Christine Gregoire and Dino Rossi. Photo courtesy of the Spokesman Review.
With election day finally upon us, everyone will be rushing to the polls to vote for either Sen. John McCain or Sen. Barack Obama (or you could be rooting for the Libertarian dark horse Bob Barr). Even though everybody is so excited for today’s presidential election, don’t let it overshadow our local vote.
In Washington state we have one of the tightest governor races the state has ever seen between Christine Gregoire and Dino Ross, a bitter rematch from the 2004 campaign.
Four years ago, Rossi won the election after the first count of votes. Gregoire asked for a recount and Rossi won again. Gregoire still wasn’t satisfied as she asked for another recount, this time by hand, in which Gregoire ended up winning 129 votes before the tally was increased to 133 after a judge reviewed the race.
Even though four years have passed, Rossi is not letting his supports forget the 2004 election either.
“Are you ready to win — again?” Rossi asked supporters at his campaign’s Everett headquarters Monday night. “All we need is 129 votes, folks, and you’ll have a new governor. We have that ability; all we need to do is give people a nudge.”
Even though Rossi might still seem a little bitter, the race for the next governor of Washington state is still close. As we enter into the first stages of election day, Gregoire and Rossi are in a dead heat according to Survey USA and Rasmussen polls.
Only time and the voters of Washington state will say if Rossi will be given his due after winning two out of three of the counts in 2004.
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