Inslee expects victory, to start forming transition team

Democrat Jay Inslee said this morning he is moving ahead with forming a transition team while waiting for the counting of perhaps 1.2 million votes in the Washington governor's race. Inslee led by 50,209 votes after last night's counts, and he told a gathering at his Seattle campaign headquarters he will wait for the vote counts but he expects to win over Republican Rob McKenna.

"I am very confident we will be able to lead the state of wash in the next four years," Inslee said, specifically mentioning vote trends in King County where he was claiming 63 percent of the vote.

McKenna told supporters at the Hyatt Regency in Bellevue last night to wait out the vote counting, and his campaign later insisted he can win without big gains in King County. The key: how high turnout gets in Eastern Washington and rural counties favoring the Republican, who was leading in 30 of 39 counties. 

Inslee said he would announce the co-chairs and advisory team members for his transition team soon. He mentioned priorities are job creation, health reform and a new culture for state government.

Inslee said he wants to get moving right away because "we have to get moving on the economy of this state.''

He also said the vote in favor of Referendum 74 and same-sex marriage is a reflection of Washington as a cosmopolitan state, and he thinks it will help in recruitment for high-tech workers.

And he hopes Gov. Chris Gregoire and others can start talks with the federal government about respecting the will of voters on Initiative 502, which legalizes marijuana and puts the state in position to tax and sell it.