And if the networks did Bush a disfavor at 7:50 pm, they made up for it by doing him a BIG favor at 4:00 am when they incorrectly called the state for Bush, thus setting up the psychology of the recount fight very much in Bush's favor.
Regardless of what or how many votes in FL it may have suppressed, It certainly did elswhere in the Country. Think about NM with less than 200 votes making the difference. Small differences in IA WI and others.
Such phenomena of reducing the loosing candidates vote count was investigated by a Democratic lead congress and thought to have merit in 1981, when Carter went splat.
We will never know, if the FL Vote was suppressed, nor will we know the extent of the national vote, but make no mistake, it was suppressed, making any argument regarding the popular vote meaningless.
And the networks did not incorrectly call the state for Bush at 4 am. GWB won Gore conceded, making it an accurate report. The fact that Gore challenged does not change the fact of the win, and How many people were watching? When I woke up in the morning, the only news I heard was that GWB had more votes but the election was in doubt. |
