First, I apologize for the many errors in my previous post. I spend too much time here and have work to get done today.
Second, the Democrats are likely testing the waters in this area in the event their appeal to the Florida Supreme Court is unsuccessful. IMHO, the likelihood of them prevailing on the matter that J. Lewis has ruled upon this morning is less than 50-50. Trying to predict how a court will rule on any particular matter is like rolling the dice, so anyone who plays this game must evaluate the likelihood of a positive outcome in terms of probability. Nothing is a given.
The question to ponder is to weigh how far the Al Gore campaign will go to achieve the presidency in light of his calling to have the will of the people heard. In light of this principle, if we are to believe it, one outcome to explore is whether either of the ongoing hand counts will move to finality. Without finality, and without a result indicationg a Gore victory, there will be no claim that the will of the people has spoken. The other outcome to explore is how much larger will the Bush margin increase over the weekend when the overseas absentee ballots are certified along with the existing State results.
Again, at this point, the Democratic party is merely testing the waters. In no way do they care to bring to light their effort here because UNLESS they can argue that it is consistent with the will of the people in a somewhat convincing fashion, such effort will only undermine their effort in the court of public opinion, contribute to divisiveness to the country, and only further damage the political fortunes of democratic representatives that now hold office.
IMHO, this whole effort is being orchestrated by Daley with Gore's approval. But the public perception is not limited to the Gore campaign but rather to the entire Democratic Party. In short, they are treading on thin ice. As with investing, one must weigh the risk of a downside against the possibility of an upside reward. By tampering with the electoral college, the Democrats, IMHO, are taking on a huge, huge risk not only with the American people, but with both the House and Senate. Great way to achieve a presidency, huh?
At least with the Hayes v. Tilden election of 1876, there was uncontroverted evidence of voter fraud and violation of voter rights, if not civil rights. Here, nothing of the sort has been proven, let alone alleged. All we have here is pure politics and a pure greed for power supported by unscrupulous tactics that the Democratic party has come to be known for. JMO. |
