Hi CB,
Any takers?
I wasn't terribly surprised that Judge Sauls decided against ruling from the bench at the end of the oral argument. After a 12 3/4 hour day, he might have been accused of judging on emotion and fatigue.
Boies seemed to stumble in the closing arguments, and if I ever need a lawyer, and can afford a good one, Barry Richards is the man. Quite an impressive effort.
I believe the Dems will not be afforded much relief by Judge Sauls. But that the rocking chair judge, Nikki Carter will be heard round the world on Wednesday.
Of course all of this is mere warm-ups for what is coming. The Florida Supremes have it in their hands to create or abate the greatest Constitutional crisis since the Civil War. Will they be masterful at settling this thing? I have reason to believe that they will act responsibly. And I have no clue what they will finally decide.
Now to the specifics of your speculation as to the mind of Judge Sauls:
he will rule that Plaintiffs have not proved that Miami-Dade should have a full manual recount because there was no proof that the undervote was statistically significant
I tend to agree.
there was no proof that anything other than voter error was involved.
The Dems witnesses proved to be less effective than I had anticipated. The withdrawl of the "inventor" of the Votomatic as a witness surely raised a serious level of doubt in Sauls mind. The Republican teams' counter-witnesses, if we can call them that, were believable and expert on the matter of Votomatic machines. The only thing I saw that could possibly persuade Judge Sauls was the chad drawer of the one Miami-Dade voting machine that was stuffed full and the affidavit of the Miami-Dade elections staff that some machines hadn't been properly cleared of chad for eight years. As a practical man, that got me to thinking, but I realize that Judges are rarely moved by common sense.
He will rule that Plaintiffs have not proved that Palm Beach should be recounted.
And he will remain silent as to the Democratic request that Judge Burton's efforts to send in a corrected tally be accepted by the SoS. Judge Sauls realizes he doesn't have to raise those hackles. The Florida Supremes will be called upon to take the heat for that one.
I don't know what he's going to do about Nassau, I expect he will order a second machine recount.
I found the Nassau canvassing board's representative to be convincing. I'm thinking Sauls denies relief and lets the Nassau count stand as it is.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Please don't think I'm throwing in the towel here, and saying it is over. It clearly is not. Both the Seminole trial and the Sauls court trial will immediately be appealed by whichever side loses whichever contest. This thing is gonna take a while. I'd call this one a 10 Hershey's bar contest from here forward.
BTW, one of our local groceries recently put Hershey's Giant bars on sale at nearly 50% off. If you feel desperate to win something soon, send a SASE and I'll be happy to send you your winnings. :)
Best, Ray |
