Gov. Chris Gregoire has a five-point lead, 47 percent to 42 percent, over her once and future Republican opponent Dino Rossi, according to a just-released statewide poll undertaken by an institute at the University of Washington.

The Washington Poll, which surveyed 601 voters, found the Democratic governor with a healthy 50-38 lead in populous central Puget Sound, but trailing her GOP foe 36-52 in Eastern Washington.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer

This is the real stolen election that the Democrats, of course, never talk about. Dino Rossi should be the rightful governor of Washington already, but some shady shenanigans kept him from taking his rightful place in Olympia. It looks like this will be another close race next year between the two of them.