John Lovick

The recount in the 44th Legislative District race between Mike Hope (R-Lake Stevens) and Rep. Liz Loomis (D-Snohomish) will begin tomorrow in Snohomish County.

Hope won the first count by 118 votes out of more than 68,000 votes cast over Loomis, who was appointed to the seat midway through the term when John Lovick stepped down upon being elected Snohomish County sheriff.

Elections officials estimate that the count will take two days to complete, and will be done by ten counting boards working in teams of two and each candidate will have representatives observing the process.

Former Republican gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi never let a stump speech go by without reminding the audience that, as governor, he would be able to appoint hundreds of new state officials from the “blueberry commission on up.”

That didn’t happen, but on the federal level Democratic President-elect Barack Obama, taking over after eight years of Republican George Bush, will have the authority to appoint thousands of officials to government jobs, including a number of high profile posts here in Washington state.

Speculation has already begun for many of the top posts, including U.S. Attorney, U.S. Marshall and regional directors of bodies like the Environmental Protection Agency.