Rossi concedes Governor's race

Republican gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi smiles as he talks about his wife's to-do list for him as he speaks at a news conference at his campaign headquarters Wednesday in Redmond, Wash. Rossi conceded Tuesday's closely-contested election to incumbent Gov. Chris Gregoire. (Elaine Thompson/Associated Press)

Republican Dino Rossi conceded his hotly contested rematch against Democratic Gov. Chris Gregoire on Wednesday, acknowledging that while the results from the election probably will tighten, it won't be enough.

At a news conference at his campaign headquarters, Rossi said the quick conclusion to the race, contrasted to when he last faced off with Gregoire four years ago, is "a good thing."

Rossi said he called Gregoire to congratulate her Wednesday morning.

Gregoire declared victory Tuesday night after early returns had her ahead, but Rossi initially said he wanted to see later returns.

Wednesday morning, with about 55 percent of the expected ballots counted, Gregoire had about 54 percent of the vote to Rossi's 47 percent.

"This is one of the most gratifying days I've had in four years," Gregoire said at a news conference Wednesday afternoon.

Gregoire said her win was "a reinforcement of all of the hard work that we've put in, and all of the partnerships that we've formed in the last four years."

Gregoire won the 2004 contest by the closest percentage margin of any governor's race in U.S. history — just 133 votes out of about 2.8 million cast, after two recounts and an unsuccessful Republican court challenge.

Rossi said he'll return to the business world and has "no intention of running for any political office at this time."

He offered his services to Gregoire, but also reminded supporters that Gregoire made a promise not to raise taxes, and voters have a right to hold her to that promise.

Gregoire was ahead Wednesday in 16 of the state's 39 counties, including eight counties she lost in 2004.

That included Snohomish County, which she lost by 6,400 votes in 2004. With more than half of that county's vote counted Wednesday morning, Gregoire was leading Rossi by more than 20,000 votes.

Four years ago, Rossi took an early lead on Election Night, and was ahead 681 votes at the end of the night. Gregoire jumped ahead of him in the following days, but 15 days after Election Day, it appeared he had beaten Gregoire by 261 votes. A machine recount narrowed the lead to just 42 votes.

A second recount, done by hand and paid for by state Democrats, put Gregoire ahead by 129 votes. Rossi sued, but Gregoire was inaugurated and the court challenge ultimately failed, although the judge threw out four illegally cast votes for Rossi, raising Gregoire's margin of victory to 133.

"I think people came into this race with the frame of mind of the last race," Elway said. "Everyone expected it to be a 133-vote race, but it was never going to be that."

"The blue wave has swept into Washington and helped her candidacy," he said.

One major difference this year is the absence of a third party candidate to siphon votes.

In 2004, Libertarian Ruth Bennett got more than 2 percent of the vote in November, about 63,000 votes.

Voting began in mid-October. Because the vast majority of voters cast mail ballots, many of which come in on or after Election Day, many were expecting that a final result might not have been known for days.

But Matt Barreto, a political scientist at the University of Washington, said Gregoire did much better this time in Eastern Washington, and in swing counties like Pierce and Snohomish.

Rossi and Gregoire raised more than $20 million combined in the most expensive election in Washington history. That amount doesn't include the millions spent by third-party groups on TV ads and mailers, most of them negative in tone.

"It was a difficult race, no question about it," Gregoire said Wednesday. "It is time for us to put that behind us, absolutely behind us. It's time for us to unite as one Washington and move forward."

Now that the race is over, Rossi said he plans to tackle a to-do list that includes cleaning out his garage, and, on a positive note, the quick decision means, "I'm going to be home for dinner tonight."
Wednesday morning, with about 55 percent of the expected ballots counted, Gregoire had about 54 percent of the vote compared with Rossi's 47 percent.

Rossi says he'll return to the business world and has no intention of running for political office again "at this time."