Keith, having worked in the office of the Michigan Secretary of State, which oversees elections in that state, I am very pleased that voters throughout the U.S. and the world are being given an opportunity to see how the system works in Florida. Suppose, as is very likely, the Florida legislature ends up selecting a group of electors pledged to Bush, which will very likely decide the election. Then voters will know that, despite Gore having received more votes (no longer in dispute), Bush's brother and the Secretary of State in Florida, who was also Bush's campaign manager, will assure that Bush is the victor. This is a very satisfactory outcome. QCOM stock will go up. The public will know what kind of people are running the government, and Congress will likely turn solidly Democratic in 2002. Bush will become known as the illegitimate one-term president. The only people who could possibly complain are those whose votes weren't able to be counted, including the Democratic absentee ballots applications in Seminole County, which were thrown out because no Republicans volunteered to help the election commissioner correct invalid ID numbers.
Now there is only one problem, as I see it: The very great possibility that the actions of baby Bush and his Secretary of State violated the Voting Rights Act, and possibly Section 2 of the 14th Amendment. They'll have to live with the result. And by the way, no matter who wins, QCOM will do well because it is a well managed, HONEST company.
Art |
