This statement was just released by the Rossi campaign
Governor-Elect ‘honored’to be chosen as state’s next governor
Bellevue, WA – Governor-Elect Dino Rossi said today he is “honored” that the people of Washington have chosen him to be the next governor.
Rossi, who is currently on a long-scheduled vacation with his wife, Terry, and their four children, Juliauna, Jake, Joseph and Jillian, thanked the voters of Washington state.
“This process has lasted a lot longer than anyone thought it would, but I’m grateful that the people of Washington have placed their trust in me,” said Rossi. “I know a lot of Democrats and Independents crossed party lines to vote for me, and I appreciate that very much. I am focusing on preparing for a new administration in Olympia, and doing what I promised to do throughout the campaign: Get people back to work and turn our economy around.”
Rossi said that despite Christine Gregoire’s comments about a hand recount, he hopes the Attorney General will do the right thing for the state and concede.
“I was honored to have many distinguished current and former elected officials – former Governor and Senator Dan Evans, former Senator Slade Gorton, former Secretary of State Ralph Munro, former Seattle Mayor Wes Uhlman and current King County Councilwoman Kathy Lambert – speak out on my behalf today, and to also urge the Attorney General to concede. It’s time for our state to move forward.”
In a news conference today at Rossi campaign headquarters in Bellevue, former Gov. Dan Evans compared this race to a marathon, noting that the average marathon runner makes 50,000 strides. But in the end, Evans said, even if the winner of the marathon is only one-half of a stride ahead of the next runner, he or she is still declared the victor, and the race is over. Evans said that even though this governor’s race is exceptionally close, Rossi has finished ahead twice and race should now be over.
Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at November 24, 2004 04:44 PM | Email ThisAlthough Gregoire wants to finish this campaign with a victory, she also would likely want to be able to fight another day. If she burns all of her political capital on a selective recount, it could be quite damaging to her as it was to Gore. The bad thing for her is that the Governor's office is all she has to go for since there are D's in both of the US Senate seats. I don't know where she would stand as far as congress. That said, with a very close loss she could come back in four years and make a solid challenge. It is not at all uncommon for such a challenge to be successful.
For the Democratic party, however, they need this victory. There is too much power accumulated in Olympia to relinquish it, even just for four years. Rossi can make too many changes which would freeze their main backers from the government trough in that time. It would be better for them to lose a US Senate seat than the governorship. I would expect them to keep fighting as long as there is any avenue for them to pursue.
Posted by: Steve N on November 24, 2004 05:24 PMGregoire will not be elected in '08 if Rossi does a good job for the people and replants the government with Republican appointees.
I sincerely hope the win holds and that Rossi acts swiftly. He will not be able to afford Democrat Machiavellis in hidden offices under his watch if he is to be successful.
This is a huge win for 'pubs!
Good luck to all of you!
KB
Posted by: KittyBurglar on November 24, 2004 05:55 PMhttp://seattletimes.nwsource.com/news/local/links/demletter.pdf
Posted by: Breyers on November 24, 2004 06:02 PMYou go girl!
Posted by: John on November 24, 2004 06:12 PMGregoire concedes graciously, moves into the 7th Congressional District and runs against McDermott in the primary in 2 years. Everyone wins that one!
The more interesting aspect of that match-up is that they would likely face each other again in the general election given our new "top-two" primary system.
Posted by: Tim A on November 24, 2004 06:14 PMRogerA-
Your proclivity for semicolons is quite disturbing.