Governor Gregoire.

Get used to it.

I haven't said much lately about the ongoing litigation around the 2004 gubenatorial election in Washington because, frankly, the more the Republicans reveal about their case, the more secure Chris Gregoire becomes in the Governor's Mansion. They're going to go to court arguing that their statistical analysis puts Dino Rossi in front by about 100 votes statewide (less, it should be noted, than the Gregiore margin that occassioned all this noise).

Goldy at Horses Ass, the go to guy on the subject from our side, sums up the Republican position nicely, before tearing it to shreds logically...

Indeed, to achieve this stunning reversal of fortune, several extremely convenient events would have to take place. First, the Republicans would have to prove that the number of illegal votes is anywhere near the thousand-ish they have alleged (not likely considering their track record thus far.) Second, the court would have to ignore offsetting errors from pro-Rossi counties… like the 1793 provisional ballots that were improperly counted without matching signatures. Third, the court would have to accept a statistical analysis. And fourth, the court would have to adopt the rather unscientific methodology the Republicans are proposing for their analysis.

Having wasted way too much time, attention, newsprint and taxpayer money, that's the best they've got. Happily, Dino Rossi's intransigence on this election seems to be eroding his potential support for his next likely campaign against Sen. Maria Cantwell.

It's probably too late for Dino to save himself. The damage is done. He could save the citizens of Washington considerable bucks, though, and ease the congestion of the courts, by giving up on this anti-democratic silliness right now.