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The election for governor of the U.S. state of Washington in the year 2004 gained national attention for its legal twists and turns and its extremely close finish. Three parties, the Democratic Party , the Republican Party and the Libertarian Party , fielded candidates. The Primary Election was held on September 14 , and the General Election was held on November 2 . It is notable for being among the closest races in United States election history; the winner, Christine Gregoire , a Democrat , was elected after a second recount turned the election in her favor by a margin of 129 votes, or 0.0045%. On the day of December 30 , Christine Gregoire was officially declared the victor of the third count (the second recount), conducted by hand, partially delayed by a court order preventing King County from including over 700 Ballot s that county officials said were improperly rejected. Although Gregoire was sworn in as Governor Of Washington on January 12 , 2005 , her opponent Dino Rossi did not formally concede and called for a re-vote due to concerns about the integrity of the election. The Republican Party filed a lawsuit in Chelan County Superior Court contesting the election, in which the trial judge ruled With Prejudice against the Republican Party, not only denying their allegations but also attacking the validity of their methodology. Rossi chose not to appeal to the Washington State Supreme Court, thereby conceding the election on June 6 2005 . THE PRIMARIES The 2004 election cycle was the first in Washington state to use a party-line ballot system of holding Primary Election s. The state had a long tradition of using Blanket Primaries , where the candidates of all Political Parties appear together on the same ballot for all voters. In this system, the leading vote-getter from each party advances to the general election. Washington voters are not registered by party affiliation and a voter could participate in selecting candidates for more than one party, although the voter could only choose one candidate (of whatever party) for each office. In February 2004 the United States Supreme Court declined to review a lower court decision striking down the blanket primary as unconstitutional, based on it violating the rights of the parties to Freedom Of Association under the First Amendment . Washington was thus forced to devise a new primary election system. The state legislature passed a bill providing that the top two vote-getters for each office in the primary would advance to the general election, regardless of which political party they belonged to. Voters would still be allowed to vote for any candidate as before. However, this measure was Veto ed by Governor Gary Locke in favor of a "Montana-style" system that requires voters to choose a ballot for one specific party and vote only on that party's candidates in the primary. The primary election in 2004 was held using the new system, but a campaign to replace it was already underway. The Washington State Grange , which had helped institute the blanket primary in 1935, filed Initiative 872 to implement the "top-two" primary instead, which would once again allow voters to cross party lines in the primary election but now send the top two vote-getters to the general election. In districts dominated by one party, the "top-two" system could result in Democrat- or Republican-only general election races. Supporters claimed it would bring back voter choice across party lines and allow independent voters to participate in the primary; opponents said it would exclude Third Parties and independent candidates from general election ballots, and would in fact reduce general election voter choice. The initiative was put to a public vote in November 2004, and passed with 60 percent of the vote. The state Republican, Democratic and Libertarian parties sued, however, and a federal district court judge ruled in 2005 that the measure was unconstitutional because it too infringed the parties' First Amendment right to select their own candidates. Washington continued with the party-line primary system while appealing the case. Democratic primary In July 2003, Incumbent governor Gary Locke indicated that he would not seek a third term, opening up the Democratic primary to alternate candidates. Former Washington State Supreme Court justice Phil Talmadge was the first candidate to enter the race for the Democratic primary, challenging Gary Locke before he announced his retirement, but Washington Attorney-General Christine Gregoire quickly became the frontrunner, leading in fundraising and endorsements. King County Executive Ron Sims also failed to catch on, perhaps due to his association with the controversial Sound Transit Light Rail project. According to a March 2004 Mellman Group poll, Gregoire would beat both Sims and Talmadge 36 percent to 11 percent and four percent in an Open Primary , and would beat Sims 55 percent to 17 percent in a Closed Primary . On April 29 , 2004 , Talmadge announced he was withdrawing from the race following the discovery of a benign Kidney Tumor , citing the likely need for surgery and associated recovery time. Republican primary The Washington State Republican Party struggled to find a candidate through most of 2003 when presumed candidate Bob Herbold , a former Executive Vice President and COO of Microsoft , declined to run. They finally recruited Dino Rossi , a relatively obscure political figure who left the state Senate to pursue a Gubernatorial run due to state elected officials being prohibited from raising money while the legislature is in session. Libertarian primary The Libertarian Party Of Washington State race was between Ruth Bennett , former state chair of the party in Washington and Colorado, and Michael Nelson. CAMPAIGNS Both Gregoire and Rossi ran as centrists and promised to change the political landscape in Washington, and both made Job and Economic growth the centerpiece of their campaigns. Gregoire ran on the promise to boost job growth in the state which had slowed greatly after the Dot Com Bubble burst in 2001, to improve Education , and to increase access to Health Care . The Rossi campaign presented its own job-growth plan, and stated that 20 years of Democratic governors were to blame for the economic troubles in the state. However, during the general election he was criticized for a strongly conservative voting record that was at odds with his moderate campaign posture. Rossi was also criticized for his long-time professional association with a Real Estate Broker convicted of fraud, and for alleged Résumé embellishments. Rossi had worked against '' Roe V. Wade '', attacked opponents for supporting Gay Rights , and proclaimed that Creationism should be taught in Public School s. Although Rossi campaigned on being Pro-life and in favor of state and federal Constitutional Amendments that would ban all benefits and legal contracts for gay couples, he downplayed his long history of fundamentalist "rhetoric" and claimed he was a "fiscal moderate with a social conscience." Rossi also would not publicly state his opinion over Stem Cell research. The Gregoire campaign focused on Gregoire's " and bring change herself. This language surprised and disappointed many of her colleagues and supporters, who saw it as a failure to give mention or credit to the efforts and achievements of past Democratic governors. Gregoire was also strongly criticized in many Attack Ad s for an incident which occurred in 2000, when Gregoire's office failed to file documents on time to appeal a record $17.8 million personal-injury verdict against Washington. Documents from an independent investigation conducted at the time of the incident show that Gregoire's deputies attempted to influence who was listed as responsible for the missed deadline. A further case Gregoire was strongly criticized for occurred in 2002 during a Wrongful Death lawsuit when Gregoire's office did not detect an error in jury instructions. The state was forced to pay $22.4 million to the Plaintiff . While Gregoire was not directly responsible for these offenses, the Rossi campaign claimed that she had already cost Washington Taxpayer s millions of dollars and was negligent. Rossi won the endorsement of the Republican Party, the National Rifle Association , '' The Seattle Times '', several business and medical associations, and former governor Dan Evans . Gregoire received the endorsement of the Democratic Party, GLAAD , pro-choice organizations, and all the previous Democratic governors of the state. However, the Republican Party decided not to fund ads for Rossi in the state as polls leading up to the election date showed Gregoire with a clear lead. Almost all of Rossi's ads were paid for and created by outside sources, although as Gregoire's lead narrowed closer to the election date, the Republican Party ultimately decided to launch a series of advertisements for Rossi. Ruth Bennett's campaign focused on permitting Gay Marriage in the state and economic liberalization in line with Libertarianism . She also recommended equally dividing the state budget among the counties and allowing the counties to establish tax systems on a county-by-county basis, ultimately leading to a diminished role of Washington's Department of Revenue. GENERAL ELECTION |
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