Here's what I think the U.S. Supreme Court should do:
1) Rule that Florida's election laws are so imbalanced to a point where no close contest can fairly be decided.
2) Order the state's legislature to rewrite its election law.
3) Require the two candidates to flip a coin to determine the winner. The ruling should include a provision as to who gets to call heads or tails, however. (LOL) The winner would get Florida's closely contested electoral college votes.
Another fair solution, particularly for the voters of Florida, would be for its state legislature to award 12 electoral votes to each candidate, and one for Nader.
Beyond the two above solutions, I don't see any fair way to resolve this, to a point of legitimacy, other than what the Florida Supreme Court set out to do by determining the election from counting the undervotes (votes never counted) under court supervision. This at least would produce as final of a count as can be possible under the existing circumstances.
Remember, Gore has not yet had his request for a hand recount honored by the Florida system even though, by its laws, Florida said he had a right to have one.
It's too bad Bush didn't fight for Gore's right to have his recount--it would have made him a great American. What also would have made him a great American were if he had conceded Florida go Gore once he realized Buchanon got Gore's votes. But I guess Bush doesn't really want to be an American hero, since it appears he'd rather push, using his connections (hello Ambassador-elect Harris), into the presidency. That's got a bad taste of legitimacy.
Finally, the only thing Gore should concede to is a coin flip. And he may not have to. |
