Get over it, wingnut loser

Do overs permitted here

Not here

The folks at Kos have been following this closely.

Gregoire declared governor-elect, but Rossi wants new vote

By DAVID AMMONS
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

OLYMPIA, Wash. -- After three statewide vote tallies and 58 nerve-racking days of waiting, Democrat Christine Gregoire was declared Washington's governor-elect on Thursday. But it may not be over.

"Less than two weeks from today I will take the oath of office as your next governor of the great state of Washington," an ebullient Gregoire told supporters at a Capitol news conference.

Gregoire's Republican rival, Dino Rossi, refused to concede and called for a new election. He also was exploring whether to contest the election in the courts or in the Legislature.

Rossi and the state GOP said they have discovered a discrepancy of more than 3,500 votes in King County, the state's largest, possibly pointing to fraud or mistakes that could have swung the ultra-close election.

"I think we need to examine what's right and what's wrong and let's expose it and see if we can correct it," he said at a news conference from his campaign headquarters.

Gregoire congratulated Rossi for running a strong campaign, and said it was up to him to decide when and where to concede. But she ruled out a brand new election.

"Do-overs" only occur in golf, and only during practice, she said. "This is not golf and this is not practice."

Secretary of State Sam Reed, a Republican, certified Gregoire, the three-term attorney general, as the winner of the closest governor's race in state history. She won a statewide hand recount by a scant 129 votes out of more than 2.8 million cast.

Reed, a veteran county and state election administrator, said he was "shocked and stunned" by just how close it was. The dependably Democratic state went for John Kerry and re-elected Democratic Sen. Patty Murray and six Democratic congressmen, and installed a Democratic Legislature.
...............

He said Wednesday that the election was hopelessly flawed and that the Legislature should authorize a new election.

"I do not feel like this has been a botched election," Reed told a Thursday news conference. But he said that because it was so close, any error discovered took on great significance.

"Nothing that I have been informed about rises to the level of fraud," Reed said. "There have been human errors. There have been mistakes. At this time there is nothing that appears fraudulent."

Still, he added, "If I were in Sen. Rossi's shoes I would do what he's doing" - researching to see if there were errors or illegal votes that rise to the level of challenging the outcome. He said he supports a revote only if the courts nullify the election.

Gregoire's campaign rejected the idea of a new vote and said Rossi should accept the newly certified tally.

"There is a process for determining a winner and that process is over," Gregoire's spokesman, Morton Brilliant, said Thursday. "Chris Gregoire will be inaugurated in two weeks."

He said it would be irresponsible to spend $4 million in taxpayer money on a new election "just because you don't like losing this one."

Dino Rossi lost. He needs to get over it. Just like we can't prove there was voter fraud in Ohio, despite deep suspiscions, he doesn't get a do over because he lost a close race. Bush was elected by 537 votes and we had to live with it. He lost by 129 votes and needs to get over it. Now.

If he gets a do over, let's do one in Ohio.

posted by Steve @ 8:21:00 PM