Dems: ''We Won by 8''-GOP: ''Too Close to Call''

"Democrats have claimed victory in the race for Washington governor by a razor-thin margin of eight votes, citing preliminary results of a hand recount they say puts Christine Gregoire in front for the first time. Republicans maintained the race was still too close to call."-from the AP story, "Dems Claim Win in Wash. Governor's Race." This projection does not include the disputed 700-plus ballots that the State Supreme Court will be deciding whether to count, later this morning. The GOP has threatened to sue if they allow them to be tallied. The P-I story this morning, "Democrats: Gregoire wins by 8 votes," has this: "King County elections officials said Berendt's victory claim was premature and that the data the parties are seeing hasn't been reconciled.The state Supreme Court hears an appeal about hundreds of disputed King County ballots at 9:30 a.m. The hourlong hearing will be broadcast live on TVW, channel 23 on most cable networks. Also, King County plans to announce its recount results by 3:30 p.m." The Seattle Times story, "Gregoire catches Rossi, Democrats say," highights the GOP's fighting stance: "Vance said the Republicans know of about 500 people statewide — including more than 260 who have signed affidavits — who say they voted for Rossi but their ballots were rejected because of signature mismatches or other problems. The party said yesterday it has heard from several members of the military, including some serving in Iraq, who say they wanted to vote but did not receive ballots in time. Vance said the party will fight to get all of those votes counted if the Supreme Court allows King County to tally its previously rejected ballots. "If they can bring in theirs from King County, we'll be going back to every county auditor and saying 'Let's start it all over again,' " Vance said. The AP story also mentions this colorful anecdote: "About 350 people gathered Tuesday to show support for Rossi in front of the Supreme Court, at a rally sponsored by a conservative talk-radio station. The crowd chanted "No more fraud!" They held signs saying "Welcome to Ukraine" and wore orange, a tribute to the signature color of demonstrators in Ukraine who protested a fraud-marred election there." I wonder if they would be willing to do the same in Ohio. Probably not.