King (Ukraine) County Hands Gregoire Victory?
I think we all knew King (Ukraine) County would manufacture enough votes and put Democrat Christine Gregoire over the top, but I was hoping for a miracle. Not to be, if this story from The Seattle Times is to be believed.
Preliminary recount results give Democrat Christine Gregoire an eight-vote victory statewide in the governor’s race, the head of the state Democratic Party said tonight after crunching recount data supplied by King County.Neither King County nor the state Republican Party could confirm the hand recount results tonight. But if the Democrats’ analysis is correct, the Democrat stronghold of King County has handed Gregoire a stunning reversal of fortune.
I think the only people who are “stunned” are the reporters. I’ve said all along that King (Ukraine) County would not let Christine Gregoire lose and they did not disappoint. It just shows Hugh Hewitt is correct with the title of his book, “If It Isn’t Close, They Can’t Cheat“. Unfortunately in this case, it WAS close, so the Democrats were indeed able to cheat their way to victory.
This saga continues…and continues…and continues…
This country is on a very dangerous path. When the validity of elections is (constantly) questioned, the bedrock under our democracy starts to crack. We need a national standard. We need one election day. We don’t need idiots like Keith Olbermann spinning their weird conspiracy theories. We need to look at folks like him and John Conyers and be willing to say “Gentlemen, you are buffoons, now get back under the log you crawled out from.”
I know the First Amendment precludes us from silencing these buffoons. I’m not asking for that. I’m asking for smart, honest folks from BOTH parties to stand up and ridicule their nonsense (which often is along the lines of conjecture that Elvis is alive).
Ridicule is way more effective than censorship anyway.
“When the validity of elections is (constantly) questioned, the bedrock under our democracy starts to crack. We need a national standard.”
Hellbelly, I completely and 100% agree with you. We need one ballot style nationwide and we need to teach kids in high school how to use that ballot. We need to demand picture ID to verify the ID of the person voting. And we need to discourage the use of absentee ballots unless you are actually going to be physically unable to make it to your designated polling place on election day — its original intent. Then we can get on the path to fair elections.
And you know what makes me furious over this WA recount? I read on the “crawl” on Good Morning America this morning that the Gregoire camp is calling for Rossi to concede today.
Concede!!!! HA!!!! Like Gregoire should have done the first two times the votes were counted?!?!?!?
Like the dems like the word concede…yeah….only when they manufacture enough votes to finally take the lead..To the Courts with this one….totally ridiculous…
Bear with me for a moment while I line out my grievances against the power-hungry Democrats, compared to the national interest party of the Republicans…
The 1960 election between Nixon (R) and Kennedy (D) affords us one of the most well-documented cases of voter fraud in American history. Unions and mob leaders openly admitted to voter fraud in Illinois and Texas, the two states that gave Kennedy the electoral college victory. With the amount of fraud that had occured, it was very possible that Nixon should have won the election. When faced with the choice to demand a recount, however, Nixon stated that he did not wish to tear the country apart and that Americans should unite behind Kennedy as their President. Nixon ran again in ‘68 and ‘72, winning easily both times.
In 2002, Max Baucas, a Democratic Senator from Montana, was up for re-election. Running against him was Mike Taylor (R). In October, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee released an ad implying that Taylor was a homosexual, ruining his chances of winning the election. Taylor dropped out of the race, but he did so after the date by which Montana law allows a replacement candidate on the ballot. The Republicans did not try to field another candidate, and Baucus won unopposed.
Compare that with another Senate race in 2002 in New Jersey. Robert Toricelli (D) was running for re-election against Republican Doug Forrester. In late September, it became clear that Toricelli had no chance of winning because of campaign fraud and enough scandals to make even Bill Clinton proud. Trailing badly in the polls, Toricelli withdrew on October 1, a full 15 days after the date by which New Jersey law allows a replacement candidate to be put on the ballot. The national Democratic party sued the state of New Jersey and won, placing another candidate on the ballot who went on and beat Forrester. Win at any cost is the Democrats’ mantra.
Democrats, Senate races, and fraud seem to go hand in hand any more. In 2000, Jim Thune (R) challenged Tom Daschle (D) for his Senate seat in South Dakota. When the final tallies were in, Thune had lost by less than 500 votes statewide — a narrow margin to be sure. And then came the news reports that in some counties with large Indian reservation populations, more votes were cast than actual residents existed in those counties. It became very clear that Thune could have easily overcome the 500 vote deficit by simply calling for a recount, an option left open to him by state law. Instead, he conceded the race, again in the interest of unity. Four years later in 2004, the next time Daschle was up for re-election, Thune challenged again, and won by a full 2% of the vote.
Oh, yes, how could we forget Florida in 2000? Over a dozen newspapers, including the New York Times and the Miami Herald, all paid for independent state-wide recounts after the debacle down south. The results– every independent recount came to the same conclusion — Bush won the state. Narrowly, but he won it. Despite that, Democrats still whined for four years about a President who didn’t win the election.
Bush won Ohio in 2004 by about 140,000 votes — a large enough margin to not need a mandatory recount. However, despite public annoucnements to the contrary, John Kerry has teamed up with the third party candidates on the ballot in that state and has demanded a recount, despite the fact that there has never been a result of a margin this large being overturned. So much for the country’s unity– the Democrats continue to grasp for straws in their move to grab hold of power.
And finally, the run-off election for one of Louisiana’s seats in the House of Representatives was just decided on 12/4. The Republican candidate, Billy Tauzin III, lost to Democrat Charles Melancon by 500 votes. The result was close enough for Tauzin to ask for a recount, but the AP reports that he has chosen not to. Perhaps he will follow the lead of Nixon and Thune and challenge again in a later election. For now, however, Louisiana will be spared a statewide recount because of Republicans who are more interested in national and state unity and losing graciously than grabbing at power any way possible.
And now we can add the 2004 WA state gov race to the list. Anyone got any others?
Tell it, Brother!
OK – they basically stole the election by finding “lost” (yea right!) votes in the strongest dem county in the state. This will cost the dems in Wash st in the long run. The incumbent Dem Senator (forget name) running in 06 should be scared to death.
This will mobilize and unify the GOP in that state like never before. The GOP will (imo) pick up this seat in 06. Rossi should be the one to run.
The Dem party has ultimately lost with their so called “win”.
Keep the faith.
Here’s the exact quote that infuriates me!
“We’re confident Christine Gregoire has been elected the governor of the state of Washington,” Democratic Chairman Paul Berendt said. “I believe Dino Rossi should concede.”
Heavy M,
I know, this coming from the party that never concedes and is hardly ever gracious in defeat. Spare me the John Kerry did the right thing crap. It was obvious that he lost the election by 1am yet he still held out another 10 hours to listen to scenarios from all of the lawyers in the party.
This is what happens to a party that just wants to win for winning sake only and has no core ideology and beliefs. Again, the Dems are headed towards permanent minority status in this country even with the struggles in Iraq.
The election in Washington state spells doom for the Dem party in that state and will further crush any chance that the Dem party will become the majority for at least the next generation.
Michael, while I admire your optimism, I don’t think it is grounded in a lot of reality. If the Democratic Party fields nominees like Bayh or Obama in ‘08, I think they have an honest chance to regain the White House. However, if they go the opposite direction and nominate Hillary Clinton, I do believe they will be out of power for another 4 years — at least. (Personally, I’m hoping a Rice/Pawlenty ticket in ‘08 keeps the Dems out of the White House for the next 20 years.
As far as recount stuff goes, though, we’ve seen these things before (see my laundry list I posted), and still America has not rejected the party. I don’t believe they will now either because of these issues. In a few years, they will be forgotten. Unless some 527 out there is really smart and brings it to the public’s attention…. hmmmmm….
Heavy M,
I believe that your contention that the people of America have not rejected the Dem party is incorrect. This party was in total control for 40 years. Until Reagan came along, the only way that the R’s could win a presidency was to act like a Democrat. Now, Democrats have to pretend to be Republicans to get elected. Bill Clinton is a prime example. In 1993, the Dems were a majority in the house, senate, state governerships and had the White house. What do they have today? Nothing. By trotting out the same old rhetoric every 4 years, they are slowly losing even their most sheep like base. How have they responded?
Byah? Too conservative to make it through their primary. Obama? Let’s remember that Mario Cuomo in 1984 gave a great(?) speech at the DNC. He was also going to be Pres one day. Obama, to me has the feeling of being today’s favorite flavor. I think his shelf life as a future pres contender to be relatively short. I honestly think HRC gives her party the best chance of a win in 08. She is and will continue to go to the right on moral and defense issues. The left will vote for her regardless. They voted for WJC and he did nothing for them!
Minor correction. Thune’s loss in 2000 was to Tim Johnson, not Daschle. He then was convinced to run against Dschle in 2004.
Furrier,
Thune lost to Johnson in 2002, not 2000.
PW,
Thanks. I was uncertain, but too constrained on time to check!
Thanks for the corrections!
‘We don’t need idiots like Keith Olbermann spinning their weird conspiracy theories.’
-hellbelly
So hellbelly… what do you think of David Wissing’s weird conspiracy theories?
Cory,
…do you mean the one where he suggests Bush won Ohio? Yeah, you’re right….Wissing is a nut case!
No. I was referring to the continual posts about how the Democrats are ‘cheat(ing) their way to victory’ in the WA governor race. You know, the post that we’re commenting on here??
Cory,
You mean the one where two previous votes showed Rossi won? Yeah, once again, Wissing shows himself to be insane.
Cory,
To compare our concerns about the validity of the Washington vote, which any open minded person has to worry about, to Olbermann’s contention that a 119,000 vote margin in Ohio was somehow “manipulated” is a bit of a stretch, don’t you think? Please tell me you think. Please.
Cory the Canadian must be listened to very carefully, for his words are gospel to us lowsly American electorate.
Olberman is a wacko. But I couldn’t help chuckling at the hypocricy of reading your post condemning those who would question election results when Wissing has been screaming for days about the validity of this one. None of you seem to be aware that the purpose of a recount is to make sure the proper outcome is reached in extremely close elections. As it turns out, more people voted for Gregoire than voted for Rossi. So it is a damn good thing the system has recounts built in, otherwise Rossi would have been handed a victory that he didn’t deserve. The fact that he ‘won’ the two previous counts is irrelevant. When the margin is that close, nobody ‘wins’. The outcome is not a victory or a loss, the outcome is a recount. The recount determines who wins. Get it?
Cory, there’s a huge difference between 119,000 votes and a margin of 130 votes (or 200).
Guess this recount forgot about ballots in friggin’ Alaska?
Cory, this is like Florida (actually closer). It’s not in Ohio’s galaxy.