Hell hath no fury like a political party scorned [WA gov race]

Seattle PI ^ | 12/24/2004 | ROBERT L. JAMIESON Jr.

[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.

[SunkenCiv]

"leaves one to wonder why the media never asked them about this"

Heh... yeah, good one.

[zbigreddogz]

Try understanding the situation before you make such bold proclemations.

That 'lead' comes from the 700 something ballots that they magically 'found' after the first two counts, that were supposedly 'wrongly rejected', even though NO OTHER COUNTY did the same thing except King, the Bluest county in the state. And it also includes at least one vote for 'Christina Rossi', which was counted for Gregoire.

And keep in mind, Rossi won the first TWO counts.

I don't know what Rossi should do, but anybody who thinks they know what is best should get off their high horse before they cast judgement.

[4woodenboats]

That 'lead' comes from the 700 something ballots that they magically 'found' after the first two counts, that were supposedly 'wrongly rejected', even though NO OTHER COUNTY did the same thing......

The 773 ballots- of which they counted over 500 - was just the last of the suspicious votes entered well after the fact. It started out as, I believe, the second set of 561 ballots "found", and was immediately proclaimed by the PI as "valid". In the days following, ballots were found all over the building in unsecured locations almost every single day until they had the 773 figure. During this timeframe (about 1 week) the Seattle Times published a list of every name, and a KC councilman "discovered" his the day before the WASC was to hear a lawsuit brought by the Republicans asking them to adhear to the rule of law. The actions by the Times, PI and councilman Phillips were designed to give credibility to the carefully calculated scam. CGore had correctly calulated that the "stall" would force other counties to certify, and there were enough additional recently fraudulently altered ballots in KC that the RATS didn't really need the 773 anyway, yet, the scam would not be complete unless they successfully diverted our attention to that "batch".

To understand The Scam it's important to note 10,000 ballots magically appeared in the final moments of the original vote - all in KC of course, at a time when all the other counties were in, and Rossi was up by about 4000 votes. This didn't quite acheive their goal, as Rossi won by 261 votes, triggering a machine count. King county "found" previously uncounted ballots almost daily during this count, enhanced and recanvassed their way to a considerably slimmer loss of 42 votes. As best as I can tell, all these fixed and found ballots have been added to the mix, so there is no way to tell if they were simply fabricated or not. Now comes the hand count that Soros, Dean & Kerry bought, 6 weeks after the vote, and still no one has thought to check these "mistakenly set aside" ballots until, one day before the WASC is asked to uphold the rule of law, KC councilman Phillips "discovered" his name on the list and starts squeeling the old "every vote must count when the rats are in a bind" tune. KC elections dept. just happened to know exactly where all these votes were placed, and miraculously found a couple hundred more in the next few days.

It's my contention that all the double and fake ballots were slipped through during the 1st 9 or 10 times they "found" ballots, and this last batch and a half of known good ones were set aside from the very start of signs of trouble.

I do not believe one single ballot was ever "lost" in the King County elections building. After all, with over 700 homeless "voters" "living" there, it would be impossible.

Proof the local media and the AP were either complicit or incredibly compliant can be found in their wholsale burying of the most important aspects of the story.

All, JMHO

[Always Right]

Try understanding the situation before you make such bold proclemations.

Try understanding my post. I was moking the points he was making.

[Seattle Conservative]

I'd give just about anything for a new eastside county right about now.
I agree -- bring back "Cedar County"!

I totally agree and would expand it a bit - there should be an Eastside County and a South County.

[Color Blind]

You should do some research before you develop such strong opinions. All but 5 counties in Washington have added votes. Most of those counties are strongly republican. King County did not do anything that almost every other county did. Further more, if the Supreme Court of Washington decided not to count the votes that were in a locked secure area and had never been pulled Dino Rossi still would have lost the recount by 10 votes. Lets think about that. Almost all of the votes that were added were never counted and secure. By the way the 42 or so odd votes that were not locked and secured I don't think should count. If those were Republican votes would you still be against counting them? Check the certified vote tallys from all Washington State counties and you'll see that votes were added all over the place.
The other bogus charge is that a machine recount is more accurate than a hand recount. Did you ever take a standardized test as a kid. If you did you would have had the experience of a machine counting an answer wrong that you in fact got right. This happens all the time. The reason that the state bylaw states that a manual recount is automatic for all elections within 140 votes is because statistically that would be greater than the margin of error. A machine also cannot determine voter intent. Thats why a hand recount with a Republican, Democrat, and a Libertian looking over the shoulder and agreeing on voter intent is a more accurate count.
Take the moral high ground and realize that votes were added all over the state. That republican votes were also added in those King county votes that were added. That no laws were broken. It was a good clean election. The only losers are the Republicans who decided to take disqualifying votes to court instead of reading the law and working with it and not against it. By working against the law they closed the door on re-canvasing for new votes because that must be done before certifying votes from any particular county.

[Color Blind]

You should look at the certified vote totals from all of the counties in Washington state. All but 5 added votes. Thats right, even before King county added 700 votes, the state had already added over 1,200 votes from mostly republican counties. Further more you should read a paper or do some research. Even without the 700 votes counted Rossi would have lost by 10 votes. He was down by 10 votes when the Supreme Court of Washington state ruled that the votes should be counted. Get off your high horse and do some research. So of those 700 votes about 40% were republican. If last names beginning with A, B, and C were never pulled from absentee ballots in a Republican county would you singing a different tune. I think you would.

[dirtboy]

Another troll

[Darkwolf377]

They always crack me up, four years of moaning about Florida and then a box o' votes from a heavy democrat county pops up like magic and they find it shocking! shocking! that someone would suspect foul play.

[SaltyJoe]

Stop all military contracts to Washington state. Washington should get NO Federal funds. Coups have happened for less reasons than denying the military the right to vote.

OR!

Separate Kent from Washington and make two states out Washington. Do the same for Northern and Southern halves of California, and East and West New York.

I have a feeling that stopping the paycheck will turn Washington around faster. Otherwise, I wonder how long it will be before a volcano decides what is left for WA. It's better not to upset God anymore with liberal abortion and hyper- and homosexual agendas. If we can't police our own, a Higher force will push us along (I bet liberals will blame Bush for that too).

[RobRoy]

I'm afraid I agree with you. I live in Washington state and I say that if CG becomes governor, this state should be completely cut off from the federal teets. Every legal loophole should be used to keep any funds from this state.

The Feds should handle this state the way the cops handle a bad jufenile driver: Tickes for burned out license plate light, going over the speed limit my 1 mph, and not coming to a complete stop, "with rollback" at stop signs.

It would be interesting.

[ScottFromSpokane]

If you think that this was a "good clean election" in King County, then you are a fool.

I suspect, however, that you are not a fool, but a scoundrel.

[MississippiMan]

That said, the US Supreme Court will not touch this case with a 10-foot pole. They will leave it for the state to sort out. Quite a mess.

Does equal protection apply only to federal races? Seems to me that this is the pivot of the case. One county counted votes entirely differently from other counties, rendering certain votes a different value than others.

MM

[Darksheare]

You should look at the fact that there was no chain of custody for those 'found' votes.

[Always Right]

I thought the equal protection arguement was weak, but they hung their hat on it because of the Florida Supreme Court had overstepped their authority and was trying to throw the whole election process in chaos. The US Supreme Court stepped in out of neccessity. The Supreme Court does not want to get in the middle of every election and will stay out of this.