Washington State Election Results 2010 Released Murray as Winner

Washington State Election Results 2010: Murray Wins the Race -The Washington State 2010 election results were already released and the election results shows that incumbent Patty Murray has a slight lead over Dino Rossi, the GOP challenger.
The Washington State 2010 election is one of those Senate races that everyone’s is keeping an eye for as the GOP has narrowed the Democratic majority in the Senate and has successfully taken over the House of Representatives.

Apparently, the Washington state election results 2010 have gotten no close to a solution heading into today. With 71 percent of precincts finished counting, Murray maintains a slim lead over Rossi. Murray has 51 percent thus far, from 828,276 votes. As for Rossi, he is at 49 percent, with 800,812 votes.
And although, Washington State 2010 election results are still ongoing, Patty Murray appears to be in some kind of control. It will take a surge from late Rossi votes to help him rally back – or to keep it close enough to warrant a legal challenge.
Nevertheless, the National Democrats are expecting Murray to get the seat even though the results of the Washington senate race still remains unpredictable as some of the ballots need to be counted.
By: Natalie Andersens

I'm glad that the election is over and I'm truly happy that Pat Murray won the race. I think she is doing a good job and will continue to do a good job. She handle everything well and respectable in the debate and in running the race. She stayed focus and on the right path, I think she will stick to plan for which she was fighting for.

Pre Election: What Will the Outcome Be?

November 1, 2010  - House
The Cook Political Report's pre-election House outlook is a Democratic net loss of 50 to 60 seats, with higher losses possible. A turnover of just 39 seats would tip majority status into Republican hands. The midterm maelstrom pulling House Democrats under shows no signs of abating, if anything it has intensified. Whereas fewer than a third of Democratic Senate seats are up for election, House Democrats are suffering the full violence of this national undertow. Over a quarter of the entire 255-member House Democratic caucus have trailed GOP opponents in at least one public or private survey, and nearly half have tested under 50 percent of the vote in at least one poll. At this point, only 181 House seats are Solid, Likely or Lean Democratic, while 204 seats are Solid, Likely or Lean Republican, and 50 seats are in the Toss Up column. While there are certain to be at least 43 new members of the House thanks to 41 open seats and two vacancies, between 40 and 50 incumbents (over 95 percent of them Democrats) are likely to lose their seats, making for possibly the largest freshman class since 1992.

CURRENT OUTLOOK

October 30, 2010 - Senate
The Cook Political Report is adjusting its current outlook to reflect a net gain for Republicans of 6 to 8 seats, down from 7 to 9 seats. While it is becoming increasingly likely that Republicans will hold all 18 of its own seats, Democrats' prospects in three of their 19 seats have improved in recent days. Sens. Barbara Boxer in California and Patty Murray in Washington now appear to be headed for re-election, albeit by small margins. In the special election in West Virginia, Democratic Gov. Joe Manchin now holds an advantage. Currently there are 57 Democrats, two independents that caucus with Democrats, and 41 Republican Senators. Post-election, Republicans could hold between 47 and 49 seats to 51 to 53 seats for Democrats. This new outlook means that the odds of Republicans winning a majority in the Senate are now non-existent.

September 2, 2010 - Governors
The Cook Political Report's current outlook is for a 6 to 8 seat net gain for Republicans. Currently there are 26 Democratic and 24 Republican Governors.

Reported from The Cook Political Report

Election Nightmare? No Murray-Rossi winner on Nov. 2

With the whole country watching, Washington's peculiar way of running elections could be on full display next week. Republicans expect to make big gains Nov. 2, taking back the House and possibly the Senate. The GOP needs to win 10 seats to control the upper chamber, which is the reason the tight race between Sen. Patty Murray and Dino Rossi is being watched closely.
Here's the problem: If the contest is as close as polls suggest, it's entirely possible we won't know who the winner is Tuesday night. That's because in the Evergreen State, voters only to have mailed their ballots by Election Day. In other states the ballots have to be received by Nov. 2. David Ammons, spokesman for the secretary of state, says only about 60 percent of the ballots in Washington will have been counted by Election Night.

By Chris Grygiel

Seattle Post-Intelligencer

King County is where one out of every three Washington voters live. It's also the place where during the ridiculously close, contested 2004 gubernatorial election that Rossi ultimately lost, problems with keeping track of and counting ballots surfaced. Kim Van Ekstrom, spokeswoman for King County Elections, said her shop figures it will have counted up to 45 percent of the votes by Tuesday night. That means more than 350,000 ballots could still be in the mail or not yet tallied come Tuesday.
Here's what to look for Election Night. If Rossi is getting more than about 40 percent of the vote in King County, he'll probably be in decent shape, as he'll likely run ahead of Murray in most of the rest of the state.
In '04, when Rossi ultimately lost by just 133 votes, he reached 40 percent in King County. In the 08 rematch with Chris Gregoire, he only got 36 percent of the votes in the state's largest county. Gregoire won easily.
Ultimately Murray and Rossi might not know who won for days. If that happens, get ready for the national spotlight to turn to the northwest corner of the country

Final Debate - Murray v. Rossi Plays Dodgeball

The final showdown in Seattle on Sunday was like Dodge City quoted by writer “Jordan Schrader.” Seem like both candidates were dodging questions regarding themselves. When the questions about Medicare and the raising of the age requirements for social security came up, both candidates strayed away from answering the question, but they both said that they would review the recommendations of a bipartisan commission due to come out after the elections.

I like Murray's comments to the fact that she said something like not making promises on how they are going to make a change. I think she is being honest and only wants to do the best job that she can do while in office. As for tax cuts or the George W. Bush’s tax cuts as they call it, their answer was pretty much the same. Which they agree tax cuts to lower and middle class earners should be extended.

I also admire Rossi for not taking a position on the "don't ask, don't tell policy" yet until he gets the latest update from it. It must be because he wants to make the best, most informed decision based on facts, not just an opinion or morals. Also, during the debate he was genuinely worried about the jobs of citizens being jeapordized. Several times he mentioned how Murray's decisions might  negatively effect them.

They continue to attack one another like they have done in the other last two debates. Such as Murray saying “The people who are working to fix the Howard Hanson Dam right now, he’s going to give them a pink slip.” And Rossi pointing out Murray's earmarking and saying "the other Washington has changed her." Even when watching television when I see the ads that they have put out against one another is becoming ridiculous and annoying. I’m sure like myself other voters are getting sick of them attacking one another. I thought the elections was about what they can do for our state and for us, not attacking one another which takes from the main focus of what they are there to represents.

-Information from The Olympian

Dino Rossi Talks About Voting Race

On October 22^nd Rossi appears on Fox News for their “Campaign Flash” segment they do. Greta Van Susteren, the interviewer, mentions that Murray has already refused to come on the segment several times. But state Senator Rossi is interviewed about the race for the Senate seat.

First off she mentions a Seattle Times newspaper headline “Illegal Immigrants Canvassing for Votes” where these illegal immigrants were campaigning for Rossi’s opponent, Murray. She points out how they were unashamed to announce themselves as illegally living in the United States and asks for Rossi’s opinion on them siding for Murray.

Rossi replies by saying that “we’re both just running our own campaign” and explains how he traveled from little town to little town from Seattle to New York knocking on people’s doors to talk to them about his stands and introduce himself.

Susteren says that President Obama has shown up to assist Senator Murray even and asks Rossi why he thinks the race is so close.

Rossi explains that it’s hard because he is trying to dethrone an eighteen-year incumbent who has stayed under the radar. A lot of people didn’t know that she had been so long as Senator and were surprised to hear that she was the deciding vote in favor of the Health Care Bill and the balance amendment of 1995. She also is ranked the most Liberal Senator in Washington D.C. by the non-Partisan National Journal. He says that as people are finding this out “we see more and more people coming to our side.”

Sustern asks Rossi if there’s some platform of the Democratic party that he agrees with and if there’s any platform of the Republican party that he disagrees with.

Rossi says that one thing he did while state Senator during the great deficit was to cross party lines to balance the budget without raising taxes. This is how people from his state know him: as a man who can do what others say can’t be done. He worked among Democrats but still did what he believed was the best thing.

Sustern asks him about how he feels of the No Compromise of the Health Care Bill stated by Congressmen.

Rossi says that you shouldn’t compromise your principles; he never compromised what was right while balancing the budget deficit and doing it, as he jokes, “without throwing widows and orphans under the bus.” He says that he does things without caring if he gets reelected because he was happy before going into politics, so he figured he would be happy after being in politics too. He says that there are bigger issues to deal with than worrying just about reelections.

Sustern asks Rossi if he gets elected, at the end of his Senate occupation, if he could choose one thing for people to remember him by what would it be?

Rossi, plain and simple, says “that I did what I said I was going to do.” As a closing word he states that if we like how things are going then vote for Murray because she’ll be sure to give us six more years of the same. But if we want a new direction and to get entrepreneurs back to work, vote for him.

I think that Rossi has a very good honest quality about him. He seems like he really wants to point the United States in the right direction with a new Health Care Bill and won’t sway from what he believes is right, which is a very admirable quality. He cares about what happens to the United States more than just a reelection campaign. I almost feel like he is relaxed about being elected because whatever should happen will happen, like he trusts us to make the “right decision” by voting for him.

-Info from Fox News.

Murray is currently at 49.0 and Rossi is 46.8

-Info from Real Clear Politics.

Murray-Rossi Debate

On Thursday October 14^th in Spokane was a debate between Democratic Senator Patty Murray, 60, and Republican Dino Rossi, 51, the two candidates for the U.S. Senate. This was their first public appearance together since the whole campaign. It was useful to watch and see where the two candidates drew their lines on issues. It also painted a picture of their personalities.

Murray started with her sympathetic sentence “This state is my family and my family is hurting, That's why I'm working so hard with your community leaders to get you jobs and get this country back on track again.”

While Rossi said a more ominous statement. “We’re moving down a path that is very dangerous. If we don’t have a course correction this year, 24 months form now I think we’re going to wake up in a country we don’t even recognize.”

The two candidates mostly spoke of tax cuts, health care, “don’t ask, don’t tell” and Afghanistan, major themes that everyone was interested in.

On tax cuts, Rossi wants to permanently extend all of them while Murray wants to only extend the ones passed in 2001 and 2003, exempting the wealthy.

On health care, Rossi was forward in saying that it will cause thousands of jobs to be lost or not created in our state. “This actually could bankrupt America,” he stated. Murray was asked if she had read the bill before voting on it and Murray reveals that she also helped to write it. She believes that it is essential for a step in the right direction for individuals to have greater control of their own health care.

On the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy Murray was adamant about it being repealed and that she has actually sponsored legislation to do exactly that. Rossi was unsure and said that he wanted to read a report on the policy ordered by Pentagon leaders and speak to military commanders before taking a stand on one side or the other.

What was an interesting addition to the debate was when they were asked if they could find something in their opponent they respected and Murray said she praised Rossi for getting into the race because it’s not an easy decision. Rossi saw the senator’s work for veterans admirable.

* * * *

In their final that was Sunday night October 17^th, Senator Patty Murray and Dino Rossi had very different views about what role the government should play in bringing the U.S. out of its devastating recession.

Murray praised government action to repair the damage done by Wall Street and goes on to state her record of delivering money for the state’s roads, colleges, and businesses. She also reminded us of the millions she managed to secure to repair Howard Hanson Dam and replace Seattle’s South Park Bridge. Rossi contends her by saying that the kind of government Murray supports is the cause of our current problem. He said that businesses need a steady regulation and low taxes in order to start hiring again and decreasing unemployment. He appeals to the voters with small businesses by saying “It's not with more government, it's not with stimulus, it's not with the health-care plan. It's got to be with small business being more successful."

When the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy came up again in the debate, Rossi still refused to take a stand on one side or the other, saying that he wanted to wait to see the results of a not-yet published Pentagon report on the subject.

They discussed children of illegal immigrants and Rossi also refused to say whether he favors letting them remain in the country and start on a path towards citizenship. He backed his indecision by saying that he hasn’t heard of a good solution to that as of yet and that the federal government should secure the borders. Murray said that she would support for a law that would give the children of illegal immigrants a chance to be citizens after attending college or joining the military.

Both candidates are well-known to the general public of voters, so the race is close with Murray coming out slightly on top.

In conclusion, I think that both debates were pretty much the same. Here you have an 18-year incumbent who wants to keep her position as Senator. In both debates Murray talks about creating jobs, the health care plan, and repairing the damages done by Wall Street. While in both debates Murray stayed more focus on the task at hand as far as answering the question that were asked instead of focusing on attacking her opponent. Issues like immigration has come across the table which I thought both candidate ideals on handling that situation were not that great. Murray represented her ideals and goals pretty well and I think she may keep her position but it is a close race.
Dino Rossi in both debates only seemed to criticize Murray more and not answer to much to the questions at hand. His so call answers were saying that our country was in trouble, talked about how small businesses weren't willing to expand, he talks about losing choices in health care. He said nothing about creating jobs are anything good to make me vote for him. Murray accused Rossi of trying to finish what Bush has started. Both debates were very interesting.

Backgrounds of Patty Murray & Dino Rossi

Patty Murray was born October 11, 1950 in Bothell, Washington. In 1972 Murray earned a B.A. degree in Physical Education from Washington State University. Before, becoming a politician Murray used to be a preschool teacher, and also taught a parenting class at Shoreline Community College from 1984 to 1987. Murray is a Democrat and was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1992, becoming the 1^st female in Washington in the Senate. She is the 4^th highest ranking Democrat in the Senate, and is the Majority conference Secretary. In 2001-03 she was chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign. Murray is a member of the U.S. Senate Committee of Appropriations and chair of the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies. She credits her successful campaigns for Shoreline School District Board of Directors (1985–1989), Washington State Senate (1989–1993), and United States Senate (1993 – present) due to a comment made to her by a state representative years ago telling her that she could not make a difference that she was just a “mom in tennis shoes” so that push her even more to succeed, and as you can see where she is now making a difference serving as our Senator. Murray is married and a mother of two with one grandchild and enjoys spending time with her family.

Dino Rossi was born in Washington to a schoolteacher father and a beautician mother. While he was busy earning his Business degree from Seattle University he was also busy as a janitor waxing the floors of the Space Needle. He was a member of the Senate 1997-2003 and a chairman of the

Senate Ways and Means Committee. In 2003 he was well-known for writing a bipartisan balanced budget that dealt with a massive budget deficit without raising taxes, while still protecting Washington’s most vulnerable citizens. In 2004, Dino ran for governor. He appealed to both parties, becoming the most successful Republican gubernatorial candidate in decades. After the election, he founded the non-partisan, non for profit Forward Washington Foundation, which is dedicated to improving Washington’s business climate. In 2008, Dino ran for governor again because he believed that Washington needed a change in leadership. Dino now serves as a Secretary for the Board of the Special Olympics for the State of Washington. He also is a member of the Dean’s Advisory Board for the School of Business at Seattle University.