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Dino RossiDino Rossi (born October 15, 1959 in Seattle, Washington, USA) is a former Washington State Senator and the Republican nominee for Governor of Washington in the 2004 election. Political background Rossi has been in Washington state politics for several decades. In 1992 he ran for a state senate. After winning a divisive primary, he lost the general election. In 1996 he ran again, and this time won. He was a little known member of the chamber until his 2003 work in closing a budget shortfall without cutting most services or raising taxes. He resigned his seat to run for governor. A self-proclaimed moderate Republican from Sammamish, Rossi faced no significant opposition in his party's primary when all GOP candidates dropped out shortly after he declared his candidacy. During the general election he was criticized for a strongly conservative voting record at odds with his moderate campaign posture, long work ties to a real estate broker convicted of fraud, and resume embellishments. Rossi has worked against Roe vs. Wade, attacked opponents for supporting gay rights, and proclaimed that creationism should be taught in public schools. Although Rossi campaigned on being pro-life and in favor of state and federal amendments that would (as written) ban all benefits and legal contracts for gay couples, he downplayed his long history of fundamentalist rhetoric and claimed he was a "fiscal moderate with a social conscience." With strong backing by business interests and conservative voters in Eastern Washington and other rural counties, Rossi ran an aggressive ad campaign against his Democratic opponent, Christine Gregoire, who many viewed as milquetoast and a retread of the somewhat unpopular incumbent governor, Gary Locke. The 2004 gubernatorial election In the November 2nd election, over 2.8 million votes were cast. After the initial vote count, Rossi led Democrat Christine Gregoire by a mere 261 votes. Washington state law requires a machine recount in any race that decided by less than 0.5% and by less than 2000 votes. This recount narrowed Rossi's lead to 42 votes. (A Libertarian candidate who campaigned almost solely on legalizing same-sex marriage received about 2.2% of the votes.) On December 3, the Democratic party requested a hand recount, which cost them $730,000. They also filed a motion in the state Supreme Court to reconsider rejected King County ballots that were not counted previously. A Superior Court judge ruled the ballots were not to be counted, but on Wednesday, December 22, the Washington Supreme Court ruled unanimously to include the rejected King County votes. Of those 732 votes, 566 were accepted as having valid signatures and were added to the existing total on December 23. The final results of the hand count, as of December 23, http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2004-12-23-washington-recount_x.htm Christine Gregoire ahead by 130 votes, solidifying the 10-vote lead she had before the previously rejected King County ballots were tabulated. The Republicans found 91 rejected Rossi votes in King County, but King County election officials declined their move, stating that the 91 ballots had been rejected for valid reasons. Election officials in most of the other counties, along with Secretary of State Sam Reed, rebuffed Republican plans to scour the whole state for rejected Rossi votes but the state GOP said some counties were "seriously considering" the same, pointing to a December 18 decision by Thurston County to count an extra ballot (Thurston later removed the ballot, reducing Gregoire's final total to 129). Lewis County, Clark County and Kittitas County all considered Vance's request to reconsider previously rejected ballots, but opted not to. Sam Reed planned to certify the election for Gregoire on December 30. On December 29, Rossi held a press conference where he refused to concede and asked Gregoire to agree to a whole new election. Gregoire refused. Originally, state Republicans warned the Democrats against going to court and advised Gregoire to concede when the initial results suggested Rossi had won. The GOP claimed some military voters overseas never received ballots from King County. King County election director Dean Logan disputed the charge, asserting that all absentee ballots were sent out on time, including ballots to military voters. State Republicans also point to possible recount inconsistencies between King County (which votes heavily Democratic) and the rest of the state, which could be a violation of the equal protection clause in the US Constitution. Republicans have said they will use the courts to block any final election results, possibly even going to federal court if needed. If the victory holds, this will be the first time in Washington state history that a recount reversed an election result. The state will also have to repay the Democratic party for the cost of the hand recount. If events shift again and Rossi wins, he will be the first Republican governor elected in Washington state since Gov. John Spellman in 1980. If Rossi loses he has stated interest in running for governor again in 2008, and has already filed to run in that election. He has also been talked up as a strong candidate to run against Senator Maria Cantwell in 2006. External links Rossi, DinoRossi, Dino
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