>The media is acting very strange with its not-so-subtle drumbeat for Gore
to
>concede the race.
>-- Nathan Newman
-I haven't noticed this. But I think you're right in suggesting that Gore -wins. No matter who gets the most votes, it's going to be decided in the -courts and since the Dems are dominant on the Florida Supreme Court, they'll -win there. If the U.S. Supreme Court gets to decide, that would be special -and I'd lean towards the dyslexic one.
Actually, I think it has little to do with partisanship but with the remarkably established practice and law in the state. The GOP is acting like hand counts are the most bizarre thing they have ever heard of, yet hand counts are specified in Florida statutes and have been used in numerous close races.
In fact, back in 1992, a GOP Congressional candidate went to court and forced a hand count on a canvassing board that did not want to conduct one. Florida courts have consistently leaned backward to uphold the counting of every possible ballot. Notably, today's court case which ordered Palm Beach County to count "dimpled" ballots is an activist Republican.
The law mandating hand counts was passed in the wake of the 1988 US Senate race in the state where the same problem of "chads" led to suspicion that Connie Mack was able to steal the election, since hand counts weren't used back then.
The reason the GOP Secretary of State is being so frenetic in trying to declare the race over is that the Bushies know they will lose in the courts, so they want to try to create a drumbeat for a concession by Gore. Might have worked to, except for their stupid lawsuit in the federal courts which made them look like such hypocrites for going to court themselves.
Maybe we should let Bush become President. He is proving himself to be such a moron on this recount campaign that he might singlehandedly destroy his party. Unfortunately, he might also destroy the country, so I do hope he loses in the end.
-- Nathan Newman