It's offical, Gregoire by ten

Bloomberg:

Washington Democrat Christine Gregoire beat Dino Rossi in the governor's race by 10 votes, unofficial results show, overturning a lead that would have made Rossi the first Republican leader of the state in two decades.

The results of a statewide hand recount of ballots show that Gregoire gained 609 new votes and Rossi picked up 557, enough to tip the election in the Democrat's favor, according to King County and results compiled by the Secretary of State. The last machine ballot count found Rossi had won by 42 votes.

``This is closest race in our nation's history,'' said Kirsten Brost, a spokeswoman for the Democratic Party in Washington. ``We were able to go back and correct mistakes that had previously been made.''

That's not all the Democrat side won, either:

Christine Gregoire, who had lost to Republican Dino Rossi in the first two machine recounts, could potentially extend her lead after the state's Supreme Court decided on Wednesday to add more than 700 votes to the final tally.

King County, the largest county that includes Seattle and is a Democratic stronghold, discovered more than 700 ballots that had yet to be counted more than a month after the Nov. 2 election.

Republicans argued in court this week that those ballots were not valid and should not be included in the final tally.

"From day one, this has been about counting every legitimate ballot," Gregoire said in a statement, "The court's unanimous decision is not a boost for me or for Dino Rossi -- it is a victory for the voters."