Nov. 22, 2000 21:08
With all but about 3,000 of 2.5 million ballots tallied as of late Wednesday afternoon, Democratic challenger Maria Cantwell led incumbent Republican Slade Gorton by 2,112 votes, official election data showed.
But 2,500 of those uncounted ballots were from conservative Benton County, said Gary McIntosh, the state's director of elections. Gorton has won about 68 percent of the Benton vote, official election data showed.
McIntosh and Washington Secretary of State Ralph Munro appeared in a televised news conference to announce that a recount was certain but that the Evergreen State was better prepared for one than the Sunshine State.
With the White House hanging on 930 votes there, Florida has become a battleground for Democratic and Republican lawyers who have filed a tangle of lawsuits as they try to influence how the recount of presidential ballots takes shape.
Clearly hoping to put to rest worries that Washington could be hit with the same troubles, Munro quickly listed differences with Florida.