Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Gold/Mining/Energy : Strictly: Drilling and oil-field services -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: isopatch who wrote (80454)	11/30/2000 8:04:38 PM
From: excardog	Respond to of 95453

iso thanks for the moral support. EPEX actually closed up today hard to believe. Most of the other critters just kind of lolled around. Did add BTJ to my stable of stray cats. Just call me crazy. Glad to hear your coaching went well. Taking 7 year old to tonights Trailblazer game. Should be fun. Best Scott

To: isopatch who wrote (80454)	12/1/2000 8:35:34 AM
From: JungleInvestor	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 95453

OT: Iso, you were correct to worry about those Seminole ballots, but probably not for the reasons you thought. Also, can you imagine Gore as President "owned" by Jackson and Sweeney. opinionjournal.com POTOMAC WATCH Ambivalent Warriors Why Democrats let Gore fight on, and on, and . . . BY PAUL A. GIGOT Friday, December 1, 2000 12:01 a.m. EST The ubiquitous Jesse Jackson held a loud public rally in Tallahassee this week, but his less publicized courtroom visit could matter more to Al Gore. For the TV cameras, Jesse and members of the Congressional Black Caucus did their usual race thing, comparing Florida 2000 to Selma 1965. To their civic credit, blacks outpolled (15%) their share of the voting-age Florida population (13%) this year. But Mr. Jackson still says blacks were victims of "targeted racial profiling." So dimpled ballots equal beatings with clubs. More telling, however, was the hour or so that Mr. Jackson and his famous phalanx spent in the courtroom of Judge Nikki Ann Clark. Judge Clark is a black former aide to Gore campaign chairman and Florida Attorney General Robert Butterworth. She was recently passed over by Florida Gov. Jeb Bush for a promotion. Judge Clark's ruling next week on absentee ballots in Seminole County could hand the election to Al Gore. Democrats are arguing that 15,000, Bush-heavy ballots should be disenfranchised because the GOP assisted 4,700 in their absentee applications (not the ballots themselves). So much for "counting every vote." But you can bet Judge Clark noticed who was watching her from the gallery. Hypocrisy aside, the episode is revealing about the willingness of Democrats to stand by Mr. Gore. In private most Democrats gripe about him as a candidate. They don't even like him much. But in public they're full bore for Gore. The question is, why? The public answer is that Democrats are so outraged by ferocious GOP tactics that they feel they have no choice. But this seems like synthetic outrage. The party that condoned Seattle's riots last year can't possibly be threatened by GOP preppies chanting "three blind mice" in Miami. The answer that no one mentions is their own political self-interest. For some activists, defending Gore is about the chance to be political kingmakers. Among more pragmatic elected officials, especially members of Congress, it's about tarnishing a Bush presidency and preparing for 2002. It's no accident that the two most hard-line Gore backers are Mr. Jackson and AFL-CIO chief John Sweeney. No one did more to help the vice president than these two. Mr. Sweeney's unions rescued Mr. Gore in the primaries by endorsing him earlier than any Democrat since Walter Mondale. Then on Election Day they mobilized turnout that helped him carry crucial swing states. Nationwide, voters from union households were 26% of the electorate this year, up from 23% in 1996. They went 59% for Mr. Gore across the country, but by 67% in crucial Michigan and 66% in Pennsylvania, both of which he narrowly won. African-American turnout was just as vital. Nationwide its share didn't change this year from 1996 (10%), but in Florida it rose by half again to 15%. Mr. Gore won 90% of the black vote nationwide, more than President Clinton ever did, and in Florida he took an amazing 94%, according to exit polls. If Mr. Gore wins, Messrs. Sweeney and Jackson will hold more IOUs than David Boies and the trial lawyers. They never had that sway with Mr. Clinton, until they backed him during impeachment. After that they owned him. But if Mr. Gore loses, all of their hard work washes away. Union ally Dick Gephardt lost his bid for speaker, and none of Mr. Jackson's Black Caucus allies will chair House committees. They need a Gore win almost as much as the veep does. The motives of Democratic leaders in Congress are more ambivalent but just as calculating. They'd prefer a Democratic president, but a weakened Bush is hardly a disaster. What do they have to lose by letting Al Gore fight to his last breath? If he wins, they've been loyal soldiers. And if he loses, they'll confront a damaged President Bush. As Tennessee Republican Fred Thompson noted in a speech this week, many Democrats are hoping that the election isn't settled by Dec. 12 in Florida and is taken up by the U.S. House. Mr. Gore would probably still lose, but Republicans would catch most of the political heat. Democrats on Capitol Hill could spend weeks defining Mr. Bush as a wholly owned subsidiary of Tom DeLay. The brawl would also string out the Bush transition, narrowing his first-year window to achieve anything major. And the fight would further mobilize rank-and-file Democrats to retake Congress in 2002. Behind all of this is the polarization of American politics. November's election was mainly a "base" election, meaning that both candidates relied on their core voters. An ambivalent or apathetic middle can be ignored. Mr. Gore can keep hunting for dimples, and Democrats will back him, as long as Democratic voters stay loyal. Which is why Mr. Gore is happy to have Jesse Jackson stare down a Florida judge. Perhaps a U.S. Supreme Court ruling for Mr. Bush would cause some Democrats to break. But what if the vote is only 5-4, with conservatives forming a Bush majority? The same Democrats who hailed the sanctity of the Florida Supreme Court might then cry partisanship. This is the Pandora's box some of us warned about when Al Gore chose to put his own future above his country's. Mr. Gigot is a member of The Wall Street Journal's editorial board. His column appears Fridays in the Journal and on OpinionJournal.com.