Across the river

I haven't posted on the bizarre political activities on the other side of the Columbia River but since my friend from New York, Jazz, did a post below on the governors race I guess I should jump in since I can see the state from my back windows. The hypocrisy of the Republicans actions is so obvious there is no need for me to comment further. Some thoughts on what created the "crisis" might be in order. Even the best run elections are not perfect. The margin of victory or loss was less than .0005%. In an election that close there is simply not anyway that we can ever know who "actually" won. There were two recounts, each one changing the results by less than 300 votes, about .001%. Even if that didn't tell us who actually won it did tell us the Washington election was incredibly accurate. Since we can't know who the actual winner is what should we do? Another election will probably just produce similar results and we still won't know who actually won. Ditto for additional recounts. How about this: if the margin of victory/loss is less than .002% we flip a coin. We have a winner and a coin flip is cheap. Just a thought.

As if the Governors race controversy wasn't enough for the Washington Republicans they now want to split the state in two. Like my own state of Oregon, Washington is divided by the Cascade Mountain Range, a wet blue west and a dry red east. While the politics of the western third of both states may resemble the bay area of California the eastern two thirds look more like Utah politically. Since the majority of the population lives in the western third the people in the east are usually out voted. As a result:

If Sen. Bob Morton has his way, he'll soon be a resident and lawmaker in the 51st state of the United States.

To Morton, the Cascade Mountains are more than just the dividing line between wet and dry Washington. They are the indisputable wall between political ideologies that only became more apparent during the recent contested governor's race.

The Republican from Orient is the prime sponsor on a joint memorial in the Senate that asks President Bush to create a new state east of the Cascades that would comprise 20 of the current state's 39 counties. Nine other Republican senators have signed on in support. Similar measures have been introduced in past years without success.

"It's not sour grapes," Morton said. "It's common sense. People who think alike should be united."

Like the Blue states carry the Red states financially nationwide the blue side of Washington carries the Red side.

Sen. Adam Kline, D-Seattle, said he believes Western Washington would benefit from a split in the state.

"I feel east and west have common cause here," he said.

While recognizing the political divide that angers the east side, Kline said financially, Western Washington would be better off without them because he said that side of the state gets more than its share of tax revenue.

"I would like as much as possible for revenue generated in Western Washington to stay in Western Washington," he said.