Washington's next governor: Chris Gregoire
Unconfirmed reports from the Democratic Party say that Democrat Christine Gregoire has triumphed over Republican Dino Rossi by eight votes, thanks to the recount in King County. King County finished its recount yesterday and will officially report at 3:30 PM tomorrow. Both political parties, however, were given information early.
The State Chairman of the Democratic Party said: "We're confident Christine Gregoire has been elected the governor of the state of Washington...I believe Dino Rossi should concede."
This means that Gregoire is the winner, with or without a ruling in her favor tomorrow by the state Supreme Court on the fate of 723 ballots which the Republican Party is disputing because it doesn't want them counted.
Of course, the AP is reporting: "Rossi has indicated he may challenge the election results in court if he loses the hand recount after winning the first two counts."
That's not a surprise either. Republicans are so desperate to win, they'll do anything right now. And another rush to the courts would not be a surprise, but again proves that Dino Rossi has a double standard on litigation in the race.
The hearing before the Supreme Court begins at 9:30 AM tomorrow morning.
UPDATE
New local news stories from the Times and P-I are up!
The State Chairman of the Democratic Party said: "We're confident Christine Gregoire has been elected the governor of the state of Washington...I believe Dino Rossi should concede."
This means that Gregoire is the winner, with or without a ruling in her favor tomorrow by the state Supreme Court on the fate of 723 ballots which the Republican Party is disputing because it doesn't want them counted.
Of course, the AP is reporting: "Rossi has indicated he may challenge the election results in court if he loses the hand recount after winning the first two counts."
That's not a surprise either. Republicans are so desperate to win, they'll do anything right now. And another rush to the courts would not be a surprise, but again proves that Dino Rossi has a double standard on litigation in the race.
The hearing before the Supreme Court begins at 9:30 AM tomorrow morning.
UPDATE
New local news stories from the Times and P-I are up!
- Democrats: Gregoire wins by 8 votes (Seattle Post-Intelligencer)
- Clear winner? Most likely, it'll be reform (Seattle Post-Intelligencer)
- Column: Partisan sound and fury (Joel Connelly, Seattle Post-Intelligencer)
- Gregoire catches Rossi, Dems say (Seattle Times)
- Recount likened to Nixon's 1960 race (Seattle Times)
- Column: Let's hope court's on voters' side (Danny Westneat, Seattle Times)
This is from one of the Times articles above on the Democrats' response to the GOP court filings:
The Democrats responded to the BIAW and Eikenberry in a filing yesterday. The party called it "an apparent attempt to insinuate indirectly what plaintiffs ... could not prove, that there is even the slightest indication of fraud in the manual recount of the Washington Governor's race in King County [or anywhere else for that matter.]"The Democrats have the right idea.
Democrats were unimpressed by evidence presented in the friend-of-the-court brief, saying it "relies upon letters to the editor, a Wall Street Journal editorial and newspaper articles quoting the Washington State Republican Party Chairman Chris Vance's unfortunate hyperbole."
And Richard Nixon's memoir.
