"Sound Politics" is a Seattle Blog.
Already, a second recount
The recount in the WA governor's race hasn't even started yet and the Democrats are already committed to keep counting votes until they somehow produce enough previously undiscovered ballots to put their lady over the top:
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State Democratic Party Chairman Paul Berendt is already talking about ordering a second, hand recount of the 2.8 million votes in the race between Republican Dino Rossi and Democrat Christine Gregoire.
"A recount recount is likely," Berendt said. "It's very likely we'll get through the mechanical recount and then go right into a hand recount -- if not the whole state, at least individual counties that we think warrant a closer look."
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And this is why some of the Democrats would do anything to produce a favorable outcome: "State workers worry election will mean a job search"
If Rossi prevails in the recount, his administration could replace about 880 state workers in posts exempt from civil-service restrictions on political hiring and firing. They range from confidential secretaries to the heads of the Department of Corrections and the Department of Social and Health Services.
Dino Rossi: The Blue State Republican
Dino Rossi and his victory in the first ballot count for Governor of Washington State is the subject of Holman W. Jenkins, Jr.’s article “Model for Blue State GOP Success?” The short piece is out with today’s edition of OpinionJournal’s Political Diary (pay site).
According to Jenkins, the key to Rossi’s strong performance was his decision to follow “the Bush 2000 gameplan: Rossi used likeability and a disciplined focus on pro-growth economic issues…” Jenkins is spot on here. Rossi brilliantly played up his likeability and kept the focus on the importnat economic issues that voters here are most concerned about.
Rossi’s likeability is undeniable. In 2000, I was a young session aide for another State Senator, and I remember thinking very highly of the then-Senator Rossi. I was impressed by his demeanor and disposition and it was abundantly clear to me that he was a man who could go places. And it was a short time later that he skillfully chaired the Senate Ways & Means Committee during a budget crisis.
Jenkins goes on about Rossi’s likeability:
A self-made real estate executive from a struggling immigrant family, his personal story warmed voters' hearts while his record in the state senate showed him as a consensual mediator and dealmaker (like Gov. Bush in Texas). In a state where liberals aren't especially hostile to enterprise, he also successfully struck a pro-business tone at a time when Washingtonians are still smarting over Boeing's departure for Chicago amid a hail of parting complaints about congestion, taxes and regulation.
Politics is often about timing, of course. And few could deny the dissatisfaction of many Washingtonians about the direction our State has been heading. As Jenkins concludes, “aside from Mr. Rossi's deft campaign, what finished Ms. Gregoire was the sense that her party had been in power longer than was good for them.”
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