Thursday, May 22, 2008

Will Florida Repeat its 2000 Fiasco

With the HBO movie RECOUNT set to be run on Sunday and Sen. Hillary Clinton in Florida trying to compare the Democrat's plan on not seating Florida delegates at the 2008 Democratic Convention to what happened in Florida in 2000, one has to wonder if Sen. Clinton needs to watch the movie.

The Chicago Tribune reported that Sen. Clinton said Florida voters "learned the hard way what happens when your votes aren't counted and the candidate with fewer votes is declared the winner."

Yeah, the nation learned that the person in second place in both the popular vote and the electoral college can bull their way to the White House by taking advantage of Florida's mismanagement of the electoral process.

As the Washington Post pointed out, all of the Democratic candidates agreed to boycott January primaries in Florida and Michigan after the states violated party rules by selecting early dates. Nonetheless, the elections were held and Clinton won both, though Obama's name was not on the ballot in Michigan.

In 2000 thousands of votes in Florida weren't counted for various reasons and as a result the intent of the voters was subverted. In 2008, with the knowledge that their vote wouldn't count because Florida again screwed up an election by going against the party's rules, one has to wonder how many Obama votes were lost?

By complaining that the votes of those in Florida who voted aren't being counted and should be, no matter how inaccurate they may be, Sen. Clinton, is imitating the GOP of 2000 who urged that special preference be given to the military ballots that didn't comply with the rules.


Bush’s "official" margin of victory in Florida was 537 votes. Citing the Florida Department of State’s web site, the New York Times reported that without the overseas ballots counted after election day, Gore would have won Florida, and thus the White House, by 202 votes.

Perhaps the win at any cost mentality being displayed by Sen. Clinton is what the Democrats need. In 2000 it was Bush, not Gore as many conservatives implied, who was willing to do what ever it took to take the White House, whether or not he deserved it.

Counting Florida's votes could allow the state again to let a incomplete election help select a president. Why Democrats are willing to allow Florida to mess up another election by mismanaging an election is unfathomable.

Unfortunately it may happen and isn't it ironic it may happen just as a movie about the first disaster comes out. One can only hope someone watches, and learns. Otherwise history may repeat itself.

Thanks to Florida's fiasco in 2000, Bush got the White House. With Florida's fiasco in 2008, Sen. Clinton still has a shot at the White House.

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