Locke May Stay Longer As Wash. Governor

[Rose Siding]

OLYMPIA, Wash. -- Lame-duck Gov. Gary Locke may not be limping off into the sunset. If the slugfest between Republican Dino Rossi and Democrat Christine Gregoire doesn't produce a new governor by the scheduled Jan. 12 inauguration, Locke may have to stick around.

That is because of a provision of the state constitution that says the governor's term of office is four years "and until his successor is elected and qualified."
........
If the parties choose only a partial recount in selected counties and the tally shifts to a Gregoire advantage, state law mandates a hand recount in the remainder of the state. That, too, could be done by inauguration.

But Reed said all bets are off if the matter goes to court. The Rossi camp has talked about battalions of lawyers getting involved on both sides, and state Democrats already have identified examples of possible court challenges.

"Clearly, the Democrats are already planning on dragging this election into court," state Republican Chairman Chris Vance said Wednesday. "I thought they just wanted to `count every vote.'"

http://www.newsday.com/news/politics/wire/sns-ap-washington-governor,0,6868040.story?coll=sns-ap-politics-headlines

Doesn't that bolded part make it sound less likely that the dems would have to pay for a recount of the entire state?

[LisaM]

1. Gary Locke = useless

I didn't see him stumping for Gregoire AT ALL - though he is mystifyingly popular and has won his elections by comfortable margins. And he has stayed out of the recount fracas, refusing to comment on it as far as I can tell. I'm still angry at him for abandoning the teachers and giving in to Horse's Ass Eyman every time he could. Not to mention that the state refused to deal in good faith with the unions that serve food on the ferries which not only threw 130 people out of work but have left the ferries without food service for a year now.