Merry Christmas, MurryMom
Posted on 12/23/2004 7:14:37 AM PST by MurryMom
SEATTLE, Dec. 22 - After a bitter and protracted recount fight in the Washington governor's race, elections officials announced Wednesday that the Democratic candidate, Christine O. Gregoire, was leading her Republican opponent by 10 votes - a minuscule margin but a stunning reversal of the Nov. 2 election results.
The preliminary results elated Democratic Party officials and came only hours after the party scored another victory, when the State Supreme Court agreed with the Democrats' contention that more than 700 newly discovered and erroneously disqualified ballots in heavily Democratic King County should now be considered.
Since those ballots came from a county where Ms. Gregoire, 57, already had a solid lead, the ruling could allow her to increase her extraordinarily tiny edge in a race that is the closest in state history and one of the closest in the nation's history.
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(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
LOL
Yep!
Counting and counting....oh gee! Another 1400 Dem votes that were lost in the City of Atlantis!
FGS
Eeeewww, THAT hurts. Makes my effort of a couple weeks ago appear child's play.
FGS
Merry Christmas, MurryMom
Howdy FRiend...MUD
FReegards...MUD
Howdy MUD
Merry Christmas!!
SEATTLE, Dec. 22 - After a bitter and protracted recount fight in the Washington governor's race, elections officials announced Wednesday that the Democratic candidate, Christine O. Gregoire, was leading her Republican opponent by 10 votes - a minuscule margin but a stunning reversal of the Nov. 2 election results.
The preliminary results elated Democratic Party officials and came only hours after the party scored another victory, when the State Supreme Court agreed with the Democrats' contention that more than 700 newly discovered and erroneously disqualified ballots in heavily Democratic King County should now be considered.
Since those ballots came from a county where Ms. Gregoire, 57, already had a solid lead, the ruling could allow her to increase her extraordinarily tiny edge in a race that is the closest in state history and one of the closest in the nation's history.
The day's events dealt a serious blow to state Republicans and Dino Rossi, 45, a businessman and former state senator, who had been certified the winner of the Nov. 2 vote after eking out a margin of 261 votes out of almost three million cast. He later won a machine recount by 42 votes.
Official results from the manual recount will not be announced until Thursday, after King County, which includes Seattle, reviews up to 735 disputed ballots. Republicans, who fought hard to keep those ballots out of the tally, were already vowing Wednesday to press election officials to consider several hundred other disqualified ballots cast in other counties.
Whatever the final results, they are almost certain to be contested.
"This count, this election, is not over," said Chris Vance, the chairman of the state Republican Party. The Supreme Court, he said, "basically threw the door open to start all over again. I think that's crazy."
He said Republicans planned to "show up at 9 a.m." on Thursday "on the doorstep of every county auditor with people whose votes weren't counted for Dino Rossi."
But the Democrats, who have waged an all-out war for their candidate in a state known more for politeness in politics than for the kind of partisan brawling that has dominated this contest, said they were confident that the recount had changed the outcome of a statewide election for the first time in state history.
"We are confident that she has been elected governor," said Paul Berendt, chairman of the state Democratic Party, who has encouraged Mr. Rossi to concede.
At a news conference Wednesday afternoon, Ms. Gregoire, looking upbeat for the first time since before the election, said she was not personally asking Mr. Rossi to concede. "I leave the decision about conceding to Mr. Rossi," she said.
Ms. Gregoire, the state attorney general, steered clear of proclaiming victory. "It is too early to declare victory; although we are ahead right now, there are still hundreds of votes left to be counted," she said.
Mr. Rossi did not comment on Wednesday, but a spokeswoman, Mary Lane, said, "Knowing how King County operates, it really is not over until the fat lady sings."
Under state law, if a second recount reverses the outcome of an election, the cost - in this case $730,000 - is then covered by the state. But the Democrats had raised almost $2 million from across the country to finance the effort, with help from Senator John Kerry and Howard Dean.
And in an election year that delivered Democrats so many bruising losses, the potential fall and rise of a Democrat in Washington would be a deliciously hard-won aberration.
Such an outcome would also be a personal victory for Mr. Berendt, the state party chairman.
For the last few weeks, he has begun each morning with hard-charging confrontations on a 6 a.m. talk radio show with Mr. Vance, the Republican chairman, whom he described as a "friend" before the election.
"It's time for Democrats somewhere to draw a line in the sand and say we are not going to let bully Republican tactics determine who our governor is or how an election is going to be determined," he said.
Could you ping the Washington Freepers to this thread?I have a Washington State list I can ping. Thanks.
Please let me know if you want ON or OFF my Washington State ping list!. . .don't be shy.
Howdy M-1, put me on your WA list, please.
And may you and everyone you love have a very and blessed Merry Christmas and Happy Healthy and Prosperous New Years and 2005!
With love and fellowship and blessings from mine -- and me!
B A
hehe!SOOoooo sorry I'm late getting back here. I made up a pic for this
thread after my pings here and I'm playing catchup now! :^DThe pic should be my last post, just above somewhere. ^ ^ ^ ^ ^
..... it's post #97.
Thank you, sir! I've added you. :^DYou have a great Christmas, too!
Rossi carried pierce county, but he Gregoire gained 31 more votes than did Rossi in the recount. When looking at the size of numbers involved, statistically she shouldn't have.
But democrats are not to blame here. Its been common knowledge in Pierce County that the democratic party county auditor appoints the republican poll workers who count the vote. Furthermore, stored ballots are not kept under two locks, but only one lock, which is kept under the control democrats. Republicans deserved to lose this election.
bump!
Man. I'm sure glad I live in a DEEP RED state!Thanks for the informative posts here.
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