Wash. governor's rival rules out another rematch

OLYMPIA, Wash.

Thursday, 06 November 2008 10:16:19

By RACHEL LA CORTE - Associated Press Writer

After losing twice to Democratic Gov. Chris Gregoire, Republican Dino Rossi said he has no intention of another rematch _ he's returning to the business world.

At a news conference Wednesday at his campaign headquarters in Redmond, Rossi said the quick conclusion to the latest race, contrasted to when he faced off with Gregoire four years ago, is "a good thing."

He said he called Gregoire to congratulate her Wednesday morning.

Gregoire declared victory Tuesday night after early returns had her ahead, but Rossi initially said he wanted to see later returns. He later conceded.

Late Wednesday, with 64 percent of precincts reporting, Gregoire had 997,468 votes, or 54 percent, to Rossi's 864,360 votes, or 46 percent.

Rossi acknowledged that while the results from the election probably will tighten, it won't be enough for him to win.

"This is one of the most gratifying days I've had in four years," Gregoire said at a news conference Wednesday afternoon.

She called her win "a reinforcement of all of the hard work that we've put in and all of the partnerships that we've formed in the last four years."

Gregoire won the 2004 contest by the closest percentage margin of any governor's race in U.S. history _ just 133 votes out of about 2.8 million cast, after two recounts and an unsuccessful Republican court challenge.

Rossi took an early lead on Election Night and was ahead 681 votes at the end of the night. Gregoire jumped ahead of him in the following days, but 15 days after Election Day, it appeared he had beaten Gregoire by 261 votes. A machine recount narrowed the lead to just 42 votes.

A second recount, done by hand and paid for by state Democrats, put Gregoire ahead by 129 votes. Rossi sued, but Gregoire was inaugurated and the court challenge ultimately failed, although the judge threw out four illegally cast votes for Rossi.

"I think people came into this race with the frame of mind of the last race," independent pollster Stuart Elway said. "Everyone expected it to be a 133-vote race, but it was never going to be that."

Cornell Clayton, professor of political science at Washington State University, said he had expected Gregoire to have a more decisive victory than 2004 but was still surprised by her large margin of victory on Tuesday.

President-elect Barack Obama easily captured Washington state's 11 electoral votes, and his popularity here, along with a surge of new voters, may have been key to her success.

"I think it's all due to the higher turnout and the Obama phenomena," Clayton said.

Another thing that was different this year was the absence of a third-party candidate to siphon votes. Four years ago, Libertarian Ruth Bennett got more than 2 percent of the vote, about 63,000 votes.

Voting began in mid-October. Because the vast majority of voters cast mail ballots, which often come in on or after Election Day, many were expecting that a final result might not have been known for days.

But Matt Barreto, a political scientist at the University of Washington, said Gregoire did much better this time in eastern Washington, and in swing counties such as Pierce and Snohomish.

Rossi and Gregoire raised more than $20 million combined in the most expensive election in Washington state history. That amount doesn't include the millions spent by third-party groups on TV ads and mailers, most of them negative in tone.

"It was a difficult race, no question about it," Gregoire said Wednesday. "It is time for us to put that behind us, absolutely behind us. It's time for us to unite as one Washington and move forward."

Rossi offered his services to Gregoire, but he also reminded supporters that she promised not to raise taxes and that voters have a right to hold her to that promise.

As for himself, he said he'll return to the business world and has "absolutely no intention of running for any political office at this point in time."

Now that the race is over, Rossi said he plans to tackle a to-do list that includes cleaning out his garage, and, on a positive note, the quick decision means, "I'm going to be home for dinner tonight."

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Associated Press writer Phuong Le in Redmond contributed to this report.