Posted on 12/24/2004 4:08:32 PM PST by sionnsar
All Washington state wants for Christmas is a new governor.
Just when it seems as if Indecision 2004 could not get more serpentine, surreal or saddled with conspiracy theories, some monstrosity, like a fanged beast from an old black-and-white movie, jumps out.
The latest twist involves bloodsuckers with briefcases: lawyers.
Attorneys and political consultants are now scrambling after the results of a second recount yesterday gave Democrat Christine Gregoire a 130-vote edge. That margin appears to give her a decisive victory over Republican Dino Rossi in the closest and most bizarre governor's race in American history.
Legal shrieks and cries of electoral foul still threaten to make this marathon donnybrook the horror story that won't end.
After all, the election hasn't been certified, and the entire imbroglio could in a long shot reach the U.S. Supreme Court, a la Florida in the 2000 presidential election.
Meanwhile, state Republicans appear headed to court to try to validate ballots from other counties -- a last-ditch push to eke out votes. Never mind that those counties already certified their ballot results, effectively slamming the door.
The GOP's Hail Mary takes a page from the playbook of Democrats who successfully made the case that hundreds of mistakenly rejected ballots from King County should be counted. King County had not certified its ballot results, leaving a canyon of opportunity open.
Gregoire was down after the general election. She was down after the first recount. Now, she's on top, fortified by votes from King County, which happens to be the bluest county in the state.
Hmmm ...
This isn't really a case of the third time being the charm. Rather, in the cobra pit of politics an election is not over until your side spits venom every which way and slithers and slides to victory.
Little wonder Gregoire was in a slyly smug mood, suggesting that after this recent round of recounting she and Rossi should agree to live with the results.
Well, one is giddy to live with results when one is pretty much sizing the drapes in the governor's mansion. And it's easy to map out a moral high road -- as Gregoire was trying to do -- when you are all but ready to put both feet up on the big desk in Olympia.
Nothing but an infernal twist could cause Gregoire to lose this contest now.
But her all-but-assured win is no cause for whooping or hollering.
Rossi, who should swallow his pride and concede, has not had the stake driven in his heart. Regardless of whether the Supreme Court hears this election case, at this moment Rossi is morphing into something that will bestride Washington like a towering colossus:
Dino-zilla.
Rossi stands to become a mythic, elephantine figure in the GOP. Former Washington Gov. Dan Evans, a measured Republican, is among those hearing the potentially earth-shaking footsteps. A Gregoire victory, on the heels of so much nastiness, Evans predicts, will "create a rallying point for a lot of Republicans, independents and some Democrats."
It will fire up Republicans ticked off about being losers after having swished victory like a fine Walla Walla cabernet.
It will radicalize independents to see redder than red because they either believe Gregoire stole the election or they're fed up with decades of Democratic governors ruling the roost.
It will sway a fraction of Democrats to the political right who cannot stomach how Gregoire conducted herself in a fumbling campaign that was hers to lose.
The politico who stands to feel the wrath of Dino-zilla?
Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell, who is gearing up for re-election in 2006.
Consultants could convince Rossi a race against Cantwell is one he can win.
If not, Rossi could loom over Gov. Gregoire like that infamous giant fire-breathing lizard.
Rossi smiled at his 261-vote margin of victory over Gregoire following the general election. He held his breath after a machine recount shrunk the lead to 42.
Now he's behind. The guy who trumpeted himself as being an Olympia outsider is on the outs for real -- so much so he is stumbling over himself.
Earlier, Rossi blasted Gregoire, saying that recounting over and over "until you finally win" leads to an illegitimate governorship.
Yesterday, Rossi's spokeswoman said his camp will "be going across the state demanding they make every vote count."
If such a stunning reversal of fortune does not drive a person to madness or turn a candidate or political party into a rampaging monster of revenge, nothing will.
Washington got what it wanted in this season of giving and receiving.
The gift of a new governor has been unwrapped after we all got the chance to see what democracy looks like -- not pretty, it turns out.
But mark my words. This will be one gift that keeps giving, for better, for worse.
And our state store, as far as I can tell, has a strict policy of no returns.
Not only was I in before the ZOT!, I was in before the Troll!
Darksheare, have you been holding out on us about your cousin?
BUMP
Except Thurston County added a vote for Gregoire after certification. If legal for one, then legal for all counties.
Are the Democrats still managing to keep the overseas military ballots from being counted, all the while finding boxes of no-chain-of-custody-ballots in obscure King Country warehouses which they insist be counted for the first time (and were)?
"King County had not certified its ballot results" in order to steal the election later.
oh, this one.
it got dead faster than its earlier incarnation as "whatits the frog" over on that other thread.
I'd bet the same.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1307786/posts
If the rules can be changed for a select group of voters in King County, then the new rules should apply to everyone, equally.
There's the Equal Protection argument for the Federal courts.
Whether your signature was mistakenly challenged or whether you're a member of the military who didn't receive your ballot on time, your vote should count.
More Equal Protection.
I always miss out on the fun. :(
Oh well.
Maybe next ZOTting.
-good times, G.J.P.(Jr.)
>I don't think I would want the job of being Rossi's food taster.<
OH, I would not want the job of being Gregoire's food taster!!!!
>Except that Gore was nevere ahead, and Rossi only "lost" because of one corrupt county<
Rather one corrupt DemonRAT party. I hope the Republican party (National) sues on this outrageous court decision.
Gregoire simply CANNOT become our govenor!!!!
>Are the Democrats still managing to keep the overseas military ballots from being counted<
YEAH! Ballots that were MYSTERIOUSLY mailed LATE to military voters, thus couldn't be returned in time, and thus disqualified!!!!
RE-ELECTION! RE-ELECTION! RE-ELECTION!
How dare you ask for consistency and the rule of law? Do you not know that the Democrat media elite is the law?
Don't you think, though, that King County is the worst? I live here, and between having Tent City forced on the eastside, the CAO, and this, I've about had it.
I'd give just about anything for a new eastside county right about now.
The overall country as a whole can stand to lose the WA governorship battle.
What we need to do is use this example on how Democrats steal elections in the courtroom, which has been their latest playbook ala 2000-Florida and 2004-Ohio. We have to win the public opinion against this before they succeed and illegitamely steal a presidential election.
"A decisive victory over Republican Dino Rossi" (130 votes) Oh know we have a decisive victory? Why is not that true in MSM with President Bush?
I wish the SCOTUS would get involved, but I fear they will not because this might be considered as a state issue in a state election, as opposed to the US Presidential election.
I detect sarcasm. I may have to report you.
Congressman Billybob
Click for latest, "Jon Stewart, You Magnificent B*stard! I Read Your Book!"
The Seattle press is all like this. Just so you can see what it's like.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.