Seattle Times Shows Bias on Gubernatorial Election Challenge

There are real problems with two aspects of today's story on the Chelan County court action regarding the Washington State Governor's election challenge:

One, The Seattle Times makes too much of Judge John Bridges's decision to refuse the GOP's request to speed up the evidence-gathering phase. The headline says "GOP Loses Round in Election Case" but if you read the story it's clear the Democrats also had their request nixed.

The Dem's maneuver was designed to shut the whole case down, pending a lengthy exploration of a variety of constitutional and other issues (read: major stall tactic).

Who had the bigger loss in court? Wasn't it the Dems? Why doesn't the headline say "Demo Delay Tactic Shot Down by Judge" or something to that effect?

Second, what's wrong with this:

(Seattle Times) WENATCHEE — Chelan County Superior Court Judge John Bridges said yesterday that speeding up the collection of evidence in the governor's election lawsuit could lead to chaos and injustice as Republicans try to get Gov. Christine Gregoire tossed from office.

In the first major day of court action in the case, Bridges denied a Republican request to expedite the schedule for collecting evidence and taking depositions. Attorneys representing some of the 39 counties named in the suit told Bridges that the requests have been overwhelming, particularly in small counties. One even accused Republicans of attempted extortion, saying the party offered to cut back its information request in exchange for the county agreeing not to fight some issues in court.

Note the first sentence: "...as Republicans try to get Gov. Christine Gregoire tossed from office." Is that really a fair depiction, or typical liberal Seattle media bias? Wouldn't a reasonable alternative be, "...as Republicans fight to overturn what they think is an unfair election result based on fraud and incompetence."

The Seattle Times certainly isn't shy about demonstrating which side they're taking.