The first rule of election recounts is: count until you pull ahead, and then declare the counting over.

* The first rule of election recounts is: count until you pull ahead, and then declare the counting over. Immediately after Election Day in Washington State, Republican gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi led Democrat Christine Gregoire by 261 votes. Obviously, there was going to be a recount--that 261-vote margin was out of a total of almost 3 million votes cast. So a recount was done, and Rossi remained the winner, albeit by just 42 votes. Undaunted, Democrats demanded that the counting continue. A third count was held. Even then, Rossi remained in the lead until Democrats convinced a judge to change the standard for counting previously untabulated votes in a few heavily Democratic areas. Gregoire took the lead, by 129 votes. Then--voila!--Democrats declared that there had been enough counting. The media began referring to Gregoire as "governor-elect." With a judicial semi-blessing, the election was certified. Now Rossi is challenging the results in court. He has evidence of mistakenly counted ballots, inconsistent standards, and nevercounted votes. Rossi wants a re-vote, which, under these highly unusual circumstances, may be the only way to settle the issue.