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Close Margin Expected in Washington Senate race

Supporters of Dino Rossi and Patty Murray, outside a Seattle TV studio on October 21, 2010, where the candidates held a debate.
AP photo
Supporters of Dino Rossi and Patty Murray, outside a Seattle TV studio on October 21, 2010, where the candidates held a debate.

Election lawyers are on stand-by in Washington in the event of a super-close U-S Senate race. Polls show Republican challenger Dino Rossi neck-and-neck with incumbent Democrat Patty Murray.

Rossi knows a thing or two about close elections. He was the Republican candidate in 2004 when Washington’s gubernatorial race ended up in court. He ultimately lost by a mere 133-votes after an election contest trial. Rossi clearly hopes the lawyers aren’t needed like they were in 2004.

“Well hopefully not. Hopefully it will be a little more separation than something that can be manipulated away," Rossi said on election eve.

Rossi was attending a day-before-Election-Day rally in Puyallup. He told a supporter that the people at this one rally could decide a close election.

Veteran Democrat Patty Murray has been campaigning against a national Republican wave. She too acknowledges it could be a squeaker.

“I look at this election and say where else can I go today and who else can I talk to make sure that we do win on November 2nd,” said Murray, a three-term incumbent.

The website Real Clear Politics did an averageof all the polls, and it shows Murray has a razor thin advantage of three-tenths-of-one-percent in the race. 

Since January 2004, Austin Jenkins has been the Olympia-based political reporter for the Northwest News Network. In that position, Austin covers Northwest politics and public policy as well as the Washington State legislature. You can also see Austin on television as host of TVW's (the C–SPAN of Washington State) Emmy-nominated public affairs program "Inside Olympia." Prior to joining the Northwest News Network, Austin worked as a television reporter in Seattle, Portland and Boise. Austin is a graduate of Garfield High School in Seattle and Connecticut College in New London, Connecticut. Austin’s reporting has been recognized with awards from the Association of Capitol Reporters and Editors, Public Radio News Directors Incorporated and the Society of Professional Journalists.