You have to remember that in Washington State back in 2004 Christine Gregoire and Dino Rossi were running for state guv and it was so close they had a recount or three.
“The election was held on November 2, 2004, with the initial count showing Gregoire trailing Rossi by 261 votes. However, a legally mandated machine recount reduced that lead to only 42 votes, then a hand count that was requested and funded by the state’s Democratic Party gave Gregoire a 10-vote lead. Following a State Supreme Court ruling that allowed several hundred ballots from King County to be included, her lead was further increased to 130 votes,[14] but when the vote was certified by the state’s Secretary of State, Sam Reed, at the end of December, one vote which had been counted in Thurston County past the deadline was disqualified and her lead was reduced to 129 votes.[15] Washington’s Republican leadership then filed suit, claiming that hundreds of votes, including votes by felons,[16] deceased voters,[17] and double voters,[17] were included in the canvass, but on June 6, 2005, Judge John E. Bridges ruled that the Republican party did not provide enough evidence that the disputed votes were ineligible—or for whom they were cast—to overturn the election.[18]
Judge Bridges did note that there was evidence that 1,678 votes had been illegally cast throughout the state,[19] but found that the only evidence submitted to show how those votes had been cast were sworn statements from four felons that they had voted for Rossi.[19] He subtracted those four votes from Rossi’s total and upheld the election.[20]
On October 28, 2004, the Seattle Times reported that out-of-state donors were contributing heavily to Gregoire’s campaign coffers.[21] More than $1,000,000 was given to the Democratic Governor’s Association from trial lawyers who had worked closely with Gregoire on the 1998 tobacco settlement. According to the Seattle Times’ analysis, nearly half of Gregoire’s 2004 campaign contributions came from out-of-state.[21]”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christine_Gregoire