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.