Washington State: Democrat Wins?

Takes the lead before the Supreme Court decides if hundreds of more valid ballots should be counted....

OLYMPIA, Wash. - The head of the state Democratic Party said late Tuesday that recount results from King County give Democrat Christine Gregoire an eight-vote victory in the closest governor's race in state history.

Neither King County nor the Republican party could confirm the hand recount results on Tuesday night. But if the Democrats' analysis is correct, it's a stunning reversal in the gubernatorial race, which has been hotly contested ever since election day.

Republican Dino Rossi won the first count by 261 votes and won a machine recount by 42 votes, out of 2.9 million ballots cast. The hand recount did not include the 700-plus ballots cast in heavily Democratic King County that could widen any Gregoire lead if the state Supreme Court allows them to be counted.

(Notice how the D's do not want to stop counting after getting the lead...)

UPDATE:

After losing the first two counts in the extraordinarily close Washington governor's race, Democrat Christine pulled ahead by 10 votes after King County reported its hand recount results on Wednesday.

Gregoire's slim margin could widen on Thursday, when Democrat-heavy King County officials plan to count 700-plus belatedly discovered ballots. Over Republicans' objections, the state Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that those ballots should be counted.