Christine Gregoire and Paul Berendt seem to be trying to play a form of "Good Cop, Bad Cop"
Democrat Christine Gregoire says she will concede the governor's race to Dino Rossi today unless her party raises enough money for a statewide recount.So Gregoire is trying to position herself as the good cop. On the other hand, she's not all that good of a cop, because she's lost all control of the situation:"I'm done with the shock of Nov. 2 and I have moved on, and I am ready to do what the law provides" and have a final statewide manual recount, Gregoire said yesterday.
But the party says it'll do what it wants.
Democratic Party Chairman Paul Berendt said he will request a recount in only a few selected counties if that's all the party has money to pay for when the 5 p.m. deadline hits today.
He said Gregoire can concede the race to Rossi, a Republican, if she wants.
"That would be irrelevant. Concessions have no legal standing," Berendt said.
Gregoire, a three-term attorney general, said she knew nothing about a letter a party lawyer wrote to Secretary of State Sam Reed hinting at an imminent lawsuit. The letter suggested the Democrats might go to court before a recount to settle what ballots should be counted.How good of a job could this woman possibly do running the state government if her most loyal supporters are already cutting her out of the loop and disregarding her wishes?
The Seattle Times editorial board fell for Gregoire's good cop act and was gulled into believing that a massive hand job recount wil magically reduce human error:
Gregoire put it fairly and concisely: "Right now, the governor-elect's office sits empty in Olympia. The only way to fill it will be to have a statewide hand recount."Meanwhile, the more enlightened Tri-City Herald joins the growing chorus asking Gregoire to quit trying to steal the election:
The Herald editorial board recommended Gregoire to Mid-Columbia voters, in large part because of the work she has done to keep Hanford cleanup on track. Now we're asking her to concede the race and let the state get on with business.If Gregoire really were the "good cop", that's exactly what she'd do. Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at December 03, 2004 10:48 AM | Email This
Based on everything else we've seen, why would Gregoire be talking concession when according to the party most of the money has already been raised? It's either an effort to scare the party into raising those last $$ needed or allows her to avoid cherry-picking counties -- the spectre of which has really gotten editorial boards on her case and has allowed Dino to capture the statewide PR momentum.
I do not believe that her campaign and the state Democratic Party are in any rift. They need party unity right now and the media is not being as skeptical as it should be.
Posted by: Terry Mueller on December 3, 2004 11:22 AMWe'll see her true colors by 5:00 pm. If indeed she backs down, then I take back what I said, maybe she does have some decency and the intelligence to realize that all of these antics are destroying voter confidence, and her political career.
If not, then all of this was just strategy, strategy that won't be mentioned in the liberal Sound newspapers.
The part I find particularly amusing is that Gregoire says she was not aware of the Perkins Coie letter. Yeah, it's buzzing all around the Internet, and she is one of two central figures in the closest race in state history. No one she knows mentioned it to her at all. Riiiiigggghhht. It just came out of the clear blue.
If that's the case, why not denounce the letter and call off the legal attacks?
Posted by: Jeff B. on December 3, 2004 11:58 AMand why not denounce? Because it will make it even MORE obvious that her party isn't following her, whcih would be disastrous if she should have to lead in the future.
I think even if she called off the lawyers, etc they would not do what she asked.
I think she suspects that as well.
Well played Dems.
Posted by: Terry Mueller on December 3, 2004 12:32 PMHer political cah-rear is on the line. She needs a backup plan to salvage her nose-diving career. Regardless as to whether she wins or loses the "hand job", she really needs the Democratic Party to play the "Bad Cop". This sudden mis-communication between Gregoire and Berendt and claiming "no games" is a perfect opportunity for the needed spin.
When is a recount not a recount? When you add ballots that were previously eliminated. If the D's threat of "Pre-recount litigation" really happens (which sounds probable), there will be a sym-"pathetic" judge to rule in whatever way is needed to get the "right" result.
If the judge doesn't rule the "right" way, there's the not so veiled threat of turning to the legislature to make it "right". Maybe I was being too generous to think that Christine has realized she lost. Quite the opposite. Chris and D's know that she won, it's just the first couple counts were unfair and inaccurate.
Count, recount, hand job, spin, spin, spin.
How good a job could this woman possibly do running the state governmentWell, we already know what a steller performance she gave running the AG's office, don't we? Posted by: Kirk Parker on December 5, 2004 11:54 PM