I don't blame Huckabee for doing so.

As a registered voter I feel disenfranchised my vote for Hillary Clinton using mail-in ballot doesn't count for anything. I'm a caregiver for a disabled person that requires 24/7 attention, I can't attend the caucus. I thought I was doing the right thing, doing my civic duty, I didn't know my vote doesn't count, it doesn't mean anything. My vote will not award Hillary Clinton any delegates. I don't think I'm alone on this, I think there are thousands of us. The democratic party in Washington state, should just make it CAUCUS ONLY instead of having both but only thru caucus delegates can be rewarded. If Obama is the nominee for the democratic party, although I signed an oath I'll vote democrat for 2008 election, I will cast my vote for McCain or write in the name of Hillary Clinton. I don't care if the said vote is INVALID, but I want to show my disgust as disenfranchised voter.

I knew that Katherine Harris and Jeb Bush were no longer involved in Florida politics and elections, but I had no idea they'd moved to Washington. Keep up the good work!

Huckabee should be thankful he got as many votes as he did. Case in point, at the precinct next to me, a Huckabee supporter was allowed to phone another person in the precinct and add that person to the caucus list "as if they had been there". So, suddenly that precinct, which was 2-1 McCain, was now 2-2 McCain-Huckabee.

As citizen of WA I appreciate Huckabee's willingness to ensure that every American's voice is heard in this election. Has our GOP released a beneficial, forthright, logical reason for leaving almost 13% of the results uncounted? If not, can anyone - no matter who they support -think of an honest reason, beneficial to the American people, why the GOP would do such a thing? I encourage anyone to step forward with an answer, and if you have none, to reserve judgement towards a candidate comitted to the rights and freedoms of people of the United States of America.

Well, honestly i think that it really doesnt mean much and wont in the end. Delegates were elected to the next level, and these delegates are all trying to get to the national convention, for the person of their choice. We will have to wait until the next caucus, which is in a month or two (im a democrat, i dont know when the GOP has their next caucuses). Then we should have a clearer idea of who won washington state for the republicans. A recount wouldnt solve anything.

Dino's worst nightmare was this weekend- his party looking to alter an election by selective counting as well as Governor Gregoire getting in front of a huge new voting block and making a connection with them by endorsing Barack.

Also, consider the quandry Dino has with the upticket. Does he endorse McCain and feel the wrath of his base, not endorse McCain which is then a signal to the middle that he is really on the far right.

It isn't my impression that the Huckabee campaign is interested in a recount--just a complete count.

Has anyone talked with the state Republican party yet?

Are they seriously going to leave those last 12.8% uncounted?

That's not a good way to build people's confidence about the integrity of the local party.

(On the other hand, it's charming to see Republicans say "our Governor" at long last. Perhaps they'll finally scrape those 2005-era bumperstickers off.)

It's nice to see with all of you inside connections that NONE of you seem to be able to communicate the truth behind this matter. It was my understanding going in to this that the vote counts weren't anticipated to be complete for as many as several days.... Is this true or not? If so, why not just come out and say so and stop making everyone think the worst- that here we go again- another recount fiasco.

If you pinheads would learn how to communicate and report to us, you could certainly prevent a lot of the distrust that exists for the parties and our government.

Sometimes I just think you are all incompetent. Yes, you too Postman. Come on, does this really need to be that big of a secret as to the reason the vote tallies are not complete???? I expect it's because people wanted some sleep!

With all the questions about the Governor's race and "found ballots" and "scrounged" selective voter signatures - why would Luke Esser agree to this? Surely he knows the GOP has to appear to be above board in how they deal with candidates. To declare a winner when there are still uncounted ballots and such a small number of votes dividing McCain and Huckabee - well, it just doesn't look good.

David R, your comment really should be ignored. You're as insulting as your misinformed. And apparently you haven't bothered to read what's been written on this subject. But others who are not quite as offensive as you may have some of the same questions.

The question is not why did the Republican Party stop counting last night. That happens all the time in elections of course. The question arise from Gov. Huckabee because the party declared a winner before the votes were all counted and when there was such a thin margin. So, I haven't done anything to stir up distrust. The first I heard of this was from Gov. Huckabee, and he doesn't take his cues from me.

If you can't be civil at least try to stick to the facts. And if you unable to do either of those things, please go somewhere else to spew.

I'm no McCain fan, in fact I like Obama. But this could be yet another one of those things where people are looking for skullduggery when none exists. (There is so much of that these days, which keeps people nice and confused.) There is so much pressure from the press, campaigns, and voters (nationally) to get an answer to who won the contest at hand. Esser probably "called" the race for McCain because the trend was steady. Where did he say they wouldn't eventually count the 13 percent left? Anyhow, let's everybody make this a huge conspiracy, just as you did after Gregoire legitimately won the governorship.

Huckabee would need to beat McCain by about 13% of the remaining vote. Whether that's likely or not depends on where the vote is coming from. It's certainly not out of the question.

I think the state R's thought that by issuing a press release stating that McCain was the victor, news outlets would be too lazy to do their own math and simply repeat the state R's claim. In the case of the Seattle Times and P-I headline writers, they were right. Fortunately, as Postman mentions, Talking Points Memo is actually analyzing the numbers, not the PR. The Tacoma News Tribune and Everett Herald also are not calling the race yet.

Now, it could be that this was an honest error in judgement by Esser. However, calling the race when it's still in doubt is either bad judgement or spinning for McCain. It certainly doesn't promote party unity. It makes me wonder how long Esser will last as his state party's chair.

By the way, I might have worded things differently, but I think Postman's article was fair in stating "The state Republican Party said Sen. John McCain narrowly beat his GOP rivals, but results showed a surprising lack of consensus about whom party members want to be their nominee." My problem is with the headline, and my understanding is someone else writes those.

my question Postman is whether you're curious or not to get an answer. It's 24 hours later and 13% of the votes have yet to be tabulated. what's up

ho know, am I curious? Of course, that's why I started working on this first thing in the morning. Is there some reason that seeing this post and the additions I've made to it would lead you to believe I'm not curious? I'm sorry we haven't been able to get answers fast enough for you, but rest assured there are Times reporters working on this and we'll update when we have something to add.

Who decides the winner? The party or the people? McCain's lead was less than 2% when they stopped counting the votes. Let's get those remaining votes counted!

Washington voters deserve their voices to be heard. Spending a couple hours caucusing to then hear your vote may not have counted is unfair. We need this fixed before other states decide to begin a trend.

Can't Huckabee's running mate - the lil' baby jebus - sort this all out with one of his little magic tricks?

There is something really unsavory going on in Washington state with this vote. America has its eyes on you Washington Republican party. Do the right thing and recount ALL the votes!!!

Typical Republicans, blaming the media for the confusion because it's easier than using your own arrogant, self-righteous, rigid mind.

Haven't you noticed how many days in a row Postman has been working? You really think he wants to spend every weekend blogging?

Go fight amongst yourselves, you coddled whiners.
Criminy.

I WANT MY VOTE COUNTED! How am I, a Seattle Republican, to know that my vote was even counted. I could be one of the 13% that has gone unaccounted for. This is one more example of what is screwed up in our election system. And with things going the way they are in the GOP, you'd think they'd want to do everything possible not to piss off their constituents.

FYI: If McCain wins the nomination, I and many people I spoke with at the Washington Caucus are going to cross party lines to vote for Obama.

So who did Rossi caucus for???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????