Chuck's Newsletter 26 - Election 2000

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Election 2000
last saved Sunday, January 21, 2001 11:53 PM -0800

candidates_playful Candidates in a Lighter Moment

The Election: Internet v. TV
(and many election developments you may not have heard)

This started as an analysis of the Internet v. TV for election results. Then it got out of hand (as the election did) with many details. [All times are my zone, Pacific Standard (unless indicated otherwise).]

Tue. 11/7 Afternoon and night I watched the results on TV and the Internet simultaneously. MSNBC started reporting the results at 3 PM as soon as the polls closed for each state. When I checked their website, msnbc.com, most of the time the website had lower totals. Occasionally the website would catch up. I assumed that this was because the website had the same data source as the corresponding TV network. After the debacle with the networks announcing that Gore had Florida, then Bush with a TV graphic proclaiming Bush as President, then "too close too call", the web was way behind, it seemed about 30 minutes behind with its headlines and lead stories. I no longer or rarely looked at the Internet data. So TV had its famous gross errors, but was still ahead of the Internet. Even the right-wing website Illiana.com tended to have posts that cited which network "called" for which candidate. When Gore had appeared to have won, one posting said that the poster would not help homeless people anymore because "you have Gore". Went to bed at my usual 1:30 AM, not knowing who was President.

Wed. 11/8. 12:46 PM. I read a 1-question poll on Netscape’s home page: "What is the best source of election news?" I chose TV. The results then (with 16,730 votes) were TV, 68%; radio, 9%; news web sites, 15%; other web sites, 3%; newspapers, 5%. So TV was ahead of the web, 68% to 18%. Later in the day with 48,000 votes, all of the percentages were the same except TV had 67%.

"There’s a condition for what the country’s in - it’s ‘electile dysfunction’." Jay Leno, NBC, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno

An MSNBC promo called it the "presidential mess". A CNN intro referred to the "upended and unending Election 2000".

Bill Daley: "The will of the people, not a computer glitch, should select our next president."

Thu. 11/9. 1:37 PM. MSNBC reported Bush’s lead down to 341 with 62 of 67 counties counted. Their web site also had 341 on its cover. The web site did not have this in Florida vote totals for president.

Thu. 4:40 PM. Bush’s lead down to lowest I’ve heard till now, 225.

8 PM. Florida Secretary of State Katharine Harris "unofficially certified" count for 1.784. This was the same total for the night before.

Heading on MSNBC website - "Gloves off".

Fri. 11/10, in the 1 AM hour

Re: voters in Palm Beach claiming to have voted for Buchanan when they thought were voting for Gore:

"There were 3 people in my building here in New York, their relatives in Florida called them up and said, "I voted for Hitler!!!"
Al Franken, NBC, Late Night with Conan O’Brien

Fri. AM. Final count of the recount - Bush led by 327. At 4:30 PM I checked the Florida state elections site which said further results were "unofficial" and not updated. Its figures showed Bush with a 961 vote lead. I think I decided then, if I hadn’t before, that it’s more useful to watch TV than the Internet or the "official" (in this case "unofficial") sites. That is, now that TV isn’t calling a vote, even with 100-300 votes difference!

Later, recount in New Mexico reduced Gore lead to 106, with 575 ballots to go plus 255 lost ballots to find. Later, the final count reversed New Mexico to Bush. Final finally for Oregon, going to Gore.

Rep. Billy Tauzin (Rep.-La.), Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications of the House Commerce Committee, said that calling too early and wrong in Florida could have affected voters whose polls were still open. All of the networks were relying on Voter News Service - he wondered why they weren’t independent. He will investigate next year, calling in all network officials, etc.

Film of voting machines of the past listed one candidate as "Dwight D. Eisenhower - Socialist Workers".

MSNBC.com heading - Staredown

Foreign headline, apparently because Disney World is in Florida - "What a Mickey Mouse Way to Run a Country".

--Alternative solutions--Local news said Nevada would break a tie with 5-card stud. Jay Leno, taking Bush’s suggestion on the show a week before, said there would be a foot race for the presidency. Saturday Night Live suggested that both be president, leading to a skit, "The Presidential Couple" a la "The Odd Couple".

Sat. 11/11. The NAACP held a 5-hour hearing in Miami on election irregularities (I saw about 2 hours on Sun. on C-SPAN). Testimony included police preventing people from voting; a man from Haiti realized that he had voted wrong, requested another ballot, was refused, and finally double-voted; 2 ballots boxes were found, one in a Sheraton Hotel room, and one the day of the hearing in a church that was a polling place. The NAACP was planning to have the testimony submitted to the Justice Dept.

11 PM Live (2 AM their time). The Palm County Election Board voted to have the recount. One pointed out it would involve "considerable expense".

Sun. 11/12. Newsweek’s cover - "The winner is" showed a split-shot of both candidates’ faces.

Mon. 11/13. 12:14 PM Ft. Lauderdale Election Commissioner Jane ==, at beginning of recount, "Elections come and go, and it’s time for this one to go."

12:53 Bush ahead by 4 votes in New Mexico. 200+ more to be counted. If tie, flip of coin or game of cards.

1:20 MSNBC’s Chris Matthews - one candidate is playing Kennedy-style touch football, the other candidate is wearing an Eisenhower-style jacket running around playing President.

To me, the fact that hand count is more accurate than computer count is awesome in this age of the computer. The problem of course is not the computers but the paper component - whether a punch is all the way through a ballot card, or a paper chad is hanging onto the ballot.

MSNBC - Rep. Roy Blount (Rep.-Mo.) - maybe should have Johnny Carson as Great Carnac guessing how people wanted to vote, which is what (Gore) is about to come to.

Rep. Barney Frank (Dem., MA). Re: we have time to finish the election. Historically, President-elects don’t do anything. What do we expect them to do, select the bands for the inaugural parade? Later, Frank expressed my thoughts, "If there was a group that formed called Jews for Buchanan, I didn’t hear about it."

Sign held up during live Bush Campaign Press Conference, "This Lesbian Hates Bush". Very funny!

MSNBC: Florida Secretary of State is trying to buy herself an Ambassadorship with Bush. The Florida law that says Tues. 5 PM is deadline also says that this is permissive, not just mandatory. In Texas in 1997 Bush signed a law allowing manual recounts because it was more accurate. Judge’s decision on 5 PM deadline will be at about 10 AM EST (7 AM PST). Ollie North’s MSNBC counterpart on "Equal Time", Paul Begala, facetiously suggested a group called "Holocaust survivors for Buchanan".

Cnn.com on closest electoral college votes - 1876 Hayes-Tilden margin of 1; 1824 Jackson-Adams, 15; 1916 Wilson-Hughes, 23; then 5 others with margins in 30’s and 50’s. (These are post-1804 when 12^th Amendment made for single votes. Prior, each elector had 2 votes, highest vote for president, 2^nd for vice.) For the closest popular vote elections, there were 5 that had less than 1% difference between candidates. The closest was the 1880 Garfield-Hancock election with a .02% difference. In comparison, the Gore-Bush unofficial results show about a 200,000 margin for Gore out of about 100 million votes. This is about a 0.2% margin, close to the 0.2% margin of the 1960 Kennedy-Nixon election. I’ve been watching the TV coverage for 7 days now, and they keep saying that the previous closest race "of recent times" was Kennedy-Nixon, but I’ve never heard them get specific enough to say that Garfield-Hancock was the closest, and the percentage number. This is something that the web can and has done - using a book as the source.

Hookers in Florida have announced an election special - for $20 they’ll give you a hand count.
—Jay Leno

Gore is about as sexy as a vibrator without the batteries.
--Joy, one of the women of The View (the ugliest one), on Jay Leno

Tue. 11/14.

CNN.com - Court upheld 5 PM certification deadline but Secretary of State shall use "sound discretion" before rejecting any later returns. CNN.com has video of court officer reading this announcement, and many videos since the election, as well as text of motions of law suits.

11:52 AM. MSNBC - Gore is now 400 ahead in New Mexico (was Bush ahead by 5).

12 noon. MSNBC running countdown clock till 5 PM EST. Palm County will be submitting 1% hand ballots, 99% mechanical to establish that doing handcount.

CNN - there have been more than 100 attempts to abolish the Electoral College and all have failed, but maybe now is the time. "Street Sweep Shakers" - Maybe this all is "a Machiavellian scheme to occupy our time between the World Series and reruns of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer".

1:30 PM Palm Canvassing Board votes to certify previous vote and filing by 5 PM EST, and then to continue with manual count despite court ruling, estimating a week to finish.

1:40 PM CNN - Re: counting tomorrow. Secretary of State says no, Attorney General says yes, need to go to Florida Supreme Court for determination.

MSNBC countdown clock at 7 minutes. 9k overseas ballots - majority counted - Gore counting on Jewish living in Israel. 5 minutes - Volusia County being certified, 1^st and only county, not sure of results. 3 minutes - "We could have an answer before the day is out -but the lawyers have the final say."

5 PM EST exactly - clerk reads vote totals for Bush and Gore. Volusia County - Gore gained 93 votes. Secretary will certify a total and award 25 electoral votes by this weekend. Judge has allowed hand recounts to continue, Secretary can throw out, then Gore camp will sue, saying she’s in Bush camp, and Gore will win in Florida Supreme Court, 6 of 7 justices are Democrat.

3 PM - Volusia count brings statewide lead for Bush of 286.

CNN - What a loser of a close election did. Grover Cleveland worked for a law firm, married, had a child named Ruth who died. Later she was immortalized by the candy bar Baby Ruth.

9 PM - 60 Minutes II - official count has Bush leading by exactly 300. "Punch card method is ‘Full of Holes’", their story title. Chads are "arcane election gremlins". Counties may throw out 5% of ballots. In previous election in Mass., 20% of ballots found to be blank - recount lead to victory for Delahunt to Congress by less than 200 votes. In Florida, margin of victory is within voting machines’ margin of error. Regardless of final count, can’t be certain who really won.

10:20 PM - NBC Nightline - Secretary of State giving counties to 2 tomorrow to give written explanations about recount. One county will not do recount. Unchartered waters - scenarios - If Electoral College tied (could throw out Florida), then President would be Speaker of House, then 97-year old Strom Thurmond, then Cabinet.

Wed. 11/15. 11:20 AM MSNBC -"Voting equip that is junk shouldn’t be allowed to decide the Presidency." - Broward County official quoted.

Lester Holt to reporter: "Behind you in the shot is the Sheriff’s truck containing 580,000 ballots, which may determine the next President."

11:39 25 ballots (24 absentee) found in Collier County, a Republican county.

Reporter after determining interviewee was for Gore, "So you’d rather be right than right away."

Bush observers talking about recounting Broward which Gore won 2-1 by 200,000 votes, called it unfair, "harvesting for votes".

Sen. Tom Daschle (Dem.-Minority leader) - Still don’t have Senator from Wash. If Senate is 50-50, would have alternating party member as chair of committees.

3:30. Upcoming Gore live press conference with proposal to bring this to a swift conclusion, Gore expected to be speaking from a position of strength.

3:34. Gore speech - if hand count continues, and he loses, will not take legal action. Offers to meet with Bush.

Bush rejects Gore proposal.

7:43 Secretary of State won’t accept hand count. If she declares for Bush on Sat., State Court can overturn.

From Netscape home page, I clicked CNN,com link which had details of day’s events.

Thu. 11/16. Noon hour. MSNBC - Absentee ballots arrived at Miami Airport - some rejected for having December postmark. I think since these probably have return address, the senders could sue the post office, probably foreign one, getting into international chaos.

Democrat trying to get members of Electoral College in Florida to switch - only need 3 to switch for Gore victory.

Clip of David Letterman with graph, asking what is most common name for male babies since the election. Al 2%, George 3%, Ralph minus 5%, and Chad 20%.

1 PM hour - Cnn.com - had many details I hadn’t heard on TV coverage, such as Gore on ABC radio and Lieberman response about litigation.

MSNBC - Fla. Supreme Court allows hand count to proceed. Palm County to resume tonight, 12 hours or more tomorrow, estimated 6 days total. Judge Burton (head of Palm election) to press conference question: The recount law’s been on the books for many years, and I’ve never heard it be argued against before.

My interpretation. Since we won’ know court ruling till tomorrow, right now we’re at -- the counties can count, but we don’t know if the counties’ counts count. Sorry.

4 PM hour - MSNBC - If Bush wins with Secretary of State Harris help, the investigation will make Whitewater look like a picnic.

6:40 Florida could send 2 slates of electors to Electoral College. It’s been done before - Hawaii for JFK-Nixon election.

Letterman clip - The absentee ballot counting process is a very slow process. Today, 7 absentee ballots came in for Dukakis.

Jon Stewart clip - Spain, if you’re watching, you can have Florida back.

Conan promo refers to candidates as "presidential wannabees".

Jay Leno:

"This election is tighter than Katherine Harris’s face."

"People who move overseas and send absentee ballots - they should be made to move back here & suffer with the rest of us."

"What I enjoy most of all this is saying ‘Floridian ‘ - sounds like a bad episode of StarTrek."

Let’s settle it with race of party mascots - donkey was ahead, then elephant won.

Fri. 11/17 - after midnight

Conan O’Brien

"9 days and still no President. No one really cares. That’s the beauty of our country. But Trent Lott said that Thomas Jefferson went though the same thing and became a great President. George W. Bush said, ‘I thought Thomas Jefferson was a High School.’"

(The following, for uninitiated, is a segment where the face of a famous person fills the screen, and the lips speak in political satire. This is obvious if you’re watching the show.)

Conan..the only way to resolve this mess is to talk to the parties involved…

Bush - "I am the President-elect…swear me in and let’s get some nachos." I’m not opposed to recounts, I’m opposed to recounting votes...Let’s recount states - I found 70."

Conan - Do you think you’ll have a mandate?

Bush - I’m not into that kind of thing…Well, I had one once…

Then he said he would show how to figure out the ballot - he said any idiot can do it but

the stress of trying to figure it out gave him a boil - "power pimple" I prefer to call it.

Gore - While Clinton is (in Vietnam and Asia) I am acting president.

Katherine Harris - I will certify and then will be in Playboy in 6 months and you can certify…

(knocked off screen by Clinton) Clinton - Screw America, I’m going to be a Sultan here - you know how many wives a man can have here - triple digits! - and then he can cheat on all of them.

Mick Foley, wrestler and controversial child-book author. To settle this thing, maybe like we do in WWF, Hell in the Cell - doubts whether Gore has testicular fortitude and whether Bush can find his way into the cell.

Fri. 11/17. AM - CNN - Approx. 1 ˝ million votes to be counted.

Noon - MSNBC - Running a countdown counter for overseas ballots to be received - 9 hours. Harris says will take overseas results and certify a winner by noon EST Sat. AP: Bush ahead by 321. Gore camp just filed appeal on judge saying late votes don’t need to be counted. Bizarre spin could be Bush comes to Tallahassee to be certified and declared President while Gore still in court asking for more time…MSNBC wants viewers to understand this complex story - 2 dozen lawsuits, etc., day by day timeline, team of reporters, legal experts - "This is a public relations war - the war of public opinion."

T-shirt in Florida - "Don’t be had by a Chad"

Bush will not be coming out to Florida to accept. Gore expected to speak at 1 PM.

1 PM - Gore camp confident will get enough votes in recount and absentees to win. Bush leads 339 with overseas ballots of 17 of 67 counties, Bush picked up 70 of overseas, but need be validated.

1:13 Fla. Supreme Court just ruled that Harris cannot certify tomorrow. She is "enjoined", no longer has "discretion". Gore team reported to have cheered; then brought out cocoa and cookies for reporters standing out in cold. If certified, would have official air to overcome - "election fatigue". The Gore mantra is keep counting - he who counts last counts best. Bush lead 345. Hand count 33 gain by Gore in 1% of precincts, could be several hundred altogether.

Gore speech re Fla. Supreme Court decision - neither Bush, nor I, nor Harris can be arbitrer of election - but will of people, upheld by court…

7:52 PM Bush lead 652 including 63 counties overseas.

9:50 NBC Dateline poll today of 510 people included (copied from its website:)

IN GENERAL, HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE THE TELEVISION NETWORKS’ NEWS COVERAGE ON ELECTION NIGHT?

a) Responsible = 35 percent
b) Irresponsible = 53 percent
c) No response = 12 percent

IN GENERAL, HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE THE TELEVISION NETWORKS’ NEWS COVERAGE AFTER ELECTION NIGHT?

a) Responsible = 67 percent
b) Irresponsible = 22 percent
c) No response = 10 percent

So our perception of TV’s responsibility has doubled since the election night crash.

11PM - local CBS affiliate news - 65 of 67 precincts, Bush leads by 760. In New Mexico, Gore wins by fewer than 500 votes - gets 5 electoral votes.

MSNBC - Alan Dershowitz, Attorney for Palm Beach voters - worried that Democrats will go to court for wrong reasons - need to challenge Harris 3 day’s back - not about discretion but that political operative making the decisions- discretion can’t really be challenged - "discretion is enemy of the Democrats".

Peggy Noonan, former Reagan speechwriter - almost 50% of overseas votes disqualified …this will go to people talking to electors… "This will be as grubby as American politics gets."

Discussion of Harris being operative - she donated $60,000 to Bush campaign - operatives are paid $60,000, if she donated that, she’s more than an operative, she didn’t donate out of the goodness of her heart.

Jay -

Florida and Florida State are playing this weekend.
Florida Secretary of State Harris has declared Florida State the winner.

Site selling T-shirts and mugs with the Florida ballot image - "Get it while it's still a newsworthy topic. Of course, at this rate, you might still have some time..." - cafepress.com

Sat. 11/18. AM

KGB-FM radio San Diego. Best of Dave, Shelley & Chainsaw. During the past week they interviewed Chris Matthews, host of MSNBC’s Hardball. He said once he was interviewing someone who called someone, "I don’t know if I can say it." "Say what?" "A dick." "You can say it." "And once I was interviewing Senator John McCain who recounted calling his captors in Vietnam the ‘p’ equivalent of that word."…Audio logo - "You’re a dick! Dave, Shelley & Chainsaw!"

12:45 PM MSNBC - Bush lead 930 with all overseas counted.

1 PM Plantation County - if allow pregnant chad, about 1,700 votes for Gore, "pressing the dimple issue is only way for Gore to take Florida." Miami-Dade County to start hand count Mon - 654,000 votes.

2 PM - Now Gore only getting fraction of a vote per precinct - expected 190 for Broward County

4 PM - Talk starting about Congress rejecting Florida from Electoral College - takes one member of each house and vote by house.

Sun. 11/19 3 PM - Gore gains 90 in Broward County in 339 precincts of about 600

Goal of Dec. 1 is completion date

Mon 11 /20

10 AM Gore up in Broward 112 in about 400 of about 600 precincts. Fla Sup taking oral arg about recounts at 11. Picket signs - "Theft of Democracy - Al Gore - Fla Sup Ct".

10:45 - Miami-Dade just started this AM -11 precincts of 900+ - 12 votes gain Gore

2:30 Fla disenfranchised military in 1980, under consent decree

Katrina van den Heuvel- "50 Ways to Lose an Election" or "6 Degrees of Disenfranchisement"

3 Rep member of Broward quit - all 5 poss replacements are Demo

Gore in 3 counties so far - 3, 119, 12 votes = 134, was 930,…796

then Dade 46/614..gain 33; Broward 523/608..gain 120..153 from 930=777

=5:30 Daley & Christopher TIME, if Gore doesnt win on handcounts in Sup Ct,time to concede

Jay-Harris looks like Joan Collins’ discount Beverly Hills face lift - like dog’s head out of window of Porsch going 180 miles an hour

in Vegas - his Chinchilla machine "taking on evil machine that has taken over our lives -the Fl vote counting machine"

"headlines" segment opening-Bush to Order Execution of Palm Beach Voters

dailynews.yahoo calls it "snagged election" and "election that refused to end"

Tu 11/21 - Fl Sup Ct decision - Bush camp wants Legis to throw out election & decide

Jay - you know movie Miracle on 34^th St, well Miracle in Palm - voter votes for his candidate without a hitch, everything went right- it was a miracle

==W 11/23 or Th 11/24=========

Jay - re Dick Cheney’s mild heart attack - "since he’s a Republican, a heart is not a vital organ"

Jay - Harris - all turkey leftovers must be consumed by 5 PM Sunday" "ironic that next president picked by a woman who can’t pick a good plastic surgeon"

MSNBC -Paul - New York Times talked about mob scenes outside the counting.

AP in Netscape: David Boies called them "mini-riots"

Good news for Gore - gain from Bush lead of 930 to 724.
Bad news - Bush accepted by US Supreme Court to hear appeal.

Sat. 11/25 11 PM - Broward finish - Bush leads by 443.

MSNBC - Ralph Nader suggests that Gore and Bush flip a coin.

CNN.com - 930 lead minus 482. Another place, almost exactly a drop by half - 930 minus 466 = 464.

Netscape.com - Broward gave Gore net gain of 567.

Sun. 11/26 MSNBC -

12:23 PM - Harris won’t certify if Gore wins!!!???

Gore will contest 3 counties - Miami/Dade, Palm, Nassau

==Bush lead 175-305 unofficial==

Palm not allowed extension - said only needed 2 hours more

Tom King - SecyState not allowing Palm Beach 2 hours more shows political moves

2 PM/5 PM ET Deadline for turn in counts for cert

Palm kept counting anyway so country would know numbers

David Boies - American people want these 10,000 votes counted that have never been

pb Bush 152,951 141,793 manual Gore 269,732 machine 243,526 manual., difference 11,158 24,206 - my calc Gore picked up 13k but they cut off reporter!!!!

Mario Cuomo (Dem.-Fmr. Gov., NY) - "this will all be a peanut in the cake batter of eternity"

Bob Woodward - "in environment of unrestricted legal warfare—Bush won’t get involved personally being certified." "American Standard portrays Gore as Aaron Burr."

2:50 PM Caption--"Bush leads by 491 votes Unofficial Florida count (AP)

Jack Quinn:Bush campaign has contested 14 counties - they like to leave that out

2:57 14 counties - overseas - although courts overthrew, counties on own counted - come in for Bush

3 PM Gore gained 170 (per Rep.)- 192 (per Dem.) in Palm.

Gore contest suit tomorrow v. Harris, Bush-Cheney, and canvassing boards. If get 5% (margin) of 10,750 votes, Gore wins.

Katrina vanVeuvel: "Harris will teach Americans a lesson of why votes don’t count, a dangerous lesson…scorched earth policy"

4:11 PM 180 Gore gain, 129 Bush overseas—357 Bush lead

4:26 Harris press conference -

Brian Williams: Democrats will say - not legally binding - 1 woman’s interpret

Harris: 2 sets from Palm, hand did not comply. (signature ceremony) B 2912790, G 2912253 (537). Ag Comm Crawford …it’s not always pretty."Quoting Yogi "It’s over."

Brian - Harris seen as hero by the right. Contrary to Crawford, not over, several courts…

Greg Jarret - only 1 legal standing of cert - triggers litigatation

Lieberman - "at issue is …every Anerican’s right to vote" "We have no choice but to contest these actions."

Tim - waiting for Miami would have reduced lead by about 200 to about 350. PR for Bush campaign to say "we won we won we won." C137 Miami lead of votes not counted in total - because not submitted.

Jim Baker - never contested el in US or Fl - "this is extraodinary and cannot work" Country should not be put through trauma of a contest.

Bush, contrary to earlier plan, will be speaking tonight to say he won.

Tim-if Dem Senators tell Gore it’s over, he needs to listen. Bush message of finale,Gore of patience.

Greg Sup Ct gave Harris alt deadline of tomorrow at 9 AM - prob more than 1 judge would find for disgruntled voters.

Brian - couple 100 Gore gain, so net of c 330.

5:15 Dan Abrams - all totals left not enough so need legal victory

Tim M - cert is a legal event, so if taken from him will make history books

Msn.Slate.com: How the Grinch Stole Election Day….

"They'll struggle to choose 'tween a crumb and a bum,

" 'Cause a voter's a voter, no matter how dumb."

6:30 Bush speech - humbly ackno self as president, "now that the votes are counted, let’s see that the votes count"

Mon. 11/27-Fri. 12/1 - I was mostly too fatigued to document this except for a little------

Wed. 11/29. The judge who was sending the million ballots to Talahassee seemed to be laughing at its being described as a convoy.

InfoBeatNews - Morning Coffee Edition 12/1 -

Study: Butterfly ballot baffling

WASHINGTON (AP) - A butterfly ballot like the one used in a Florida county for the presidential election tends to cause confusion and mistakes, according to a psychologist who tested the ballot on a group of Canadian adults. "Our study...suggests that the butterfly ballot may cause systematic errors in voting which could cast doubt on the validity of the results from the Palm Beach County vote" where the ballot was used, Dr. Richard C. Sinclair said in a study to be published next week in the journal Nature. Sinclair, an associate professor of psychology at the University of Alberta, said 20% of the test subjects who intended to vote for one candidate erroneously voted for another candidate when using the butterfly ballot. The experiment involved 116 men and women test subjects. Half voted on the butterfly ballot and half on a straight, single column ballot. There were no errors among voters using the single column ballot.

Bumper sticker seen by KGB-FM dj Coe Lewis - "We put the duh in Flori-duh"

Jay-convoy stops, asks for toilet ppr, gets ballots

Conan - some of older Sup Court justices got confused and ruled for Pat Buchanan

extra maps of Fla-dr w xray-this is yr penis, slight inflam in Mia-Dade area

what candidates do to relax - Gore screams pillow, GW smokes crack, Dick trades hearts w homeless, and Joe bangs a shiksa - "promote that NBC" (they did)

------see yahoo daily re humor

Sat 12/2 to Wed. 12/13 - you know the rest (don’t you?)

Conclusion

TV v. Internet

This started out as an analysis of TV v. the Internet for election coverage. All of the TV networks embarrassed themselves by calling the election too soon. The Internet totals ran behind TV’s. I wound up getting my info, both for election night and the ensuing week plus, from the two non-stop "continuous coverage" TV networks, MSNBC and CNN, supplemented by info on the web. These sources provided much more information, opinions, and provided it all of the time, unlike other stations that only had scheduled newscasts and occasional "breakthroughs". For example, the round-the-clock stations had full-length press conferences, whereas regular stations had condensed versions. The round-the-clock stations had so much information that had to be reduced on the regular stations.

The Content

It is not abnormal for a politician to call for a recount. It is unusual for us to have recounts in a presidential election. I’m for Gore, so it’s good to see Bush’s lead in Florida cut from 1,800 to 300 (as of Tue. 11/14). Hopefully, Al will take the lead and win. We need to remember that Gore didn’t call for the recounts, but that the first was automatic by Florida law, and the others were from voter’s lawsuits. The law is that the interested party is the voter, not the candidate.

I’ve given so much varied content above, that it is hard to summarize, except too generally. What else can I say besides what the stations have said?

photo sources: MSNBC.com, CNN.com

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