The Republican candidate for governor of Washington State, Dino Rossi, lost a close recount to the Democratic candidate, Christine Gregoire. Now Rossi is calling for a new election (tip to Kos).
This is not the way to conduct elections. It didn’t work for Al Gore in 2000, whose image was tarnished for a run in 2004. In South Dakota in 2002, on the other hand, John Thune rejected advice that he challenge the election (which he lost by about 500 votes) because of some allegations of vote fraud on Native American reservations (which were hotly denied by Democrats). Thune did the right thing for the system, accepted defeat, and came back to win in 2004. In the interim, the state also adopted some anti-fraud measures for voting (picture IDs).
Rossi should have tried to do the same; if he doesn’t accept defeat gracefully, then the Republicans in Washington should choose someone else next time. There should be a limit to one man’s political ambitions.
UPDATE: More on the Washington race at Amish Fight Club.
2D UPDATE: In a set of posts, Stefan Sharkansky is pointing out problems with the final recount, so go to Sound Politics if you want to follow the continuing questions about possible vote fraud.
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