reclaim power in Washington, D.C., and he defended his party’s actions under the Bush administration’s rule.

“You have no idea how difficult it is if you don’t have either house of the Congress to get things through,” said Clinton.

“They [Republicans] favor ideology over evidence; they favor attack over argument," said Clinton, describing the Republicans in power. “But when they are more reasonable, it’s amazing what we could do.”

Cantwell’s campaign has come under fire because of her late fundraising start for the Sept. 19 primary.

State Republican Party Chairwoman Diane Tebelius said Clinton’s visit is a bad sign for the Cantwell campaign.

“It’s obvious the Cantwell campaign has pushed the panic button,” said Tebelius.

The senator, who did not attend her fundraiser, was criticized by 20 protestors for her failure to demand a troop withdrawal from Iraq.

McDermott, on the other hand, looks virtually unbeatable in the seventh district, but faces the expensive and drawn-out lawsuit involving an illegally taped telephone call he leaked to reporters in 1996.

In March, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled McDermott violated federal law by turning the tape over and ordered him to pay $60,000 in damages and more than $600,000 in legal costs. But the appellate court agreed to have all nine of its judges hear McDermott's appeal again in September.

Clinton also managed to get in a few jabs about the Bush administration’s tax cuts: “I never thought the President would take such good care of me as he does.”

The hot topics of health care, education, clean energy, national security and of course the Iraq War, made it into his speech as well.

Tickets for the fundraising events ranged in price from $50 to $1,000 dollars, and nearly 4,000 people attended the events held at Benaroya Hall and the Seattle Convention Center.