[Spunky]

I am now totally confused.

We had been previously told that the Judge could not call for a revote, that he could only declare the election null and void and then there would have to be a new election.

Well, I am listening to Washington talk radio, with John Carlson and he has previous Senator Slade Gorton on. He said that one of the things the Judge said today was that he could only DECIDE BASED ON THE FACTS WHO THE WINNER WAS.

John Carlson is now saying that he thinks that Dino Rossi will then say Thank You, but he wants the people to have a new election to decide who the winner is. John Carlson says this is going to be a big head ache for the supreme court.

[Publius]

In his first set of decisions to motions, Judge Bridges ruled out a revote because the state constitution had its own procedure for handling a vacancy in the governorship. Relief would consist of declaring the governorship vacant, installing the lieutenant governor as acting governor, and scheduling a vote for the governorship in the next general election (this November). This is Plan A.

Bridges had allowed that he could also overturn the election and appoint a new winner (Plan B) , but Rossi and the Republicans did not ask for this, preferring to ask for declaring the governorship vacant instead.

There was a good reason for this: Rossi did not want to hear "selected, not elected" for the remainder of his term. Were Judge Bridges to appoint Rossi governor, Rossi said he would strike a deal with the legislature for a special election for governor, and then he would resign the governorship to trigger that special election.

If Judge Bridges is ruling out Plan A, then it's Plan B or Gregoire. And I think Dino will be a man of his word -- unless the legislature spurns his call for a special election.