From the "I hate to say I told so, but…" file.

No I don't. I'm happy to say it - more votes counted means more good news as Justice-elect Wiggins takes the lead that seals the deal...

Charlie Wiggins 906,262
Richard Sanders 902,771

The only question remaining is how high is up...

Too close to call?

Nope. Even though Charlie Wiggins still trails Richard Sanders by 3830 votes, he's close enough call it a win.

58% of the nearly quarter million votes still estimated to be outstanding are in the eight counties where Wiggins now holds a lead. He could underperform his results to date significantly and still come out ahead. He could, but that's unlikely. His performance has steadily improved in every return since election night.

It's not, of course, surprising that Wiggins would do well among late-deciding voters. The withdrawal of the Seattle Times' endorsement after an eleventh hour racial controversy over some Sanders' remarks mattered, I'm sure, but Goldy's right. The stage for that controversy was set by The Stranger's in-depth reporting on the campaign and Sanders' background.

None of which, of course, is to suggest that Wiggins' now inevitable victory is anything but well deserved. Our state will be a better place to live with a better Supreme Court, and Charlie Wiggins will make the Supreme Court better.

Congratulations to the Justice-elect.

Whither Wiggins?

I dunno. A Slog commenter and Goldy ("kinda-sorta")have called it for the challenger, but Charlie Wiggins' campaign to oust State Supreme Court Justice Richard Sanders is still too close for confidence in my book. He's been pulling ever closer as the ballots continue to come in, and there are still untold thousands (any number you've seen is an educated guess at best) of votes in the Wiggins-friendly confines of King County, so there's a case to be made. I'm off to the salt mines in a bit and by the time I return there should be another, maybe definitive, count available.

Meanwhile. nothing left to do but cross finger and count votes.

When you can't win where you sleep…

…or where you work, maybe you can't win at all. Doesn't matter which girlfriend he's camped out with, winger in libertarian's clothing Justice Richard Sanders is in Charlie Wiggins country (the yellow counties).


Wiggins is still trailing by about 18,000 votes statewide, but with untold thousands of King County votes yet to be counted, it's too close to call.

By the way, anybody know who Sanders pissed off in Garfield County?