Democrat Gregoire Wins Wash. Governor Race

[wicket]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&e=5&u=/ap/20041223/ap_on_re_us/governor_recount

Democrat Christine Gregoire has won the Washington governor's race by 130 votes over Republican Dino Rossi, according to final recount results from King County.

King County was the last county to report in the statewide hand recount, the third count of ballots in the governor's election. The election results have not been certified and probably will be challenged in court.

--------------------------------------------------

WOO HOO!!!!!!!!!!!!! :party: :kick:

[xultar]

1. Now all of a sudden they are gonna want Recounts, Lawyers, Hearings

tee hee hee....

[rfrrfrrfr]

16. I sent the following to Sam Reed the SOS who is a republican

"Thank you for doing a fine upstanding job as Secretary of State. Your actions during the recount should serve as a shiniing example to all on how to conduct themselves in public office. You are a credit to your party and this state for ensuring that a fair and impartial election was held, as well that the election laws were followed. Our state and country would be much better off if more people were to follow your example and displayed your leadership. "


If the republican party had a ton more people like him and a ton less people like Chris Vance it would be a pretty decent party. The current crop of repubs turned me from a mainly independant voter to a staunch democrat. Simply because I can no longer support any candidate put forth by the republicans because of who controls the money and power in the party.

[xultar]

19. Excellent, it is the NeoCons who want to win at any cost....including

cheating, lying, and stealing.
Republicans aren't bad when compared to the NeoCons. Even Randi Rhodes found that she agreed with Pat Buchannan on a few issues a few months back.

[Eloriel]

29. Very nice, but

I'm not so sure Reed is really worthy of that praise. In fact, I'm pretty sure he's not. I'll let someone more afamiliar with his sins and failings go into the details (but here's a big hint: a lot of it has to do with electronic voting machines).

[regnaD kciN]

34. Keep in mind that Reed was heavily into Diebold...

...and that DUer Andy Stephenson was, for a time, considering running against him this year. Granted, he's no Blackwell or Harris, but he had previously never shown signs of independence.

I think what we're seeing here is the partisan Republican leadership becoming so blatant in their attempts at election-stealing that even average Republican officeholders are finding it too much to accept.

[dryan]

88. Question....

has the Democratic Party really been around since 1794? I thought Andrew Jacksonw was the first "Democratic" president?

[d---mad2]

85. CONGRATS.

Sam Reed; SOS Wa.. Is he an elected republican with integrity?

If so, this is a perfect definition of an oxymoron?

Democracy is alive and well in your state, due to the eforts of
many people. Especially since the Reich-wing media has barely even even mentioned this story.

Kudos to your electorate with the three top elected spots two Senators] being women.

WOW and Merry Christmas to ya'll.

[progressoid]

20. Yep, I was lurking over at freeptardland earlier today

And they were talking about doing a Florida 2000 Supreme Court thing again!

[dansolo]

43. There is no way the SC would hear this

It is not a federal office, so they have absolutely no jurisdiction. This is not the same as in 2000. If someone actually tried to bring this up to the Supreme Court, they will not hear this. If they did, then they would either be forced to contradict Gore v. Bush, which would delegitimize Bush's "victory" back in 2000, or they would have to recognize Gore v. Bush as precedent, which they don't want to do either.

[AmyStrange]

49. excellent legal analysis...

well reasoned out my friend,

d

[Moloch]

51. Yes... The whole situation is really ironic...

What happened to "moving our country forward?" What hypocrites.

[movonne]

2. VOTE THIS UP...WAY UP.

[wicket]

5. DONE - It's being freeped!!!!!!

[joefree1]

12. Done - burn in hell Freak Republic

Freeping this article won't change the election. The Left Coast got a little bluer today.


Seating now available in the Smoking Section:
Politics, humor, death and the Devil - http://www.eDiablo.com

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

23. Once again, someone explain to me what effect rating Yahoo news stories

has...

[hatrack]

26. With enough votes, a story kicks to the top ten news page on Yahoo

So, the votes directly change the visibility of a given story.

[MrMonk]

27. A high rating says

"IN YOUR FACE!"

Same thing with online polls.

That's about all the good it does.

[yorkiemommie1]

31. read and rated '5' n/t

[GetTheRightVote]

3. Hurray, Gregoire Wins after long hard battle in the field ... Hurray.

:bounce:

[NorthernSpy]

4. YES!

Congrats, Washingtonians!

:toast:

[bigwillq]

6. That's great news!!

:party:

[CHIMO]

7. Way To Go

An inspiration to all.

[UpInArms]

8. Hurray!

This is a definite piece of good news!

:thumbsup:

and to Washington State

:yourock:

[TheDonkey]

9. Magical things happen when votes are actually counted!

congrats to her and to the Democrats!

[Be Brave]

10. Kick ass, Governor-elect Gregoire! n/t

[Osamasux]

72. Correct - From now on we refer to her as Governor-elect Gregoire

Lesson learned from 2000. Election is over. We won. We need to act like we won. That is the story. Constantly reinforce that fact and leave absolutely no openings to reopen the arguments.

[Ruffhowse]

11. YAY!!!!!!!! Now I live in a true blue state! Dem governor, Dem Senators,

Dem Congressman, and a Dem controlled state legislature. Oh yeah, and this is historic. This is the first time in history that all three top elected spots in a state are women (governor, and senators).
YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[gratuitous]

13. Okay, the votes have been counted, time to move on

The people have spoken, and drawing this out just subverts the will of the people. Christine Gregoire has a ringing mandate to govern, and it's time for all Washingtonians to unite behind the chief executive and put aside petty partisan squabbling.

Gee, why does my saying that cause tiny little brains to pop all over the Evergreen State?

Hee, hee.

[stevedeshazer]

18. I know some o' them brains

:) Feelin' Good 'bout my neighbors from the breakaway Territory of Washington.

[IHeart1993]

14. Yes!!

:kick:

[proud patriot]

15. I voted n/t

[stevedeshazer]

17. Outstanding

In Washington, every vote counts.

Let this be the message:

EVERY VOTE COUNTS

[progressoid]

21. C'mon Rossi where's the concession speech?

[rfrrfrrfr]

24. whats really funny if it were not so serious is

That the for the most part the votes they are crying to have included now are the same ones the democrats sued to have included 2 weeks ago and lost. And at that time Chris Vance and co. were completely against them being counted and applauded the SC ruling that excluded them.

[cal04]

22. Democrat Gregoire Wins Wash. Governor Race

Hundreds of belatedly discovered ballots helped extend what otherwise would have been just a 10-vote advantage for Gregoire in her topsy-turvy race with Republican Dino Rossi. The first ballot count showed Rossi winning by 261 votes, and a subsequent machine recount had Rossi winning by 42. The latest recount was conducted by hand.``Wooo-hooo!'' exulted state Democratic Party spokeswoman Kirstin Brost moments after the results were announced. ``We're very excited. We always believed she would win.''


During the hand recount, King County election officials discovered that hundreds of ballots had been mistakenly rejected because of problems with how the voters' signatures had been scanned into the computer system. Over Republican objections, the state Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that state law allows county canvassing boards to correct mistakes in the returns, allowing King County to count those 732 ballots.

Election officials found 566 of those ballots to be valid; 311 were for Gregoire, 191 for Rossi.On Thursday morning, Republicans submitted affidavits to King County elections officials from 91 people who voted for Rossi and believe their ballots were erroneously rejected.

Dean Logan, the county's elections director and one of three members on its canvassing board, said those ballots would not be re-evaluated because they had been properly considered and rejected.


http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Governor-Recount.html?oref=login

:-)

[Merlot]

41. belatedly discovered = deliberatly tossed

I heard she won on the radio coming home, and that the repubs are expected to court challenge. The enormity of her winning was SUCH good news. I'm estatic.

But I don't think the repubs will give up this easily.

[latteromden]

25. *laughs* You heard what FR is saying about this?

Gems such as:
"Washinton state might as well become socialist."

"She will no doubt claim she has a MANDATE!" ...isn't that making fun of THEIR guy?

"SELECTED..not elected" Not particularly creative, now are we?

Let the Republicans recount and take it to court if they want. Let them claim that we didn't count ALL the votes, or that we cheated. Nothin' to hide.

[Zhade]

53. Yes, they're screwed either way now, and I'm LOVING it!

If they demand a recount, they remind the public, with all that their "newfound mandate" implies in the public's mind, that recounts are GOOD things. This weakens their stance of "recounts bad/unnecessary", and will act as either a domino effect of ever-more-widely-spread bouts of recounting or as a point of dissonance for the public when they see the Republicans change their stance later when their guy has the upper hand.

If they DON'T demand a recount, they let Gregoire assume power, which they are loathe to do.

In a way, I'm almost hoping they DO demand a recount, because it could be win-win-win: win for Gregoire, win for her constituents, and win for "recounts are important to ensure all votes count"!

Great, great news about Gregoire!

:toast:

[latteromden]

59. I think you should add another "win" on for us, because the Republicans

asking for another recount would sort of be, ah, breaking the law. :D Of course, it's never stopped them before!

Sorry, guys, the people have chosen this time - NOT the electronic voting machines, and they simply didn't choose you.

You know, I probably shouldn't be so happy to rub it in their faces that we won. But after everything that I've heard about the presidential election, I don't feel so bad. ;)

A toast to Washington state!
:toast:

[politicasista]

28. Too bad it's not Ohio, New Mexico and everywhere else.

That's good for her though.

[idiosyncratic]

30. Did anyone hear the interview with the new Governor on NPR?

Scroll down the page here to listen.

I am so angry. There was no congratulatory tone in the interview. There were almost-accusatory questions about the result and suggesting another vote!

I'm firing off a nasty letter to them right now!!

[Merlot]

42. I've given up on NPR, they make me to angry

The party line may be expected on the MSM, but it's unforgivable on NPR.

[progressivebydesign]

32. As a Washingtonian.. I hope it sticks!!! Assbite Rossi won't concede!

How can anyone vote for a guy with Trent Lott's fucking hair??

The Washington GOP's Chris Vance thinks that the State Supremes ruling about the King County votes means they can drudge up anyone who felt their vote should have been counted. What a maroon... KING COUNTY brought the suit to the Supremes, because THEY had not yet certified their vote count. All other counties have certified. So.. Rossi, shut the fuck up and go home. Take your CREATIONISM teaching and get lost. All we need is one more right wing, evolution-is-false, shady businessman, in charge. I hope the assbite is ridiculed into conceding. I think it was right that neither of them conceded, but ALL votes, all LEGAL votes have been counted. I fucking hate republicans right now...

[allalone]

35. hey progressive

tell us what you really think. nya ha ha

[progressivebydesign]

37. Oops! Sorry MOM! Don't wash my mouth out with soap, okay? n/t

[katinmn]

40. they have to just suck it up and move on

those votes were counted and recounted.

[Mike Niendorff]

33. It's time to call on Rossi to concede.

Shove his own rhetoric and spin right up his ass.


MDN

[GiovanniC]

47. Dino Lossi

Shove it back at them. Maybe we should get a mob together to angrily call on him to concede.

[Zhade]

54. "Maybe we should get a mob together to angrily call on him to concede."

This could be a better idea than at first blush. Certainly, with the electoral process thoroughly complete and double-checked, it's past time to demand that Rossi pack his bags and get the hell out of Gregoire's house.

GO HOME, ROSSI. YOU'RE FINISHED.

[allalone]

36. I don't think I could stand to look at rossi

all the time. He's smarmy and an old dutch word, feasy. I'm not sure of the spelling but feasy is kind of like getting a hair in your mouth feeling.

[progressivebydesign]

38. I wanna rent a skywriting plane on Christmas Day...

.. Have it circle around the Puget Sound area writing... "SURRENDER ROSSI!" ala Wizard of Oz.

[ronnykmarshall]

39. Hell I pitch in some $$

That would be sweet!

Congrats Washington!!

Democracy is alive in my sweet neighbor up north!

:toast: to the people of Washington and their new DEMOCRATIC Governor!

[ailsagirl]

44. HOOORAY!!

[young_at_heart]

45. If it happened in THIS county, what about all the others?

This one county's experience proves that our system is broken. I saw the Republican candidate on the news tonight, proclaiming his victory. We obviously cannot trust the machines. Now, after the hand count, he is no longer the winner. Why and how did this happen? Did Bush really win? I have NO trust in our system any more!

[delphine]

46. Didn't the repukes tell Gregoire to concede

when their asswipe was ahead by just 42 votes? So what's the problem with conceding when you're down 130 votes, Rossi?


The dems need to get nasty like the repukes right now. "Sore Loser Rossi", "concede for the good of the state of Washington", "You lost, get over it".

The Washington Dem party should be pressing him to concede using the same exact words the repukes used when they asked Gregoire to concede.

One problem, though, is that Gregoire played the Kerry "I'm not really challenging the election" game and acted completely disinterested in the whole thing,which was completely the dem party's show from the start.

So she's got some making up to do . . .

[Zhade]

55. It's the RIGHT TIME TO BE ANGRY!

The Republicans are committing treason by rigging elections, and the Dems damn well better cast hellfire down on them for it or risk their own extinction.

GET MAD, DAMMIT! Get that sonofabitch Rossi OUT! He's DONE.

[cascadiance]

67. Get over it and move on...

SoRossi Loserman!

[Fed Up]

48. Finally something to not be fed up about

Yessss. The good guys finally win a close one.

Whistle-ass probably talked to Rossi on the telephone over the past few weeks, saying how much he was behind him, and that he would do whatever it took to make sure he wins.

Glad that all that has apparently gone to pot now. I can't believe the NPR comment (above) where they were almost hostile to Ms. Gregoire after her victory, insinuating skullduggery in her great win. Fuck you NPR.

Congrats to the new governor-elect.

[gkdmaths]

50. Well, its not the biggest forum,

but you can tell the local community what you think.

I hate it that my hometown board is cluttered with 99.9% conservative pigheads, Im one of the only reasonable posters on the boards.

link below to the olympian.com, olympia, washington.

http://community.theolympian.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=447

gkd

[LibertyorDeath]

52. Dino Rossi

Get Over It!!!!!!!!!

A good day for Democracy & Democrats Congrats :toast:

[Rainscents]

56. GREAT DAY!!!

Hey Washingtonian....MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!!! ROSSI... Pack up and leave!!!!!!!!!!!!

[TwentyFive]

57. Rossi = LOSER!! >>Say goodnight Rossi! >>> It's all over!! >>> Buh bye >>

[daleo]

58. So, the net change in the recount process was +370 or so for the Democrat

Does it ever go the other way?

[Vidar]

60. Congratulations Washington & Christine. Hopefully, this is a portend

of things to come.

[moondust]

61. Take that mandate and run with it!

:evilgrin:

[fujiyama]

62. This is great news

I'm glad that many Democrats donated to get that manual recount. I think Dean and Kerry respectively, among many others, gave quite a bit to get it.

[lawladyprof]

63. Other than state vs. fed. office what is different from FL. 2000?

I honestly don't know why WA got to recount their votes by hand in 2004 and Florida didn't in 2000. Did Washington have a whole state recount provision (as opposed to Florida's only count certain counties that hamstrung Gore). Did Washington have better standards (more specific than intent of the voter) that allowed SCOTUS to make an equal protection (of the voter) ruling?

[aggiesal]

76. Gore selected the counties in 2000.

When Gore filed his recount request, he had some advisors telling him to only request recounts in counties he could gain the 500+ votes needed to win Florida. If he had in fact requested a recount in the whole state, he would have definitly benefitted and would have won the state.

The NY Times hand counted all ballots after a FOIA request, and had them delivered to NY in an armoured vehicle. Under every scenario (Undervotes, Overvotes, Hanging Chads ...) Gore would have won the state.

The only reason that Florida stopped counting was because the Federal Supreme Court told them to stop. Once they stopped, SoS Harris was under no obligation to finish counting any ballot and certified the election, handing the Electoral Votes to King George II.

[govegan]

79. The recount was by Gregoire's choice

WA does have election law that would have allowed Gregoire to select one or more counties only for the manual operation. She very wisely came out publicly and requested "count all the votes," even before she had the funds to put up with the state. That showed courage and wisdom on her part, and she was encouraged by others in the Dem. party.

The upshot is that the state now will be returning the $750K to the Democrats because the end result was a change in the results.

[lawladyprof]

80. It was my understanding that Gore himself couldn't request

a whole state recount although the state supreme court did. Is this correct or wrong?

[Hotler]

64. How do you eat an elephant???

one bite at a time. Onward to the next bite.

[pacalo]

65. Wooohooo! A victory against the RSVP (Republicans Steal the Votes Party)!

Let this victory serve as an example of why Kerry's votes need to be recounted!

[Gayad]

66. Best news I'v heard in awhile

Merry Christmas to everyone!

[robbedvoter]

68. Wow! So, if you fight for the truth, it's possible to get it! Refreshing!

Ya think Kerry is getting what the test God put him through was now?

[idiosyncratic]

70. Let's hope the fight for truth wins out in San Diego as well.

I say, "Congratulations" to Governor Gregoire and the people of Washington State,

but . . .

Imagine how Donna Frye feels. She won by more than 2000 votes

and the Repukes won't count the "unbubbled ballots" where people wrote in her name. "Voter Intent" is fairly evident there, I would say.

The Democrats in Washington, and San Diego, need to keep fighting to retain what was left of our Democracy.


EDIT to add: my 1000th post

[cascadiance]

71. Damn right idiosyncratic...

I hope we can get Frye's vote counted here!... Especially since the Repukes also put in a "more power to the mayor" proposition that passed here, which would make a victory by her that much more ironic, in that they would have paid to make her more powerful! :)

I'm amazed though at even some of the progressive folks that I have lunch with, who somehow don't think that these votes shouldn't count. If we had older style ballots without this "bubble" that is required by law to be filled in, she would have won.

Basically saying that their votes don't count is like supporting literacy tests back in the old days before voter reforms killed off that sort of thing.

It's one thing to not like that your fellow man isn't educated as much as you like and that you don't like how they vote. However the solution to that isn't to take away their ability to vote, but to increase the quality and effectiveness of the education, information sources, etc. that they get. I'd much rather have the older days when we had a stronger middle class and had more respect for everyone's abilities, even if we disagreed with them on some things, than to move to a stratified society where only the privileged are given a voice in how things are run that seems to be the direction we're moving towards now. Now who were the "elitists"?

[DrCorday]

83. Yeah, in some ways it's kind of inspiring

Haha... So well put.

I don't know if Kerry should have done the same. Bush's margin was "larger" (cheating aside), and the Repukes would have just called us whiny, again. And then they would have turned right around and whined for about three hours on Cable TV about how the secular jewish liberal hollywood elite is repressing them with their rich trial lawyer friends.

They're just jealous... jk.

[Miami Liberal]

69. Woo Hoo!!

Congrats Christine Gregoire.

:toast:

[philosophie_en_rose]

73. Hooray!!!!! (And thanks to John Kerry!!!!)

Dino Rossi is a freeper of the worst variety. Thanks to the Kerry campaign (for hundreds of thousands of dollars), private donors, the Washington State Democratic Party, and others, we won!!!!!

And the State has to refund the recount money.

[cascadiance]

74. I wonder if the refunded money...

will get to the Dems in time to help fund efforts in Ohio, Donna Frye in San Diego, etc. to fix other problems with this election, or if it will be too late for that.

If it is too late, I vote that that money be used to help overhaul the voting systems around the country and completely reform the laws for voting for prez. Then I'll feel like my donation was doubly well spent!

[philosophie_en_rose]

77. Well, the fight's not over yet.

Rossi is bringing out the hillbilly neocon yahoos to sue the state.

However, I think that the money should be used to help other states. If liberal Washington needs so much help to get a Democrat in office, heaven (and philanthropists everywhere) help other states.

[cascadiance]

78. Maybe Rossi should hire this lawyer to sue...

William Martini, who's in Bush's $100,000 club.

http://www.tpj.org/pioneers/william_martini.html

Then we can have:

Martini and Rossi on the rocks! Say YEAH!!!

[DrCorday]

84. Haha.

Martini & Rossi... at least he would have been as Repuglycan.

[lies and propaganda]

75. This is so awesome.

I actually saw freepers with signs that said "Count every vote!"

Can you f-ing believe it?!?!?! These people are insane.

[Cha]

81. I was telling someone about this today...

that it looked like Washington was going to have a Democratic Governor!

Something to celebrate!

This should give those Democrats inside the beltway some backbone.

[DrCorday]

82. I love this news too tho... but I consider it a victory we always had.

If I had my way, as a citizen of this disputed (but ragingly Blue) state, I'd like to see two more recounts to prove to the Republicans that we actually won.

I personally think we screwed this one up. (The Dems, I mean.) Gregoire should have had a cakewalk and didn't, so I'm wondering if we somehow messed up the campaign and didn't get the message out enough.

Anyway, I'm glad to see we still have the majority I thought we had (albeit horribly small and I wouldn't mind seeing more verification.)

Quit whining neoCons, when the election's this close, multiple recounts are really required.

[Learning2Fly]

86. I don't think the Dems necessarily

"messed up" the campaign in Washington. Wasn't there a 3rd party candidate for Governor that drew thousands of votes on a pro gay marriage platform?

I'm happy my neighbor to the north will have Gregoire in charge. It was almost unthinkable for Oregon to be stuck between Ahnold & Rossi!
Just proves again that when you actually count the votes Dems win.

[erpowers]

87. Great News

This is great news. I am so happy that Gregoire won the governor's race. However, the Democratic Party has to start doing better. I do not think Gregoire should have only won by 130 votes. The democrats must try harder to get more people out to the polls. So congraulations to Gregoire. I am really happy she will be the governor of Washington.

[hraka]

89. And the repubs still won't admit defiet

From today's news: http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/politics/20041227-1733-wst-governorrecount.html