So we all are aware that the Washington Governor's recount is an important story. It may not be a real hot national story, but to those of us, republican and democrat, and especially you Washingtonians, this race and subsequent recount is very important. So, I was reading an AP article on Boston.com the other day and the following few paragraphs caught my eye and have since made me very angry. Let's see if you can figure out why... (please read the whole excerpt)
"The decision does not affect the 561 uncounted ballots in King County that were discovered Sunday to have been wrongly rejected because of mistakes by election workers. Those ballots go to a canvassing board Wednesday for verification and could tip the delicate balance of the election toward Gregoire, who claimed 58 percent of the vote in the Democratic stronghold that includes Seattle.
"The most likely outcome is Dino wins the hand recount, but we continue to worry about what's next in King County," said state Republican Party Chairman Chris Vance.
The state Democratic Party filed its lawsuit with the Supreme Court the same day it demanded a hand recount, which began last week. As of Monday night, with 24 of the state's 39 counties completing their hand recounts, Rossi had gained 46 additional votes.
The lawsuit sought to force county officials to reconsider ballots that had been rejected -- most notably in King County. Some weren't counted, for example, because the voter's signature on a mail-in ballot did not match the signature on file and the voter didn't correct the record by the deadline.
"We are mindful that King County rejected a higher percentage of signatures than did other counties," justices wrote, but noted that it was not clear why that was the case.
Vance praised the ruling.
"We thought all along we had the law on our side, but it's good to see it actually happen," Vance said. "It would have created complete and utter chaos if they had gone the other way."
Officials with the Democratic Party and Gregoire's campaign did not immediately return phone calls seeking comment."
So, what did you see there? Well, you saw what we always see, a Republican mouthpiece (Chris Vance) getting his party's point of view out in to the open. Where are the Democrats? Where's Christine Gregiore? Why didn't her campaign respond? Where's the Washington Democratic party? The DNC? Hello? When an AP reporter comes calling (which at the very least, she called both the Republican state party and the Democratic state party) why does only the republican state party respond, and get a chance to put thier POV in the MSM?
Incidentally, earlier in the day, Ed Shultz tried to get the Gregiore campaign officals on the phone for an interview and he was complaining that they never called him back.
What is going on here with the media blackout? Is communication with the media, and thus the public, a major problem with our party? Or is this specifically a miscalculation by Gregoire's campaign? Would Howard Dean {or Rosenberg, or Fowler} as DNC change this? (if you feel it is an national problem) How can we help? Let's have some ideas.
edit: The URL:
http://www.boston.com/news/politics/governors/articles/2004/12/15/wash_state_court_rejects_recount_lawsuit/