VICTORY?
The Laird and the Corresponding Secretary are HERBBY OFFERED HIGHEST COMMENDATIONS for EXTRAORDINARY EFFECTIVE ACTION AND BRAVERY IN DIFFICULT CIRCUMSTANCES.
Democratic Gubernatorial Candidate Christine Gregoire seems to have won, for the moment, by eight individual (8, count 'em) votes.
Had YOU NOT DRIVEN NORTH TO COME TO HELP US IN OUR MOMENT OF GREATEST NEED, THERE WOULD NOW BE NO HOPE.
YOU HAVE THE GRATITUDE OF A GRATEFUL BLUE METROPOLIS!
To paraphrase my introduction at a recent Seattle Capitol Hill party:
"You're not a fucking Republican, are you?"
Let the litigation commence!
posted by JAB at 9:58 PM
2 Comments:
Hold onto your hats gentlemen. Commendation not withstanding, Gregoire has won the last of 3 recounts, by 8 votes (her opponent won the other two). There is so much to litigate that there are more lawyers camping out on my lawn this morning than slugs.
I'm gonna through my hat into the ring a interim Governer. I figure by the time they have sorted this out, I will have been in office longer than George Sullivan (thankfully obscure Anchorage reference).
In spite of the absurdity of eight votes, there are some reasons for optimism. The law reads that Gregoire was entitled to a hand recount - the hand recount is controlling. As I understand it, the main litigation area at the state supreme court today is not that count, but whether 700 some additional KING COUNTY ballots should be counted, as well as a review of a lower court decision on a set of other, largely urban votes, which if included are all but certain to add votes to Gregoire's lead.
Undoubtedly they're going to come with something else, probably fraud allegations. No evidence though, nothing litigable. To win, the Republicans would have to throw out this hand count, the 700 missed ballots, and also the other big batch of uncounted urban votes. Should be fun to watch.
I will stand by my point about Florida's botched 2000 election - with such a large number of votes, the statistical rarity of such a tight race alone suggests serious problems, and demands tremendous scrutiny. But unlike Florida, voters reported relatively few problems in Washington, although with a race this tight, any problem becomes hugely magnified; each lost vote counts as much as a cast one.
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