Democrats turn up heat on chairman
State Democratic Chairman Paul Berendt came under fire Monday for the razor-thin margin in the governor’s race and the way the recounts were handled.
His critics, however, weren’t Republicans, but his would-be replacements who appeared with him at a Democratic luncheon in Spokane.
“That race shouldn’t have been that close,” Bill Phillips, a party leader in Snohomish County’s 21st Legislative District, said of the contest between Attorney General Christine Gregoire and former state Sen. Dino Rossi.
Greg Rodriguez, a former King County party chairman, argued that Democrats needed a more positive message in the campaign. They should have focused more on what Gregoire would do, and “less on slamming Dino Rossi,” he said.
But Berendt told the Warren Magnuson Democratic Club that Gregoire did better in Eastern Washington than Democrat Maria Cantwell had done in her 2000 Senate victory.
Rossi had the advantage of an easy primary, while Gregoire had to win a “bruising” primary against King County Executive Ron Sims, he said. “She had a hard time getting her feet under her,” Berendt said.
When the first tally of ballots showed Gregoire 261 votes behind Rossi, state law required a machine recount which narrowed the gap to 42 votes. Democrats then demanded a hand recount, which made Gregoire the winner by 129 votes.
Phillips contended the Democrats’ message of “count every vote” made them sound whiney. It would have been better to argue that Gregoire wanted to follow the law on recounts, and Rossi didn’t want to follow the law.
Berendt countered that pollsters tested the “count every vote” slogan and its approval was “right through the roof.” The concept is “sacred to our democratic principles,” he said.
Rodriguez, Phillips and Kat Overman, a union official and legislative aide, are all challenging Berendt for the top spot with the state Democratic Party in an election later this month. Overman was preparing for the start of the Legislature’s next session and sent a stand-in to the Magnuson Club debate.