Bush’s margin of victory over Kerry in Ohio was approximately 119,000 votes.
Gregoire’s alleged margin of victory over Rossi in Washington is 8 votes. 129 votes*
Why does this matter? What’s the big picture? It matters because both elections resulted in recounts. The former was funded partly by third party candidates, and the Kerry campaign – the differences in the results were negligible. The latter race initially resulted in a 261 vote victory for Rossi. This triggered an automatic recount, which Rossi won again by 41 votes.
In Ohio, allegations of tampering with voting machines were found to be baseless. In Washington, over 700 ballots magically appeared from Democratic stronghold King County during the manual recount. Suspicious to any objective observer.
The reactions of liberals to both these elections has been very similar: Just keep recounting and hope the results change. Alledge this and claim that… In Ohio, Bush’s victory was well outside what I call the “margin of fraud,” but in Washington, the margin of victory for either candidate was easily susceptible to shady practices that could alter the income. Within the margin of fraud.
However, the moment Gregoire was declared—by Democrats—to be the winner by a mere 8 votes, Rossi was called on to concede and liberals across the country and the blogosphere were ecstatic.
To them, a 8 vote victory by a Democrat is more definitive than a 119,000 vote victory by a Republican—and not just any Republican, but George W. Bush.
The Democratic Underground community began celebrating, suggesting that Rossi “concede and get over it.” They also found plenty of ways to champion the 8 vote Gregoire “victory.” Rossi’s initial victory was 33 times larger, and after the first recount 5 times larger…after which Gregoire did not concede.
How many licks does it take to get to the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop? How many recounts does it take before you can find enough votes for the Democrat to win?
Recounts in Ohio have had little impact on the results, no tampering was involved, and the vote was certified, yet they still hold out hope that somehow Kerry may have won in despite nearly the 119,000 more votes cast for Bush than Kerry in the state. Eight votes (based on Democrats’ number crunching) in Washington, however, is a done deal?
How long will they contest Ohio and watch the result remain static and their conspiracy theories debunked before they “concede and get over it?”
Liberals cannot claim a definitive victory in Washington without conceding Ohio first. If Kerry can concede, so can they. Instead, they act as if the definition of democracy is the victory of their candidate and their candidate only.
But, democracy is not limited to the victory of their preferred candidates, and they have to learn that sooner than later. Battles are won and lost and crying foul every time you lose does not make you a concerned citizen, but rather a sore loser.
No matter what happens in Washington, the Democrats are the sore losers.
* – The 8 vote margin refers to the first result of the manual recount as reported yesterday. Subsequent reports indiciate the final margin was 10 votes. — then 129 after the the found ballots were included