Evergreen rematch

Politics: Word that incumbent Democrats aren’t supposed to lose this year hasn’t yet reached the Pacific Northwest | Mark Bergin

Associated Press/Photo by Joshua Trujillo

The history books report that Washington state has not elected a Republican governor since 1980. Scores of GOP voters in the state insist otherwise. Four years ago, Republican Dino Rossi appeared to capture victory by 261 votes when the last of nearly 3 million ballots were tabulated two weeks after election night. An automatic machine recount confirmed the upset win, this time by a mere 42 votes.

But supporters of Democratic candidate Christine Gregoire refused to accept that result. The state's Democratic Party footed the $730,000 bill required for a manual recount. And this time, the numbers turned blue, handing Gregoire a 129-vote edge that was later adjusted to 133 following months of legal challenge that included allegations of voter fraud.