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Spin Control archive for Nov. 2008

SUNDAY, NOV. 23, 2008

TW3 and videos for the weekend

That was the week that wasObama picked Richardson for Commerce, Napolitano for Homeland Security, Holder for Attorney General, Daschle for Health & Human Services, and (probably) Hillary, for State. For commentary on the picking, click here. Sarah Palin pardoned one turkey, but the rest of…

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FRIDAY, NOV. 21, 2008

Today's odd video: Gobbling it up

Can't quite call this one a fun video. (Be warned, it's pretty gross, particularly if you don't know how meat gets to your local supermarket.)The back story: Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin goes to a turkey farm and pardons a turkey in honor of Thanksgiving. While…

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THURSDAY, NOV. 20, 2008

A very cautious guy

State Rep. Joel Kretz, R-Wauconda, seems perfect for the Number 2 spot in the conservative GOP House caucus. How conservative is he? Consider this quote from his press release announcing he'd been named Deputy House GOP leader:“Once the votes were tallied in my district, I…

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Today's fun video

Pickings are getting slim on the political video front. Must be the post-election doldrums.Here's the opening segment from last night's The Daily Show, which admittedly isn't among their best, but it's the best available.

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WEDNESDAY, NOV. 19, 2008


Full court press on ballots

House Republicans are suing over the ballots they want to see in Spokane's close 6th Legislative District race. The House Republican Organizational Committee is holding a press conference at 1 p.m. Wednesday to discuss the lawsuit over the race between incumbent GOP Rep. John Ahern…

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MONDAY, NOV. 17, 2008

Vote check on Tuesday

Spokane County elections officials will be reviewing Tuesday morning some 200 ballots that were "remade" because of problems in the way voters originally makred their ballots.But they aren't inclined to review more than 7,000 ballots in that close 6th Legislative District race, which is the…

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THURSDAY, NOV. 13, 2008

WEDNESDAY, NOV. 12, 2008

From the e-mail bag

One reader alerted us to a rather nasty comment on a post from earlier this week regarding Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers. As stshore pointed out, a poster who used the name "Tongue in Cheek" went beyond his pen name and reasonable political discourse, slamming headlong…

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TUESDAY, NOV. 11, 2008

Island of blue, sea of red

The City of Spokane is an island of blue, floating in a county of red.Or that's the way the presidential election looks.The final vote totals won't be available for about a week, but we know enough to say that John McCain won the county, but…

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MONDAY, NOV. 10, 2008

Driscoll inches a bit ahead

John Driscoll won a vote count for the first time since Election Night in that close 6th Legislative District race.As the chart shows, Ahern was actually winning the individual counts on Wednesday through Friday, but Driscoll did better in Monday's tally.They are 63 votes apart.…

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6th District race stays tight

The race between Rep. John Ahern and Democratic challenger John Driscoll remains a nail-biter.The number of ballots is shrinking, and as the chart above shows, Ahern continues to win the later counts, but by smaller margins.The winner might not be known until all the votes…

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FRIDAY, NOV. 7, 2008

Celebrity endorsements: Who cares?

Apparently, not very many of us.That's what a poll by HCD Research and the Muhlenberg College Institute of Public Opinion concluded.They asked a focus group of 245 people if celebrity endorsements had any influence on their decision in the presidential election; 90 percent of men…

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Who stole what?

Washington Republicans and their allies have been warning about Seattle stealing the governor's election for months.Now that the results are in, it would seem that it wasn't Seattle, but most municipalities...including Spokane.Chris Gregoire has a lead of more than 20,000 votes in the City of…

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THURSDAY, NOV. 6, 2008

Drilling down in that close 6th District race

Democrat John Driscoll has led Republican Rep. John Ahern since the vote totals started coming in on Tuesday night.But he hasn't always had the most votes that were counted in any particular ballot tally.Driscoll won both counts on Tuesday. Ahern won both counts on Wednesday,…

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More signature problems

Spokane County turnout currently tops 85 percent, but as the number of ballots increases, so does the number of ballots that have no signature or a signature that doesn't match the registration records.There are about 910 voters in Spokane County who need to do something…

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WEDNESDAY, NOV. 5, 2008

Rossi concedes

Republican Dino Rossi conceded defeat this morning.At a press conference in Bellevue, he said he'd called Chris Gregoire to congratulate her on victory, adding that he'd pray for her and hoped Washington voters would hold her to her no new taxes and fees pledge.He noted…

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Morning update: Gregoire, Minnick still ahead

Chris Gregoire is increasing her lead in Washington's governor's race, both in terms of percentages and total votes. As the Inland Northwest pauses for its morning coffee break: Gregoire has 53.5 percent of the vote to Dino Rossi's 46.5 percent. She's ahead by about 114,000…

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TUESDAY, NOV. 4, 2008

Rossi not conceding

Despite the fact that Gov. Chris Gregoire declared victory, and regardless of what the networks say, GOP gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi says the race ain't over yet.Rossi spokeswoman Jill Strait issued a statement looking toward tomorrow's counts“At this hour, fewer than 50 percent of ballots…

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Gregoire back in lead

King County has reported some ballots, and they are almost 2-to-1 for Chris Gregoire.So she's up by about 2 percent right now.Nothing from Pierce County yet. Stay tuned, it could be a long night.

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On to the governor's race

With John McCain's concession speech, the presidential election watch is essentially over for us. Feel free to keep up on the Electoral College count on the Web sites posted earlier on the blog.We'll be tracking the governor's race from here on out.Chris Gregoire currently leads,…

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For those coloring at home

To recap, here are the states "called" for one candidate or another at this pointMcCainAlabamaArkansasGeorgiaKansasLouisianaNorth DakotaOklahomaTexasWyomingObamaConnecticutDelawareDistrict of ColumbiaIllinoisMaineMarylandMassachusettsMichiganMinnesotaNew JerseyNew HampshireNew MexicoNew YorkOhioPennsylvaniaRhode IslandObama 200McCain 128

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The Spokesman-Review's political team keeps a critical eye on local, state and national politics.



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