Reporter Melissa Santos writes:

Rep. Dave Reichert’s re-election campaign is up in arms today about Democratic opponent Darcy Burner’s claims she earned a degree in economics.

Burner’s Harvard degree is actually in computer science with a special field in economics -- something I noted in my article on the race last weekend.

Reichert’s campaign spokeswoman, Amanda Halligan, today accused Burner of lying to voters about the issue. Burner is challenging Reichert a second time for the chance to represent Washington's Eighth Congressional District, which includes Seattle's Eastside suburbs and East Pierce County.

“She’s played the voters for fools,” Halligan said. “She’s lied on her resume.”

It’s true that Burner has played up having a degree in economics in two
campaign debates this month. Burner’s speech was the same on both Oct. 8 and
October 10: “I loved economics so much that I got a degree in it,” she said.

Burner campaign spokesman Sandeep Kaushik told me shortly afterward that Burner's degree is indeed a computer science degree, but said the “special field” in economics is like a minor.

“It’s a specialization – it’s more than just taking a few classes,” Kaushik said at the time.

[More:]

An article in today’s Seattle Times explores the distinction in depth.

Halligan said the campaign has been stretching the truth about Burner’s degree to say the ex-Microsoft manager is more qualified than Reichert to deal with the economic problems plaguing America. Voters should now know that’s not the case, Halligan said.

She added that the Reichert campaign was “completely shocked” by the revelation in today’s Seattle Times.

But Reichert questioned the legitimacy of Burner’s claims in a phone interview with me Oct. 10, almost two weeks ago.

He was criticizing Burner for proposing her own plans to fix the economy and withdraw from Iraq, areas he said are outside her realm of expertise.

“She’s not only a computer science major from Harvard, she’s now an economics major,” Reichert said. “And she’s also a general.”

Kaushik, Burner’s spokesman, said today that Burner’s campaign has been upfront about the nature of her degree all along.

“They just know they’re losing and they’re going to throw every bit of dirt they can at us,” Kaushik said.

The last non-partisan poll of 8th District voters showed Reichert leading Burner by 10 points back in September, but recent polls released by Democratic groups have shown Burner in the lead.