Race for governor will be another close fight

Here we go again.

Early returns in Tuesday’s primary had Democratic Gov. Chris Gregoire and Republican Dino Rossi separated by a couple percentage points and a few thousand votes.

With roughly a fifth of the votes counted statewide, Gregoire led Rossi by a margin of 48.3 percent to 45.8 percent, with the remainder spread among eight other candidates.

In Snohomish County, Gregoire enjoyed a slightly larger advantage of 50.6 percent to Rossi’s 44.1 percent.

Though the primary only serves to clear the field for the two candidates, the results will be viewed as some measure of their relative strength head-to-head in a grudge match four years in the making.

“I’m feeling good about the results. We’ve got momentum,” Gregoire said.

She said she was pleased to be leading in rural and urban counties in “all four corners of the state.” It showed “all the hard work we’ve done” is recognized by voters, she said.

Rossi, who is trying to become the first Republican elected governor since 1980, found plenty of reason to smile at Tuesday’s numbers.

For days he and his campaign staff had said they did not have high expectations for their performance because Democrats in this state turn out in greater number than Republicans in primaries.

“We had a strong showing in the primary tonight,” Rossi said in a prepared statement. “What matters is that we placed in the top two and now the general election begins.”

Gregoire and Rossi fought to the closest finish in state history in 2004. She won by 133 votes out of nearly 3 million ballots cast.

In that matchup, Rossi was certified the winner after initial balloting and a machine recount. Gregoire emerged the victor on a hand recount. Republicans contested the results and lost when a Chelan County Superior Court judge upheld her win.

Gregoire, 61, of Olympia, is campaigning on a record of achievements aided and abetted by three years of robust economic growth. She increased spending in education, health care, environmental protection, economic development and criminal justice. Transportation spending went up too on the strength of a gas tax hike in 2005 that she signed and voters later affirmed.

Rossi, 48, a Sammamish commercial real estate investor, contends she’s spent too much too fast and the result is a looming deficit of $2.7 billion by the end of the next budget in 2011. He argues he’s got the better skills to ratchet down state spending

He’s also campaigned on replacing the Washington Assessment of Student Learning, reducing congestion on state-managed roadways and moving away from the state’s reliance on the gas tax for transportation improvements. He’s pledged to improve supervision of convicted sex offenders.

He hit all the points in his prepared statement issued Tuesday.

“Christine Gregoire sees Washington state the way it is today and she is satisfied,” he said.

“In Christine Gregoire’s Washington, our economy is fine, there is no transportation crisis, she is satisfied with the education of our children, and she believes we are safe enough. In the end, Christine Gregoire is so satisfied with how things are today in Washington, that she wants us to have four more years of the same thing. I believe we can and must do better,” Rossi said.

Gregoire said she “looks forward to comparing and contrasting” her record with the one he compiled while serving in the state Senate.

His is “not a record that reflects the values and priorities of the people of Washington,” she said.

This rematch has already smashed fundraising records they set in 2004 when each took in about $6.3 million in contributions.

This time around, Gregoire has raked in $9.13 million so far and Rossi’s take is $7.36 million, according to the state Public Disclosure Commission.

Finishing a far distant third was Republican John Aiken of Medical Lake near Spokane.

Among the other seven candidates, two are from Snohomish County. 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 and Javier Lopez of Lacey ran as a Republican.

Reporter Jerry Cornfield: 360-352-8623 or jcornfield@heraldnet.com.