McPheet.com

The 2004 Washington State Gubernatorial Election: one of the closest elections in American political history.  Rife with intrigue, twists and turns, and probably a large dose of fraud, it stands as one of the darker moments in a decade chock full of bad election mojo.

And, apparently, it’s a moment that lives on in Minnesota’s Senatorial election this year.  Like Washington’s Dino Rossi (R) against Christine Gregoire (D), Minnesota Sen. Norm Coleman (R) had a small lead over Al Franken (D) on election night.  After the initial count, Rossi’s lead was 261 votes, and Coleman’s lead was even narrower: 215 votes.  Both races triggered their states automatic recount provisions.  Rossi’s lead dropped to 42 votes after the initial recount; Coleman’s lead has widened to 238, but only about 80% of the ballots have been recounted.

The mischief in the Rossi election really got started when the Democrats insisted on a hand recount of ballots.  During this process, several hundred ballots were “discovered” in heavily Democratic King County.  Along with additional ballots discovered in five other counties, these were enough to turn Rossi’s 42-vote lead into a 129-vote deficit, giving Christine Gregoire the election.

John Fund’s column in the Wall Street Journal notes the tactical similarities between Gregoire and Franken, including demanding a list of names of absentee voters whose votes were not counted.  Fund notes how Democrats used this information.

…a partisan hunt for votes. Ryan Bianchi, communications assistant for Ms. Gregoire, told the Seattle Times that Democratic volunteers asked voters if they had cast ballots for Ms. Gregoire. “If they say no, we just tell them to have a nice day,” he said. Only if they said yes did Democrats ask if they wanted to make their ballots valid.

Margot Swanson, a voter in Redmond who forgot to sign her ballot, told me she was contacted by phone and asked whom she voted for. When she said Republican Dino Rossi, the caller quickly hung up. “I puzzled out there might be a problem with my ballot, and I found out there was,” she said. “But I would never have known from the tricky call I got.”

Republicans played catch-up by belatedly using their own phone banks to call voters. But Democrats turned in some 600 written oaths from people declaring how they had intended to vote, and Republicans about 200. Those ballots were all counted, and made the difference in the race.

Al Franken has apparently even imported then-chairman of the Washington Democratic Party, Paul Berendt, for advice.  ”What I bring to this effort,” Berendt said, “is that I understand every single step of this recount process and the things that you need to look for in order to make sure that every vote is counted.”

Every vote is counted?  Or every vote is produced.  Either way, Washington’s disputed election is a gift that just keeps on giving.

Disclosure: In 2000 and 2002, I was elected as a Republican precinct committee officer, so of course I voted for Dino Rossi. In fact, I voted a straight Republican ticket this year, despite my misgivings about most of the Republicans on the ticket. Dino Rossi was the only Republican for whom I felt much enthusiasm. (I hear good things about Rob McKenna, the Attorney General-elect, but I’ve never seen him speak, unlike Rossi, who really impressed me at a 48th District GOP meeting a while back.)

Christine Gregoire, having lost the gubernatorial election twice now, is expected to call for either a partial or complete manual recount, which might well take us past January 10, 2005, when a new governor is scheduled to be sworn into office.

Ms. Gregoire, give it up. The race is essentially a tie, but you’ve come out on the losing end twice. It’s going to cost perhaps hundreds of thousands of dollars for you to find out that the race is still essentially a tie. You ran a lousy campaign which any Democrat should have won easily:

• John Kerry (another lousy candidate) beat George Bush in Washington state by 7 points.
• Patty Murray beat George Nethercutt by twelve.
• Of the other seven statewide partisan races, your party won four of them.
• The Republicans haven’t won a gubernatorial campaign in this state in 24 years.

This race was yours to lose, and you did. Now, give it a rest.

Well, I had hoped to go into as much depth with the other parties as I did with those rascally Constitutionists, but the time before the election has evaporated. So here’s a brief overview of the other candidates on the Washington state ballot.

Libertarian: Michael Badnarik

The Libertarians have my sympathy because they, like the Constitutionalists and (at least in years past) the Republicans, want to reduce the size of government. But things are getting a little wacky in Libertarian land.

• They want to legalize many drugs, because they think the War on Drugs has been a spectacular failure, filling our jails and doing little to reduce the demand for drugs. I can see some merit in their argument, though I haven’t concluded that they’re right.
• They want to end federal welfare and anti-poverty programs, and instead have a dollar-for-dollar tax credit for charitable contributions. I support this idea fully.
• They want to allow you to opt-out of Social Security. I’m on board here, too. I’ve felt since the 1980s that my generation should just bite the bullet and give up Social Security — keep paying in for those already in the system, but end the program before we reach retirement age. More people in my age bracket believe in UFOs than believe they’ll ever get a dime out of Social Security.
• They want to pull out of Iraq as soon as possible. Here’s where they lose me. Having invaded Iraq, I believe we have a responsibility to stay until Iraq has a stable government.

Green Party: David Cobb

Not much here for which I can vote. The Greens think “The unjust, illegal and immoral war in Iraq must be brought to an end now.” They also support single-payer, universal health care, proportional representation, a “living wage” (increasing the minimum wage to $10.00 an hour, with adjustments for inflation), an end to discrimination against “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex, and Queer” persons (I don’t know what Intersex means, and I don’t know what the distinction is between Queers and “Lesbians” and “Gays”.) There’s more, but you get the point. About the only thing I can really stand with the Greens on is some restrictions on the political activites of corporations, though I would restrict all political spending by all corporations, including labor unions and non-profit advocacy groups. (More on this another time.)

Independent: Ralph Nader

Ralph thinks the US can give way to a UN peacekeeping force (for which the US will pay) who can ensure stability while Iraq builds its own democracy. (I think Ralph’s nuts.) He’s also running on universal health care and against corporate crime and greed. His tax program taxes wealth instead of wages. He has a seven point plan to end poverty. In short, Ralph is running a 1960s idealism campaign for the 2000s.

Worker’s World: John Parker
Socialist Equality Party: Bill Van Auken
Socialist Workers Party: James Harris (no web site)

The usual group of cranks and nut jobs, who haven’t figured out the meaning of the fall of communism. The Worker’s World Party web site carries slogans like “People’s Needs Before Profits - For Socialism, Against Capitalism.” All three groups are concerned with the rights of unions to organize. The WWP wants a minimum wage of $15/hour. The SEP calls for a 30-hour work week (at a 40-hour pay scale). All of these groups call for an immediate withdrawal of troops from Iraq.

The purpose of voting for one of these groups is not so much to actually elect them, as to help ensure ballot access for them in future. If you live in a state where the outcome is pretty much already determined (like Washington), and you find one of these to be to your liking, go ahead and vote for one of these groups. If you don’t find one to your liking, feel free to write me in. That’s M-C-P-H-E-E-T-E-R-S. Happy Election Day.