OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) - Democrat Chris Gregoire beat Republican Dino Rossi in Washington state's governor's race by a mere 133 votes four years ago. The sequel looks like it might be just as tight.
The duo already had a head-to-head rematch last week. Under Washington's new primary system, all candidates are listed on the same ballot and the two top finishers advance to the general election, regardless of party.
There was never any question that Gregoire and Rossi would advance, but as vote data continues to trickle in, the incumbent is ahead of her challenger by what Gregoire supporters would consider an uncomfortably close 2 percentage points.
With more than 90 percent of the vote counted Monday, Gregoire had 48.4 percent, or 657,181 votes, compared to Rossi's 46.3 percent, or 629,516 votes.
There are more than 64,000 mail-in votes left to count, but the fact that it's already so close could indicate what's in store for what is expected to be the nation's most competitive governor's race.
Gregoire beat Rossi in 2004 by just 133 votes, after three counts and a Republican court challenge.
"It certainly means the election could go either way," said Washington State University political scientist Lance LeLoup. "I think it's what people expected. It's going to be a tight race."
Results Monday show Gregoire got more votes than Rossi in 11 of the state's 39 counties.
"Her people have to be deeply worried by these returns," said Alex Hays, executive director of the Mainstream Republicans of Washington. "Gregoire is very much in jeopardy."
But Gregoire's supporters said they didn't view the close tallies as evidence the governor missed any target.
"We said all along that we had a lot of work to do and that we weren't taking anything for granted," spokeswoman Debra Carnes said. "We're still viewing it like that. We haven't changed our game plan."
Carnes added that more voters will turn out in November because of the presidential election, and she expects voters supporting presumptive Democratic nominee Barack Obama to also vote for Gregoire.
"The wave across this country is favoring Democrats," Carnes said. "The Obama wave is also there and we're confident that that will have an impact in this state."
Republican consultant Chris Vance, a former state party chairman, said the fact the incumbent has failed to get above 50 percent shows she's in trouble.
"For months Democrats have tried to say this race won't be close," he said. "The polls have been saying otherwise. The primary results just confirmed that. It's dead even, again."
Vance said that Gregoire shouldn't count on an Obama tide to help put her over the top in November.
"You're going to have a ton of young voters who will come out and vote for Obama and no one else on the ticket," he said, noting that Democratic nominee John Kerry did better in the state than Gregoire did in 2004.
LeLoup said that in some ways, the Gregoire-Rossi race parallels the presidential race between Obama and Republican John McCain.
"Even though nationally it looks like this going to be a very strong Democratic year, both Rossi and McCain seem like they'd be able to overtake those national odds, for whatever reason," he said. "That doesn't mean they'll win, but both of them are quite competitive in a year when their party has a lot of disadvantages."
On the Net:
Primary results: http://vote.wa.gov/Elections/WEI/Results.htm |