Democrats claim victory in governor contest after recount

THE Democrats yesterday claimed victory in the race for Washington governor by a razor-thin margin of eight votes - after weeks of recounts following the November 2 election.

They cited preliminary results from a hand recount they said put Christine Gregoire in front for the first time. Republicans maintained the race was still too close to call.

The stunning turnaround was reported late on Tuesday by the head of the state Democratic Party, who said party officials' analysis of hand-counted returns from King County - the last county to finish the gruelling process - showed that Ms Gregoire had eclipsed the dwindling margin that Republican Dino Rossi has held since election day.

"We're confident Christine Gregoire has been elected the governor of the state of Washington," Democratic Chairman Paul Berendt said. "I believe Dino Rossi should concede."

Neither King County nor the state Republican Party could confirm the recount results that led to the Democrats' analysis. GOP officials have said they were likely to take the matter to court in the event of a Gregoire win.

Rossi spokeswoman Mary Lane said Republicans were studying the recount data but had not drawn any conclusions. "It's just too close to call," she said.

A Gregoire lead could widen if the state Supreme Court allows the 700-plus recently discovered ballots from the Democratic stronghold of King County to be added to the total. The high court was scheduled to hear arguments in a lawsuit over those ballots, which were excluded from the first two counts because of mistakes made by county election workers.

They weren't allowed in the hand recount, either, after a Pierce County judge granted a Republican request for a temporary restraining order; the issue could be moot, however, if Ms Gregoire's apparent eight-vote lead were to stand.

Out of 2.9 million ballots cast on Election Day, Mr Rossi initially won by a mere 261 votes; his lead was whittled down to 42 votes in a subsequent machine recount.

More legal battles appear inevitable. Mr Rossi has said that he would consider challenging the election results in court if he loses the third count after winning the first two. Republicans have already started preparing for a possible court challenge.

About 350 people gathered on Tuesday to show support for Mr Rossi at a rally in front of the Supreme Court.