Leavitt up by seven points

BY PAUL LEONARD of the VBJ

Vancouver mayoral challenger Tim Leavitt took a seven-point lead in preliminary election results released late Tuesday.

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Leavitt leads incumbent mayor Royce Pollard by 1,750 votes, with 8,300 ballots left to be counted, according to the Clark County Elections office.

"It's not over until it's over. There are still ballots left to be counted," said Pollard campaign manager Marsha Manning. "We are disappointed in last night's results, but the voters did speak and we will respect their decision."

In recent days, Leavitt got a boost from several members of the city's business community, including Bruce Fuerstenberg of Vancouver Granite Works and Dick Hannah of Hannah Motors.

"The status quo is 12.9 percent unemployment," said A.J. Gomez, president of Global Security Communication at a Leavitt rally held at City Hall Monday.

Partly due to Leavitt's no-tolls stance on the proposed Columbia River Crossing project, the Vancouver mayor's race attracted attention throughout the region, helping to boost Clark County voter turnout to an estimated 31 percent - well above expectations in an off-year election.

In statewide results, Tim Eyman's Initiative 1033 trailed 55 to 45 percent, despite a majority of Clark, Cowlitz and Skamania county voters approving the measure.

"Although we still face a $1.7 billion shortfall that needs to be addressed in the coming legislative session, passage of this initiative would have made the problem in the short and long term significantly worse," said Gov. Christine Gregoire (D-Wash.).

Referendum 71, approving legislative action this year expanding same-sex civil union rights, narrowly passed 51 to 49 percent in early returns.

Vancouver Rep. and Ref. 71 sponsor Jim Moeller declared victory for gay rights proponents in a statement released this morning. "Today, the law in our state now emphasizes that all families are supported, not just one kind of family," Moeller said.

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