Jim Camden

Ferry County’s status as a bellwether in presidential elections is gone. No longer will the nation’s political prognosticators look to the north-central Washington county as an indicator of the way America will vote in White House races.

House Republicans plan to continue their legal fight over the razor-thin race for the 6th Legislative District in Spokane by asking a court to order that the likely hand recount use some 7,000 problem ballots sent in by voters, not the replacement ballots that had to be made for the vote-counting machines. At a press conference outside the Spokane County Courthouse, State Rep. Richard DeBolt, of Chehalis, said the House Republican Organizational Committee didn’t have any evidence that anything improper was done when the ballots were “remade” so they could be tallied. The group’s lawsuit was an attempt “to allow more sunshine into the process,” he said, in the close race between Republican Rep. John Ahern and Democratic challenger John Driscoll.

The attorney who originally handled the city’s litigation over River Park Square wanted to accuse a former Spokane mayor and two City Council members of being part of a conspiracy to inflate the price of the mall’s garage. But those officials were never named in any lawsuit the city filed, and Seattle attorney O. Yale Lewis never could produce any proof to back up what he called “unavoidable conclusions” of that conspiracy in his correspondence with his replacement, Laurel Siddoway, and Mayor John Powers, who took office in 2001.

Democrats and Republicans in Spokane are preparing for a recount in what is the closest legislative race in Washington, a contest between Republican state Rep. John Ahern and Democratic challenger John Driscoll. Driscoll leads by 63 votes out of more than 73,500 cast. The 6th Legislative District, which includes much of the South Hill and parts of west and north Spokane, enjoys the distinction of generating the most votes as well as the closest margin.

Let’s all raise a glass of cheer to the 2008 election and toast the fact that it’s over. Finis. Kaput. For that, most of us will say, “About time.” The presidential race lasted 20 months from the time the first candidates announced until Tuesday. Washington’s gubernatorial redo more or less began in May 2005, when a judge rejected the state Republicans’ challenge of the 2004 results. With so much politics over so long a period of time, there were bound to be some highlights and some lowlifes. Here are some:

The Democratic tide that swept Barack Obama into the White House left some Republicans standing as it washed over Washington and Idaho. But it may have helped keep Chris Gregoire in Washington’s governor’s mansion. Four years after winning a razor’s-edge election, Gregoire on Tuesday claimed an easier victory over two-time Republican challenger Dino Rossi – although he refused to concede as ballot counting continued into this morning.

Before the polls open this morning, a majority of Spokane County voters already will have cast their ballots and a record number of Kootenai County residents will have voted absentee. But for the rest, today is the last chance to mark a ballot for president and a wide array of other candidates and issues.

Tick. Tick. Tick. Undecided voters are running out of time to decide on a wide array of candidates and issues. They have to become “decideds” by Tuesday evening. Some of their fellow voters might wonder, “What more do you need?” The presidential race has been going on for more than a year. Washington’s governor’s race features the same candidates as four years ago. Absentee voters in Idaho have been casting ballots for about three weeks. In Washington state, voters started marking their ballots and mailing them in two weeks ago.

A group supporting Democratic challengers in the Spokane County commissioners’ race is trying to tie the incumbents to former board member Phil Harris, who was ousted in the 2006 election. Incumbent Republicans Todd Mielke and Mark Richard dismissed the commercial from Spokane Moving Forward as a last-minute attack that’s inaccurate and ineffective.

Despite her efforts to remain neutral, Spokane Mayor Mary Verner is being pulled into the county commissioner race between incumbent Todd Mielke and challenger Kim Thorburn. A newspaper ad purchased by the Spokane County Republican Party contended last week that Verner “led the effort to terminate Thorburn” as the health district officer in 2006. An ad purchased by the Thorburn campaign earlier in the month placed Verner near the top of a list of residents endorsing the challenger’s candidacy.

For those voters who think the nation faces a huge choice between presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama, Chuck Baldwin would like them to think again. And think of him. Baldwin is one of the other presidential candidates on the ballots in many states, including Washington and Idaho. Alongside Libertarian Bob Barr, independent Ralph Nader and Green Party nominee Cynthia McKinney, Baldwin is running in both states as the nominee of the Constitution Party, whose platform is pretty much like the name says: If it’s not in the Constitution, the party’s against it. The party would even like to get rid of some things that are in the Constitution, such as the income tax.

Dan and Amy Carroll have been eligible to vote for more than two decades, but never cast a ballot . Amy Carroll, 39, wasn’t even registered. Until Monday, that is, when the couple grabbed their 9-year-old twins and made the trip to the Spokane County Elections Office to get her on the voter rolls with less than an hour to go before registration closed in Washington state.

No matter who wins the White House and control of Congress in November, one aspect of 2009 could have a familiar feel. The winner, along with members of his Cabinet and Congress, will quickly face the twin problems of the nation’s health care: rising costs and declining numbers of people insured.

A moment in a recent debate between Cathy McMorris Rodgers and Mark Mays illustrated a problem facing voters this election season. When the candidates got to ask each other a question, the challenger turned to the incumbent and announced a two-part query about the economy, the banking crisis and federal spending. Part one:

The Spokane Tribe is accusing supporters of GOP gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi of racism for TV commercials that they say suggest the tribe struck a “backroom deal” with the state over casino gambling. The commercials, which the tribe contends are “misleading and racially charged,” highlight a bone of contention between Rossi and incumbent Chris Gregoire.

With her son and her husband both called up for Iraq with the Washington National Guard’s 81st Combat Brigade, Cindy Ashworth used to listen when the candidates talked about their stances on the war. These days, she’s not hearing any answers. “I get so sick of the campaigns that I’m really not paying attention anymore,” said Ashworth, a Deer Park preschool teacher. “This is not a simple, black-and-white issue. There are no sound-bite answers.”