Eastern Washington again holds key in governor's race

WENATCHEE -- Four years ago, a Chelan County judge ultimately decided the outcome of the governor’s race. This year, local voters may play a big hand in who the next governor will be.
“We hold the key,” said Chelan County Republic Party Chairwoman Fredi Simpson.

So far, Dino Rossi, the Republican challenger to Gov. Chris Gregoire, has visited Wenatchee at least eight times during the campaign. Rossi spoke at the local Republican Party’s Lincoln Day dinner, at meetings for the Chelan-Douglas Farm Bureau, the Republican women’s group and a reception hosted by builders and real estate agents. He attended events at Memorial Park and Condotta’s Motorsports Center. He also has campaigned in Chelan, Manson and Brewster, and will be holding a rally in Quincy this weekend.

Gregoire has come to Wenatchee at least five times, most recently speaking at the Chelan and Douglas County Democrats’ annual dinner earlier this month. She also had campaign staff people in Wenatchee for a while.

Both candidates have spent more time in Eastern Washington this time around.
Local party leaders say it’s because voters on this side of the Cascade Curtain — if they voted as a block — have the ability to sway the election.

Simpson said voters in just Chelan and Douglas counties could have put Rossi into office four years ago if they had just turned in their ballots.

When Rossi and Gregoire faced off in 2004, the results were the closest governor’s race in U.S. history and led to three recounts, a court challenge and lawsuits. Rossi won by 261 votes in the first recount and 42 votes in the second one. Then Gregoire won by 129 votes in a hand recount.

Rossi and the state Republican Party sued to have the election results overturned and sued all 39 counties and their auditors for contributing to election errors. They chose to file the suit in Chelan County, where voters overwhelmingly voted for Rossi. The state Democratic Party intervened in the legal challenge.

Chelan County Superior Court Judge John Bridges presided over the case.

Both state parties alleged that close to 2,000 illegal votes were cast statewide in the race.

It was largely believed the Republicans chose Chelan County for their appeal because they believed a conservative judge in a Republican county would rule in Rossi’s favor.

But after a two-week trial, Bridges ruled the Republicans did not have enough evidence to warrant a recall of the election and Gregoire remained governor by a 129-vote margin over Rossi.

“This court is not in a position to fix the deficiencies in this election process,” the judge said at the time, “and so it’s the voters who should send the message.”

Now it looks like the two candidates are heading to another close race.
In the August primary, Gregoire won 48.3 percent of the vote statewide to Rossi’s 46.35.

But in North Central Washington, voters were decidedly for Rossi. He won by more than 62 percent in the four counties, while Gregoire garnered a little more than 30 percent.

“I think it’s going to be a close one again,” said Lana Salvino, chairwoman of the Douglas County Democrats.

Salvino acknowledged Gregoire has never led in Douglas County. In fact, she lost in all Eastern Washington counties in 2004.

But Salvino said she believes Gregoire is the stronger candidate, particularly on education and health care, which are issues that are important to Eastern Washington residents. Salvino said Gregoire has made more forays into the region for her campaign, and there has been good local turnout for her visits.

“She (Gregoire) still doesn’t think she’ll get the votes — and she’s probably right,” Salvino said. “But she really is interested in our area and issues that are important to us.”

Simpson said she believes Rossi could win the election by a large enough margin to avoid a recount if Eastern Washington voters turn out in the same numbers that Western Washington voters do.

She said in 2004, Chelan and Douglas counties were among the bottom 10 counties for voter turnout.

At the same time, 84 percent of King County voters cast ballots.

“If we turned out at the same rate as King County, we would have a recount-proof election just with our two counties alone.”

Simpson said the Democratic Party has been gaining some ground in Chelan and Douglas counties over the last four years. But she said the voter breakdown in the two counties is still roughly two-thirds Republican to one-third Democrat.

“I don’t see that trend going away in this election,” she said.

Just to be sure, though, local party members have been working hard to increase voter turnout in the upcoming election and to register new voters. They have also been trying to convince local voters that they can sway the outcome of the governor’s election.

“A lot of people in Eastern Washington believe their vote doesn’t count, that King County is going to steal the election,” she said. “We have to empower them and make sure they know their vote counts even more. I want to get that King County chip off their shoulder.”

Simpson said she is asking voters to persuade a handful of their friends or family who did not vote in the 2004 election to cast a ballot this year.

“If we don’t vote, then it’s our own fault if we lose this election,” she said.

• The Classified Marketplace
• • Announcements
  • Public Notices
  • Legal Notices
  • Merchandise
  • Yard Sales
  • Animals
  • Finance

• Newspaper Ads
  View All