So far, Wavy Gravy's Nobody for President campaign is still out ahead.... Nobody's winning in Florida! Nobody's in charge! Nobody's going to fix the economy! Nobody's going to shrink the military-industrial complex! Vote for Nobody! At 04:22 PM 11/9/00 -0800, Tim May wrote:
At 7:05 PM -0500 11/9/00, George@Orwellian.Org wrote:
James "too damn bad about the 19,000" Baker ain't no piece of cake either, FYI.
He's right about the "19,000 spoiled ballots." Four years ago there were 16,000 spoiled ballots in the same district, and that was with lower overall turnout.
Fact is, voting is serious business. Those who show up dazed and confused and punch too many holes in their ballot are an example of social Darwinism.
To some extent that's true - but it's also a lot like blaming airplane accidents on pilot error when the instrument panel is atrociously designed. It's not just the pilot's fault. Of course, here, the problem happened because the ballot designers were trying to make it Easier for the old folks. There are two or three states where Gore won by a narrow margin over Bush (typically about 48-49% of the total.) Bush has hinted that if the recount overturns this one, he'll push hard for recounts there, which could get him the electoral votes he needs. And so it begins.... On the other hand, if Bush squeaks by and wins this by 10 votes, there'll be a LOT of pressure on the Bush electors to do the honest thing, admit that Gore really won (because of the 19000 trashed Gore/Buchanan ballots), and vote for Gore. It only takes 2. And they don't even HAVE to be from Florida, though those would be the most appropriate ones to fix it.
Unless he was bugging the voting booths and had ways of knowing the true thoughts of those voting, he had no way of knowing this.
Knowing for sure? No. But Buchanan's not dumb enough to overestimate his popularity among a bunch of older Jewish Democrat voters, though perhaps his protectionism appeals to some Fla. Liberals as much as Nader's does.... Thanks! Bill Bill Stewart, bill.stewart@pobox.com PGP Fingerprint D454 E202 CBC8 40BF 3C85 B884 0ABE 4639