EVERETT — Gov. Christine Gregoire and Republican challenger Dino Rossi campaigned across the state Monday, both delivering last-minute speeches at rallies in Everett.
The candidates — running in a neck-and-neck gubernatorial race for the second time in four years — preached to their party faithful and bolstered their credentials in an attempt to sway the last few undecided voters.
“There is no governor in America who knows better than I do that every vote counts,” Gregoire told a spirited crowd of about 100 people at the Everett Labor Temple in downtown Everett in the afternoon.
Gregoire beat Rossi in 2004 in what is believed to be the closest race for governor in U.S. history. Rossi held leads in the first count and a recount. On a hand recount, Gregoire held a lead of 129 votes before the tally was increased to 133 after a judge reviewed the race.
“Are you ready to win — again?” Rossi asked supporters at his campaign’s Everett headquarters Monday night. “All we need is 129 votes, folks, and you’ll have a new governor. We have that ability; all we need to do is give people a nudge.”
Snohomish County is critical in the governor’s race.
Despite traditionally electing Democrats, Rossi beat Gregoire in Snohomish County four years ago by more than 6,480 votes.
Gregoire was joined Monday by U.S. Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell and Congressman Rick Larsen.
Her re-election campaign stopped in Everett after charging through Anacortes and Bellingham, where about 1,000 people crammed into the Viking Union at Western Washington University.
Gregoire delivered a shortened stump speech, with an extra dose of urgency for the final hours of the campaign.
“We take nothing for granted between now and 8 p.m. tomorrow night,” she said. “We cannot wake up the next day and say, ‘I regret I should have made one more call, I should have knocked on one more door, I should have talked with one more person.’ ”
Rossi is also making a strong effort as the clock in this campaign winds down.
“What these volunteers are doing is important,” he said. “These last-minute phone calls are integral. We’ve got until 8 p.m. tomorrow night, and I plan on making every last minute count.”
Rossi’s travel schedule today takes him to Yakima, Tukwila then to Bellevue where he will end his day with family at the Hyatt.
Brandon Parsons, 44, of Marysville stood outside Rossi’s Everett headquarters holding a campaign sign Monday night.
“I’m here making sure that Dino Rossi will be the governor we should have had instead of the governor we do have,” he said. “We’ve been mobilized, and Dino has been great about encouraging us to reach those undecideds. It really feels like we are going to win this thing.”
Earlier Monday, while waiting for Gregoire to arrive in Everett, Matt Thiem volunteered to canvass northern Snohomish County on Election Day.
Thiem, 32, also of Marysville, said it was his support of Barack Obama that brought him to Everett on Monday, but he said he was glad to pitch in for Gregoire.
“I think it’s clear that the money we’ve been spending on things around the world is really digging us into a big hole,” he said.
Gregoire in the last election won majorities in the county’s largest cities, Everett, Edmonds and Lynnwood, plus Mountlake Terrace, Index and Brier. Rossi won everywhere else.
When they faced each other again in the August primary, Gregoire held onto Everett, Edmonds and Lynnwood, and also picked up Snohomish, Mukilteo and Bothell. Her strength in the unincorporated areas of south county accounted for about half of her overall lead.
Rossi ran up some of his biggest numbers in the county’s unincorporated north and east, and also won handily in Arlington, Marysville, Lake Stevens, Monroe and Mill Creek.
Gregoire led by more than 2,600 votes, but only about four in every 10 Snohomish County voters cast a ballot in the primary race.
Since then, roughly 24,500 more voters have registered countywide.
As of Monday, 194,215 ballots out of 372,636 registered voters in Snohomish County had been cast, said Garth Fell, the county elections director.
That represents 52 percent voter turnout, and the county is on pace to reach 85 percent.
Reporter David Chircop: 425-339-3429 or dchircop@heraldnet.com.
Herald Reporter Eric Stevick contributed to this report.
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