On Dec. 30, Secretary of State Sam Reed, a Republican, certified that Attorney General Christine Gregoire, a Democrat, was the governor-elect of the state of Washington. It's now time for Republican candidate Dino Rossi to shut up and move on.
I am sick of his attitude throughout the post-voting phase of this election. When he was ahead in the count by just a few hundred votes then just a handful, he was indignant that Gregoire had not conceded. Now, after the hand recount allowed by law and which showed Gregoire the winner by 129 votes (more than the 42 Rossi had after the first machine recount), Rossi is desperate to find any other vote -- even a nonvote. Now, he wants a re-vote. Of all things. The law allows it in certain cases, but it does not seem warranted here.
No election is perfect. Voters learned that the hard way in 2000 in Florida and elsewhere. A second helping of electoral crisis was served to Washington voters this year. Dino Rossi should do two things after conceding: First, he should call for widespread election reform that would establish statewide consistent standards for vote counting, would encourage participation and would eliminate the factors that caused the confusion in 2004. Second, he should get out of the spotlight, take a vacation and plan his campaign for the U.S. Senate in 2006 against Sen. Maria Cantwell -- it's a race he could win, though I think Cantwell has been positioning herself well for re-election.
For now, though, Dino, please: Just shut up.
-- Wenatchee, Washington
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The hand recount in Florida in 2000 showed Bush to be the winner (as did the previous machine counts). Why, then, do you consider that election "flawed" and the election here to be squeaky clean? Seems like a double standard to me. I highly doubt that you were telling Gore to shut up when he continued to contest the election in Florida in 2000. Bush had a greater margain of victory in the Florida election and he won every count. Gregoire's margain is smaller and she received fewer votes than Rossi in both of the machine counts. Her election is far more flawed than Bush's 2000 victory.
Can you honestly say that if this election were the other way around, you would be calling for Gregoire's concession as you call for Rossi's now?
The main difference between Florida in 2000 and Washington in 2004 is that Florida had not yet exhausted all of its legal options. First, the United States Supreme Court ordered, in a 5-4 decision, that the hand recounts must cease, so no one actually knows what the final tallies might have been had all ballots been reviewed by hand. Second, there were widespread irregularities that were raised before certification (punch-card/butterfly ballots and overseas ballots) but not addressed. Had the hand recounts been allowed to be completed, I believe the results -- later shown by newspaper analysis likely to have been George W. Bush -- the outcome would have been more legitimate. At least to me.
The idea that because Bush won in Florida by a wider margin than Gregiore did in Washinton is somewhat fallacious. Florida's population is more than twice that of Washington, so the percentage of victory is likely very similar.
Finally, I never said that the electioon here was squeaky clean. I said that based on the three counts outlined in state law, Gregoire has won the election. The state law progresses from a machine count to machine reocunt to a hand recount, which law -- not personalities -- says is more accurate. If the positions were reversed, and Gregoire had won the machine counts and Rossi the hand count, I would be supporting a Gregoire challenge in court. That's what Rossi is doing now. I don't think the evidence is there, but I don't dispute that it's his right.
If Gregoire had thin evidence, and she had lost the count that mattered, I believe I would be saying she should seriously consider moving on.
-- Wenatchee, Wash.
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