The Seattle Times reports that Washington Republican gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi has filed suit to throw out the election results and have a revote. Powerline provides the link, and appears to approve. I'm sure that this sudden appreciation for litigation and "revotes" in the face of contested elections came out solely because a desire to see democracy flourish, and is entirely unrelated to any partisan concerns. An Election 2000 mea culpa is forthcoming any day now.
All of that notwithstanding, I'm a sympathetic to Rossi's position. I really am. I outlined my problems with a revote in my original post on the matter, but I think I made it abundantly clear that I don't think Rossi is in the moral wrong here.
Most interestingly is Gregorie's comment on the suit: "I respect the rights of others to file an action in court. That's their right. I have to respect that, I'm the attorney general."
Those are admirable sentiments, and are probably the closest thing to a fair, non-partisan comment by a politico on a situation like this I've seen in awhile. Rossi also deserves some credit in this regard. Unlike Powerline, which compares Gregorie to Richard Daley, Rossi has emphasized that he thinks that the discrepancies were the result of honest mistakes and that no one "is out to steal the election." So kudos to both candidates.
The real loser in all of this, of course, is democracy. Any election where the outcome is so muddled will invariably stoke conspiracy theories and paranoia (and holding a revote won't solve that). But it's heartening to see that both candidates have managed to stay respectful and have refrained from overheated partisan accusations.
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