While the Democrats are trying to figure out if they can be "saved" in time for the next election, the Republicans continue to forge ahead aggressively on all fronts, including contesting vote counting in any election where they might lose.

That is exactly the situation in the State of Washington where the Republican candidate for governor Dino Rossi has a 261 vote lead over Democrat Christine Gregoire. The Repugs asked Federal judge Marsha Pechman to halt hand recounts in King County (Seattle), which the judge has happily refused to do.

In a sudden rush of concern for equal protection of all voters, the Repugs claim a hand recount here would be unfair to voters in other counties where a hand recount is not possible.

GOP Chairman Chris Vance downplayed Pechman's decision, saying it dealt with only one aspect of the lawsuit and was based on King County's assurance that all ballots in question were being kept separate from the others so they can be reviewed if any mistakes are made.

"We don't believe King County," Vance said. "Our observers have watched. Ballots are being altered. And we don't believe they are being set aside."

Note that Republicans have no problem in calling into question the honesty of local election officials when it suits them. If the Democrats want to take a page from the Republican playbook, they might start here.