Wednesday, December 22, 2004

Counting the Count

So yesterday word leaked out that Gregoire went ahead in the final count as a result of the King County votes. And by "leaked out" I mean the Dems made a public announcement. Subtle, guys.

Now, the supposed margin is beyond razor-thin - eight votes. I think you can find eight votes in your sofa. But the announcement does have an effect in that the courts will be hearing arguments today on admitting the 700+ uncounted, unrejected King County votes discovered during the hand recount. Now the court would not be "overturning" the election by allowing them to be counted.

Supporting the idea of admitting these votes is our GOP Secretary of State, Sam Reed, who notes that if we toss out the 700, we'll have to go back to five other counties and toss out later-discovered, uncounted votes. In a land of people desperately trying to avoid letting Washington State look like Florida or Ohio, Sam Reed has stood head and shoulders among the grownups.

For the State GOP, the vote, if it stands, is a bitter pill - they had their cabinet chosen and were walking around the Capitol building with color swatches. And while Rossi called upon Gregoire to concede when he was +42, he never responded to what he would do if the footwear was on the other appendage. So it will not be out of line to see the GOP try something to reverse this. Challenging the uncounted votes was one attempt. Another that's being talked up is to declare it a "do-over" and try again.

I would suggest that if they want another election, they put up Sam Reed as their candidate. He'd take it in a landslide.

More later,