Judge upholds Gregoire's election; Rossi won't appeal

By GREGORY ROBERTS
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

WENATCHEE -- Reeling from a courtroom rout, Republican Dino Rossi decided today not to press ahead to the state Supreme Court with his legal challenge to the 2004 election of Democratic Gov. Christine Gregoire.

"With today's decision, and because of the political makeup of the Washington State Supreme Court, which makes it almost impossible to overturn this ruling, I am ending the election contest," Rossi said at his campaign headquarters in Bellevue.

Rossi and the GOP sued in January in Chelan County Superior Court to set aside the closest governor's race in the nation's history, which Gregoire won by 129 votes after a hand recount of more than 2.8 million ballots.

But after spending millions of dollars, months on investigations and two weeks in trial, the net result for the Republicans today was that Rossi lost four votes from his total, pushing Gregoire's margin to 133.

"The court concludes that the election contest petition should be dismissed and the certification of Miss Gregoire as governor confirmed," Judge John Bridges said in formally announcing his ruling against the GOP.

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