Washington State Governor's Race Is Still Squeaking (Dem is winning)

[Rose Siding]

SEATTLE, Nov. 4 - Florida is settled this time around and the country knows who is president, but Washington State residents are still wondering: who is the new governor?

"Neck and Neck," a phrase that was punctuated with an exclamation point Thursday on the Web site of the Republican candidate, one-time underdog Dino Rossi, is almost an understatement at this point

The latest vote tallies in a gubernatorial cliffhanger, whose outcome will be determined by hundreds of thousands of absentee ballots yet to be counted, show Mr. Rossi and his Democratic opponent, State Attorney General Christine Gregoire, within a hair of each other. On Thursday evening, Ms. Gregoire had 49.45 percent of the vote and Mr. Rossi had 48.45 percent of the 2.2 million votes counted.

On Wednesday morning, Mr. Rossi, 45, a businessman who has a dog named Dubya and may be only the latest benefactor of the national Republican renaissance, was ahead by about 800 votes. By Wednesday evening, though, Ms. Gregoire, 57, who was favored to win until the final days of the campaign, was ahead by about 14,000 votes.

By Thursday night, Ms. Gregoire had widened her lead to 21, 234 votes. But there were still 682,645 votes left to count, and the possibility of a recount loomed in a state that has not sent a Republican to its governor's mansion in Olympia since 1980.

http://nytimes.com/2004/11/05/national/05gov.html

If Chris wins, my blue state will be the first to have women in the three most powerful govt postitions: Patti Murray, Maria Cantwell and Gov Gregoire.

[glitch]

1. If she doesn't win I hope to hell she investigates the vote count

We're infested with optical scans here and Sam Reed is NOT to be trusted.
Perhaps she can audit the Presidential tally while she's at it, it doesn't look right to me either.

[symphony]

3. no one else seems to be interested in auditing the Presidential tally

Isn't that weird? If I had the political power, I'd go for it right away. But then again, who is asking me?

They still keep saying that Rove's mobilization of fundies gave * the upper hand. Nonsense! Now we know there is a lot more to this story.

[symphony]

2. yeah, very suspicious

Christine G. is popular here in WA. It is beyond me that a seriously blue state like WA will vote in large numbers for the GOP candidate. I've been wondering about this since 11/02, when it was announced that the race is "too close to call".

[wabeewoman]

4. I don't think so

Rossi is carrying the eastern part of the state and Pierce county where there are many military people and some other counties. There are lots of Rossi signs. In fact I had to talk my normally dem husband out of voting for him. Also I really don't think Gregore ran a very agressive campaign. I'm still hoping she wins but it'll depend on where the votes are coming from.

[symphony]

5. I don't like her personally

but I voted for her anyway ... or should I say - I voted against Rossi.

[mrbassman03]

13. Me too! I don't really know how Gregoire would do...

but I know Rossi would "fuck shit up" to say the least. And I don't think there is any voter fraud, it is Eastern WA and some other counties...

[AmandaRuth]

6. does the article talk about the Ann Coulter

action figure doll he keeps on his desk?

[kurtyboy]

7. Getting tighter still--as of 6:30 PM local, Nov 5

Christine Gregoire
Democrat 1192259 49.00%

Dino Rossi
Republican 1188258 48.84%

Ruth Bennett
Libertarian 52318 2.15%

Only a 4,001 vote difference (One sixth of one percent), and we still have 362,246 votes left to count!

Here's the big story: If Gregoire holds on, it will only be with the help of the Libertarian Party, which edges it's percentage up with every absentee ballot counted.

Libertarians are considered a "Major Party" by Washington law, and are finally beginning to influence races, if only in this marginal way. Oh, but what a way. If this begins to catch on nationally, the GOP will have trouble keeping that last 1% that gave Bush his bullshit "man-date" in this round. The LIB party captured between two and (on edit: raised %) four percent in every race in Washington, and I think they'll be empowered to grow, especially as Bush steals more and more of our civil liberties.

Just one of the many angles we need to consider as we take back democracy for the next few years....

And BTW, the recount is mandatory if the margin is less than AND less than 1/2% apart. If is within 1/4% apart (which it is NOW), then a HAND RECOUNT (no machines!) is required. A couple of our counties use touchscreen with no paper trail.... Tell me, again, how to hand-count electrons!?!? If it happens, we'll be interested to compare the results to the scanners...and we'll see you GOPers in court.

Kurt

[KellyW]

11. The Libertarians will lose their major party status

They didn't get 5% in any race.

[kurtyboy]

16. Kelly--You're right of course

But my point is that we need to play up what an influence the LIBs had in this race--get reporters to do a story or two, get just one national media portal to put it out there and give the LIBs a sense of empowerment. They helped decide a governors race, for crying out loud!

Believe me, in three and a half years, a ton of GOP voters will be looking for an alternative, A TON!!!, and we need to give them a couple--the LIBs, and of course, the DEMs.

BTW, how're things going now that we're settling into hell? I'm sure I'll see you around in the next two months--but call me anyway. If you don't have the number any more, our county chair does...

Later my friend
Kurt

[PretzelzRule]

8. What kind of sick fuck names their dog "dubya"?

poor dog!

[kurtyboy]

9. This guy is a clone of the Shrub

We cannot afford him here...

PLUS, he isn't very bright.

Oh yeah, I guess I said as much in the subject line.

[progressivebydesign]

10. He's a scary Tom DeLay type..

.. wants to force Creationism in our textbooks, etc. He's a stealth candidate, as they used to be called in School Board races.

[glitch]

12. This could be our best chance to prove vote fraud and break the

national election fraud wide open.
I checked the county numbers (still not all in yet) no way is Rossi getting the percentages he's showing in King County.

[mrbassman03]

14. There is no voter fraud...

Drving through Spokane, Pullman, Kettle Falls, I saw NOTHING but Rossi signs. Even in King County, I saw just as many Rossi as Gregoire...

[glitch]

15. I drove all around the state too, and I was surprised there weren't more

Rossi signs in E. WA. I mean, E. WA, after all.