Gregoire, Rossi neck and neck in early returns

Here we go again.

Democratic Gov. Chris Gregoire and Republican rival Dino Rossi were neck and neck in early returns from counties across the state.

Gregoire led in Snohomish County with 50.6 percent of the vote to Rossi’s total of 44.1 percent. She had 39,228 votes to his 34,171. Snohomish County election officials do not expect to update the numbers until Wednesday afternoon.

The statewide figures do not include any votes from King or Pierce counties.

Gregoire, 61, is seeking a second term while Rossi, 48, is looking to become the first Republican elected governor in Washington since 1980.

The two fought to the closest finish in state history in 2004 with Gregoire winning by 133 votes out of nearly 3 million ballots cast.

In that remarkable battle, Rossi was certified the winner after initial balloting and a machine recount. Gregoire emerged as the victor on a hand recount. Republicans contested the results in court but lost when a Chelan County Superior Court judge upheld Gregoire’s win.

In this much-anticipated rematch, the two candidates are raising money at a good clip.

Gregoire has raked in $9.13 million and Rossi has taken in $7.36 million, according to the state Public Disclosure Commission. In 2004, each received about $6.3 million in contributions

There are eight other candidates vying for governor, including Christian Pierre Joubert of Edmonds, a Democrat, and James White of Marysville, an independent.

Duff Badgley of Seattle is the lone Green Party candidate and Will Baker of Tacoma is running on the Reform Party ticket. Christopher Tudor of Seattle and Mohammad Hassan Said of Ephrata are declaring “no party” preference

John Aiken of Medical Lake near Spokane and Javier Lopez of Lacey are vying as Republicans. Aiken also ran in 2004 and picked up 6.3 percent of the votes cast by Republicans in the primary.

State officials are predicting a turnout of 46 percent of the state’s 3.4 million registered voters.