Nice, although Rossi isn't a social liberal at all. 
I thought West Coast Republicans were more socially liberal than you say, but then again, there aren't too many statewide elected Republicans out there.Rossi was polished, seemed like a nice guy, and had a moderate nature to him. But of the little he talked of social positions, he was pretty conservative (strongly anti-abortion, anti-gay rights). He probably would have been a pretty non-political governor, but as a President...he'd be Bush-ish. Gregoire just was a bad candidate.
Wasn't the margin for Washington's governor's race like 0.0001% or something 10 times as close as Florida 2000
The fina margin was 0.0046% - 129 votes of 2,810,058 counted. At one point, Gregoire led by 0.0003% - a margin of 10 votes; 1,373,051-1,373,041.
How left to the national average is Washington. This is one state I know little about. Could either of you elaborate
Sure.
I think Gerry Daly put it well: "The nation's mood swings towards Kerry, and Washington polls in the leaning towards Kerry range. The nation's mood swings back to parity, and Washington polls in the leaning towards Kerry range. The nation's mood swings towards the President, and Washington polls in the leaning towards Kerry range."
In 2004, Washington was extremely static. Kerry led by 7 or so in the polling pretty much the entire time. The end margin was 7.
Overall, I'd say Washington is about 10 points to the left of the nation as a whole.
