OLYMPIA — The bitter divide over Washington's disputed governor's race was reduced to 15 yards yesterday as a few thousand demonstrators lined up along the single-lane street leading up to the state Capitol.

On one side were Dino Rossi supporters, chanting "Re-vote, re-vote" and urging the Legislature to delay recognizing Gov.-elect Christine Gregoire.

Across the lane were a few hundred Gregoire supporters, mostly union members, trying in vain to outshout the larger Rossi crowd and carrying signs with messages such as, "Don't waste our tax $ on your hurt feelings."

Down the middle, a couple of dozen state troopers kept the peace, herding demonstrators back to their side of the street.

Shortly afterward, Gregoire cleared the last barrier to being sworn in as governor today when lawmakers, after a lengthy floor debate, certified her as the winner of the election.

In joint session, the state House and Senate debated a Republican effort to delay Gregoire's inauguration for two weeks while courts review a GOP challenge to the election.

The motion was defeated on a largely party-line vote, 80 to 65. Democrats control both chambers.

Television coverage State public-affairs station TVW (channel 23 on most cable systems in the state, www.tvw.org on the Web), will begin live coverage of Christine Gregoire's inauguration beginning at 11:45 a.m.

Gregoire is scheduled to be sworn in at noon today and will host her Inaugural Ball tonight. But the controversy that has dogged her every move seems unlikely to go away until the GOP's challenge is concluded.

"I think she'll try to move on, but I don't think [Rossi supporters] will let it go," said House Majority Leader Lynn Kessler, D-Hoquiam.

Demonstrations are commonplace on the Capitol lawns. But, except for an annual anti-abortion rally, it's rarely Republican causes that have drawn big crowds. Many of the Rossi supporters wore bright orange or carried orange balloons — borrowing from the recent "Orange Revolution" uprising that forced a revote in Ukraine's disputed presidential race.

"People are feeling very deeply about this," said conservative Internet blogger Stefan Sharkansky, who helped get out the word about the rally and was one of its featured speakers. "It's pretty clear to the average person on the street that our election system is broken."

It appeared that Rossi supporters outnumbered those on the Gregoire side by about a 10-to-1 ratio.

"Hey, you're kind of short on numbers over there," one Rossi supporter shouted.

"We got 129 more than you," replied a Gregoire supporter, referring to the victory margin in a manual recount last month.

Rossi did not attend, but prominent conservative leaders took turns at the microphone.

ELLEN M. BANNER / THE SEATTLE TIMES Republicans confer yesterday at a joint House-Senate session on an effort to delay the inauguration of Democrat Christine Gregoire as governor. The motion was defeated on a largely party-line vote, 80 to 65. The Democrats control both chambers.

State Republican Party Chairman Chris Vance whipped up the crowd by listing the reasons Rossi went to court last week to challenge the election, such as allegations that illegal votes had been cast by felons and dead people. And he drew a friendly chorus of boos when he talked about an "avalanche of errors" by elections officials in Democratic-leaning King County.

"Dino Rossi's not going to give up, and neither are we," Vance bellowed.

Bob Williams, head of the conservative Evergreen Freedom Foundation, called on the FBI to impound King County's elections records and turn the matter over to a federal grand jury.

"You can give us a revote or you're going to cause us to revolt," warned the Rev. Ken Hutcherson, pastor of Antioch Bible Church in Redmond.

State Democratic Party Chairman Paul Berendt worked his side of the street with a bullhorn, but he was drowned out by the Republicans' booming sound system.

ELLEN M. BANNER / THE SEATTLE TIMES Steve Linderman of Bonney Lake yesterday gives a thumbs-down to supporters of Christine Gregoire and urges a revote. Gregoire supporters and opponents gathered outside the Capitol in Olympia as the Legislature certified her as governor.

Responding to the sea of signs on the other side alleging military members had been robbed of their right to vote, Berendt bellowed, "We know this is just a bunch of hooey."

Berendt praised the crowd for showing up but urged them to not get overworked.

"It will be boisterous, but that's democracy," Berendt said.

For nearly two hours, demonstrators lined up along the makeshift demilitarized zone shouted insults and allegations at each other. At times, the dueling demonstrators strayed from the election feud.

Rossi supporters shouted anti-union slurs at the Gregoire crowd. There were heated arguments over the presidential election and the Iraq war.

"Go back to Eastern Washington," one Gregoire supporter shouted.

One man in the Rossi crowd wore a skeleton mask and carried a sign that said, "I voted in King County."

Dozens of Rossi supporters carried signs bashing Gregoire and accusing Democrats of stealing the election with the help of votes from dead people and felons.

"Hey, I bet you got a bunch of felons voting on your side, too," shouted one Gregoire supporter.

Garrett Treadwell, a painter from Puyallup, set up a table in the middle of the crowd to sell anti-Gregoire bumper stickers.

"I hate to lose," he said, "but if I'm going to lose, I want to lose fairly."

Darrell Wilson of Rochester, Thurston County, said he brought his three sons — Devon, Dylan and Dustin — to help understand what democracy is and how it works.

"How did [Gregoire] get elected, anyway?" 9-year-old Devon, who is home-schooled, asked his father.

"She didn't," replied Wilson. "She took the election."

Across the street, Randy Bailey of Tacoma was yelling, "If Rossi wins, we'll all be homeless."

Bailey, an electrician, said he came to the rally to support Gregoire in the hope that Rossi would concede. "We believe that if Rossi gets elected, unions are in dire straits," he said.

Times staff reporter Christina Siderius contributed to this story. Ralph Thomas: 360-943-9882 or rthomas@seattletimes.com