One small theft for the Democrats, one giant loss for the democratic process

It appears that the Democrats are poised to steal the Washington state governor's election. Powerline calls it "stealing in plain sight and in slow motion."

In case you have forgotten or are a lefty that can't remember what happened yesterday, check Digital Brown Pajamas for numerous detailed posts regarding this election. Click on Wizbang also.

More importantly, this story highlights the real danger that the entire election process faces as a result of this scandal. Democrats don't want merely to win one governor's seat. This race was relatively minor in the big picture. The left wants to undermine the entire concept of elections, free institutions and the democratic process. Here is my prediction from October 19:

(3) The fact that someone with wealth and sophistication is willing to lose money and risk prosecution for the sake of hurting Bush should tell us something of the nature of the opposition. We are facing more than simply election year politics. We are facing nothing less than a coordinated attack on all of our institutions. The financial markets, the election process, the courts, the free press, etc. If the Democrats win this year, it will be nothing less than a coup d'etat. If the Democrats win, our election process will never be the same again.

Just as the terrorists in Iraq are content to kill a few people at a time for the sake of preventing an election, the leftists are content to undermine such elections as they can in this country for the sake of undermining the entire democratic process. Once the voters are thoroughly demoralized, the left can go back to ruling the nation through unelected leftist judges, bureaucrats and the back rooms of the New York Times.