>>>Speaking of repeating myths.....
>>>
>>>Is there ANY state where Nader's votes sent the electors to the
>>>Republicans in the last election?
>>
>>Florida.
>
>How, Bradford DeLong, at this late date, can you deny that *Gore*
>carried Florida, that the Repugs (Party of Militant Stupidity) stole
>the election, and that the Demopugs (Party of Craven Capitulation)
>acquiesced enthusiatically in the crime?
***** ...The consequence of the Democrats' capitulation to Bush's 2000 election coup was a sharp decline in voter turnout as compared to 1998 and 2000 in the Democratic strongholds of Palm Beach and Broward counties in southern Florida, the focus of much of the recount battle two years ago. Turnout in Palm Beach fell from 52.7 percent in 1998 to 45.8 percent this year, while turnout in Broward fell from 45.6 percent to 34.5 percent, in contrast to an increase in the statewide turnout from 49.6 percent four years ago to 53.6 percent in last Tuesday's vote.
The statewide black turnout, according to newspaper exit polling, was 43 percent on November 5, compared to the record 72 percent in 2000.
A referendum vote conducted alongside the gubernatorial race in Florida provided a clear indication that the 2002 midterm election did not represent a swing to the right on the part of the public. Florida voters approved a ballot proposition establishing tight legal limits on class sizes in the public schools and mandating the state government to fund the schools to the level required to hire the necessary teachers. The measure passed by 52-48 percent, although Republican Governor Jeb Bush and most of the state business establishment vehemently opposed it. Bush even promised, in a private comment inadvertently captured on tape, to use "devious" methods to evade carrying out the class size plan if it passed.
According to many accounts of the Florida campaign, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bob McBride, who supported the class size referendum, had been closing the gap with Bush until a debate in which he was directly asked-by NBC's Tim Russert, the moderator-how he would pay the cost of hiring the additional teachers. McBride ducked the question, making it clear that his support for better schools was purely rhetorical and that he, like Bush, was unwilling to find the necessary funding for public education. From that point on, McBride's poll numbers began to sink....
<http://www.wsws.org/articles/2002/nov2002/vote-n12.shtml> ***** -- Yoshie
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