It's Rossi, by 0.0093%
Trailing by 261 votes, Gregoire won't concede; recount coming

By ANGELA GALLOWAY
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER   18 November 2004

Republican Dino Rossi defeated Democrat Christine Gregoire by 261 votes among more than 2.8 million cast triggering a mandatory statewide recount in the closest governor's race in Washington history.

Rossi stopped just short of declaring victory last night after counties certified their tallies with the state, 15 days after the election.

"This is definitely a good night," he said outside his Bellevue campaign headquarters. Rossi had hunkered down there behind locked doors until the last counts finally came in. "I just want to say that making history isn't easy. It certainly isn't timely."

A machine recount has never reversed the results in a statewide election. But Washington has never seen a race like this won by a mere 0.0093 percentage points.

"This race is far from over. And we're in it for the long haul," an upbeat Gregoire told about 50 Democratic and union supporters at Town Hall in Seattle last night. Gregoire referred to Rossi's lead as a "few votes" and said she was not conceding. She even named the head of her transition team: Jim Jesernig, a former legislator and state Agriculture Department chief.

"You know how quickly things can change," Gregoire said, making her first public appearance since election night Nov. 2. That night, she told backers: "It's headed in the right direction. So stick with me, we'll be back, and I'll be governor."

Since then, ongoing ballot tallies offered temporary leads that seesawed between the two. Over most of the past several days, Rossi held a slim advantage.

Earlier yesterday, Secretary of State Sam Reed predicted that the recount would change several hundred votes. "If we're within a few hundred votes, we still don't know who's going to win that race," Reed said. "There has never been anything close to this in terms of a major race."

In counties that use optical scan ballots, some machines will pick up votes they missed the first time. In the 14 counties that still use punch-card ballots, another trip through the counting machine likely will break loose some hanging chads.

  
 
Infamous for the trouble they caused during the 2000 election in Florida, chads are those little bits of paper debris left behind when voters fail to adequately punch their ballots. To avoid that kind of fiasco, this state has adopted laws requiring that two of the four corners of the punch hole be separated. No "pregnant" chads get counted.

On Saturday, counties are expected to start the machine recount. State law requires such recounts if the margin of victory is within 2,000 votes and one-half of 1 percent. A hand recount would have been required if the margin had been 150 or fewer votes.

Counties will release their results when they are final, not incrementally. Reed predicted that it would take smaller counties only a matter of hours. Reed doesn't expect King County to be done until Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving. "At that point in time, presumably, we'll be able to announce a winner," he said.

In the meantime, Reed said, he wouldn't be surprised if either political party filed lawsuits challenging the results.

In the unlikely event of a tie, the winner is chosen by chance, he said. The most likely scenario is a coin toss, although the two sides can agree to another way. The state must certify the results Dec. 2.

Early in the campaign, many observers considered the race a sure bet for Gregoire. Some later criticized her campaign as cautious. And some said her sweeping promises built on incremental reforms offered voters too little to grasp.

By contrast, Rossi ran almost exclusively on the promise that he'd cut red tape which he said would create jobs and boost state revenue.

Running as the candidate of change, the millionaire and former state senator from Sammamish won praise from observers for managing to play down his conservative roots enough to appeal to the independent voters who usually decide statewide races in Washington.

Last night, he thanked Democrats for their votes. "We had a lot of crossover votes," said Rossi, 45. "That definitely made the difference so far. I'm on the right side of this first count. If we're successful with the recount, which I believe we will be, I do plan on being governor of the whole state."

Rossi also thanked his wife, four children, siblings and cousins. "I've got a lot of relatives probably about 261," Rossi joked.

A three-term attorney general, Gregoire, too, called for change in Olympia. But she declined to distinguish herself from outgoing Democratic Gov. Gary Locke. Like Locke, Gregoire positions herself as a business-friendly moderate.

Last night, she wouldn't discuss why she was trailing. "I'm not looking back. I'm looking ahead," said Gregoire, 57.

Yesterday's results spared Washington its first statewide hand recount. Reed and others had hoped to avoid the arduous, tedious and usually contentious process.

"That is the toughest kind of election to administer you can imagine," he said. "We've all seen human errors, and we've seen it in this election. But when you're doing this manually, it is common practice to have mistakes. ...

"I hope this election will send a clear message to the citizens of the state just how important voting is."