It's Over....Finally

Judge John Bridges’ ruling of the day before yesterday finally put an end to the unending saga that the Washington State gubernatorial race had become. Through the whole ordeal we in this state have seen recounts, dead people voting, and court challenges, and we still don’t really know who won. Though the ruling was a defeat for Republicans, I am honestly glad that this whole mess is over and the state and the party can finally move on.

Of course, if I had had my choice this thing would have ended months ago, immediately after the state legislature refused to call for a new election and Gov. Gregoire was sworn in. My opposition to a court challenge wasn’t based on the merits of our case, but rather in the fact that conceding at that point in time was best for the state and the party. The last thing our state needed was a protracted legal battle that would undermine the legitimacy of not only the individual holding the governor’s office, but of the office itself. Even if we had been successful in getting a new election and then won that election, would we really want to hold an office that has been damaged in the process and will remain so for the three and a half years Rossi would have served in office, without any of the influence and prestige that usually goes with the office? I certainly didn’t.

Conceding back in January would have been the best for the party as well, for such an act of graciousness and honor would have stood in stark contrast to the way the Democrats conducted themselves throughout the whole process. As I said at the time, "acting gracefully and with dignity and honor at a time when the opposition hasn’t will go a long ways towards elevating the Republican Party to it’s rightful place above the Democrats in the eyes of many Washington voters." As polls have shown, the Democrats, and Gov. Gregoire specifically, have been damaged politically for acting in such a blatantly partisan manner, and my fear has been that by litigating this election to death the Republicans would be digging themselves into the same hole. By losing one then, we could have insured winning more in the future, and hopefully we still will.

To Rossi’s credit, he conceded soon after the ruling, preemptively ending what most had viewed as an inevitable appeal to the state supreme court. With this election finally behind us Republicans can now turn their focus to where it should be: electing Republicans to the state legislature and national congress next year, and sending a Republican (possibly Rossi himself) to the governor’s mansion in ‘08. As a result of this past election the Democrats are in a politically weak position, and as a result we Republicans are stronger now than we have been in quite some time, and provided we take the right approach we can send Republicans to Olympia who can clean up the mess that has come from twenty years of Democratic governors.