Scott Wyman writes: "An employee in Broward County's elections office has told prosecutors that there are more uncounted absentee ballots from September's primary than those found this week in a file cabinet. The lawyer for the employee said she discovered more than 500 unopened ballots in the office mailroom two days after the election. According to the story she laid out to prosecutors, she notified her supervisor and was told there had been a mix-up and that the votes needed to disappear."

In an article about Katherine Harris' new book, The Associated Press lied about the manual recount by the Media Consortium - which included the AP. The AP now says, "Some unofficial ballot inspections paid for by consortiums of news agencies showed Bush winning by varying margins." But here's what the AP itself wrote on 11-11-01: "A full, statewide recount of all undervotes and overvotes could have erased Bush's 537-vote victory and put Gore ahead by a tiny margin ranging from 42 to 171 votes, depending on how valid votes are defined." E-mail feedback@ap.org and tell the AP to stop its Orwellian rewrite of history!

Bloomberg.com reports: "Enron Corp., Halliburton Co. and Reliant Energy Inc. -- three companies whose finances are being examined by U.S. regulators -- were among the corporations reimbursed for the use of their corporate jets by the Bush committee during the 36-day recount...The Bush committee paid the 10 companies $140,365 for use of the planes, according to the documents, which listed total spending of $13.8 million on legal, transportation and other expenses during the recount...Several other executive jets rented by Bush's recount committee belonged to oil industry companies, including Houston- based Anadarko Petroleum Corp., Los Angeles-based Occidental Petroleum Corp., and Tom Brown Inc., a Denver-based oil- exploration company." The filing also shows that Bush spent about $1 million to house the Bush recount staff, about $40,000 per person, for the 36 day period.

A distinguished panel of leaders -- including Rev. Jesse Jackson, Congressman Alcee Hastings, Civil Rights Commission Chair Mary Francis Berry, and others -- headline a community meeting in Ft. Lauderdale on Wednesday January 9th. The event will build support for pre-emptive actions to ensure that the discriminatory actions used in 2000 to disenfranchise Florida voters will not be able to be used in 2002. If you are in south Florida bring 5 people with you and go!

Aaron Cohen gave Meria Heller the exclusive scoop on two breaking stories. First, why September 11th wasn't prevented - where were our intelligence men? The FBI was diverted ever since the lst bombing of the WTC in 1993 by Republicans obsessed with Bill Clinton. 52 of the best FBI agents were assigned to Clinton, leaving limited resources available to follow up on all the leads that could have prevented 9/11. Second, Aaron worked for the NORC report (Fla. Recount) and reports that it was defective MACHINES - not people - that screwed up the count, yet no investigation of illegal tactics has occurred. Other news: NEW Bin Laden Video; boat people and children in trouble in Australia; Brigitte Bardot threatened for defending dog-meat in South Korea; and an AWESOME report by Robert Fisk, who got his butt kicked in Afghanistan

On November 12, the members of the corporate Media Consortium published their analysis of the Florida recount. Although the data proved that Al Gore won under all scenarios in which ALL legal votes were counted, the Media Consortium nevertheless proclaimed Bush the winner. In other words, the media lied - to preserve the fiction that Bush is a legitimate President, and the Supreme Court's outrageous and anti-democratic ruling in Bush v. Gore was irrelevant. In a Democrats.com EXCLUSIVE, we are reviewing all of the Florida Recount stories, and issuing a grade. We call it the "Media Integrity Test" - and we welcome your own submissions!

In its rush to conceal the truth about the Florida recount, the NY Times declared "George W. Bush would have won even if the United States Supreme Court had allowed the statewide manual recount of the votes that the Florida Supreme Court had ordered to go forward." But the judge chosen to supervise this recount, Terry Lewis, recently told the Orlando Sentinel that "he would not have ignored the overvote ballots" - especially since Bush's lawyers were demanding their inclusion. As Mickey Kaus points out in Slate, the conclusion of the NY Times (and other Consortium members) "is thoroughly bogus - unfounded and inaccurate. If the recount had gone forward Judge Lewis might well have counted the overvotes in which case Gore might well have won. Certainly the Times doesn't know otherwise." In other words, the NY Times LIED. E-mail letters@nytimes.com and demand a front page retraction!

"Gore won under a strict-counting scenario and he won under a loose-counting scenario. He won if you count 'hanging chads' and he won if you counted a 'dimpled chad.' He won if you counted a dimpled chad only in the presence of another dimpled chad on the same ballot — the so-called 'Palm Beach' standard. He even won if you counted only a fully-punched chad. He won if you counted partially filled oval on an optical scan and he won if you counted only a fully-filled optical scan. He won if you fairly counted the absentee ballots. No matter how you count it, if everyone who legally voted in Florida had had a chance to see their vote matter, Al Gore would be sitting in the Oval Office today." So writes Eric Alterman in MSNBC.

According to the St. Petersburg Times, "Gore could have picked up 2,182 votes last November on overvotes where voter intent is clear, and Bush would have gained 1,309 votes, the media companies' analysis shows. That difference [873 votes] would have enabled Gore to defeat Bush in any statewide recount that included overvotes, regardless of what statewide standard for counting undervotes was used." These clear votes should have been counted on Election Day; election officials who failed to do so broke the law. Moreover, the analysis of 2-candidate overvotes shows that Gore would have gained another 25,000 votes, if all of Florida's counties used error-checking machines.

"Make no mistake. Al Gore won in Florida. Under any consistent legal standard of counting the ballots, Gore won. The fact that the media consortium is lying about the results is more an indication of just how debased our democracy has become, than it is a reflection of what appears on the ballots that were examined." So writes Paul Lukasiak.

The media consortium applied its ballot review to nine scenarios for recounting ballots. Under six of the nine, Al Gore won.

We waited for more than a year for 175,000 uncounted votes to be counted. Now the results are in, and the facts show that Al Gore won Florida. But Republicans and the corporate media cannot allow the public to see the truth - that Gore won and Bush lost - because that would expose the Presidency of George W. Bush as illegitimate. So the same people who helped Bush steal the Presidency are now trying to steal the Truth. This page is dedicated to exposing the monumental efforts by the media to distort the truth: that Al Gore won, and George Bush stole the Presidency with the help of Jeb Bush, Katherine Harris, the U.S. Supreme Court, and the TV networks.

Way back in January, the Media Consortium promised to announce the results of its recount by the end of March. Amazingly, it's now November - and we know the results of the 2001 election before the 2000 election! According to the grapevine, the results will FINALLY be released on Sunday. Naturally, we are certain the data will PROVE that AL GORE WON. Stay tuned...

"There's an elite few who do know what happened in Florida, or at least have a better sense than anyone else. What they're doing is concealing information that's crucial to the spirit and process of American democracy. Election reform was, for a while there, an urgent requirement for both federal and state government. Only there's something very odd about trying to fix something when it's unclear just what went wildly wrong (if Mr. Gore really won) or even just mildly wrong (if Mr. Bush still won, flaws in casting votes and counting votes aside). Imagine these newspapers and the like railing on and on, and justifiably so, if it were the government withholding such information from them." So writes the Albany Times-Union.

The Sydney Morning Herald on Monday quoted the chief flack for the Wall Street Journal as saying that it no longer cared to know who won the presidential election. Well, now why would that be?

The failure of the U.S. media organizations to complete the definitive study of uncounted ballots from the Florida presidential election is due to a misplaced politics of patriotism, observed the London Telegraph on October 21st. The results of an examination of 170,000 ballots that were rejected by machines as uncountable are now being suppressed by the American media organizations who sponsored the study. An apparent Gore victory, says the Observer, "appears to have been sacrificed on the altar of patriotism and a perception that America needs to be led into war by a strong president." Apparently, our supposedly independent news media believe we can't handle the truth.

"The media conglomerates chose sides in the 2000 election based on the one and only thing that matters to multinational corporations - profit. They accurately determined that George W. Bush was the candidate who would best allow them to maximize that profit. They have a huge financial stake in the political well being of Bush. And now, they have the results of a ballot study in Florida that unexpectedly shows a decisive victory for Al Gore. Journalistic integrity dictates that they release the accurate results of that study to the public. Financial self-interest dictates that they do not. Unless public pressure causes the media elite to decide that failing to release the accurate results of the ballot study would do them more harm than good, it is likely that financial self interest will trump journalistic integrity. As usual." So write Carolyn Kay and David Podvin in Makethemaccountable.com.

"It is simply false for the Consortium to claim people were unaware that the results were developing in a way that would be highly embarrassing, at best, for George W. Bush. The Republican observers saw the strong pro-Gore trend and responded with typical aplomb. A GOP activist accused one NORC coder of being drunk on the job, a lie that was later disproven. Even so, Republican operatives reportedly pressured another coder to confirm the phony allegation. The Republicans yelled about the quality of the coders, screamed about the treachery of the process, and threw temper tantrums about the unfairness of it all. Of course, they offered no proof of their slanderous charges. Though the GOP observers were publicly panicking as the trend continued strongly against them, the Consortium observers in the very same rooms claim to be completely unaware of who was winning." So write David Podvin and Carolyn Kay at Make Them Accountable.

David Podvin writes in Make Them Accountable, "According to a source whose previous information has proven to be accurate, the Consortium of news organizations that recounted the presidential votes in the 2000 Florida election was shocked to find that former Vice President Al Gore decisively won the state, and it is now concealing the news of Gore’s victory from the American people... The Consortium was stunned to discover that the recount revealed Gore won a clear victory. Even after casting aside the controversial butterfly ballots and discarding ballots that were 'iffy', Gore decisively won the recount. While the precise numbers are still unavailable, a New York Times journalist who was involved in the project told one of his former companions that Gore won by a sufficient margin to create 'major trouble for the Bush presidency if this ever gets out.'" We demand the truth!!!

If Mr. Bush and his cohorts are unable to guide our nation back to truth and democracy, and if our Democratic leaders are not powerful enough to ensure that formal investigations are launched, we may have only one alternative left. To adhere to the rule of law, and to reclaim and restore our democracy - we must resort to a Citizens' Arrest of George W., Jeb, Katherine, et. al.

Just released is an independent analysis of the spoiled votes in Florida's 2000 presidential election by Philip A. Klinkner of Hamilton College in Clinton, NY. This analysis gives even more weight to the findings of the Civil Rights Commission that thousands of black voters in Florida were systematically disenfranchised. Klinkner analyzed the spoiled votes from all precincts in Florida, adjusting for a variety of factors that could contribute to vote spoilage -- such as age, education, illiteracy, etc. The results show that the number of spoiled votes was not significantly related to education, age, or even voting method. Instead, the number of spoiled votes was found to be related to the number of black voters in a precinct. In other words, systematic vote spoilage appears to have occurred that was caused by something - or someone - other than the voter. Gee, we wonder who that could be?

Steve Cobble, who directs the Campaign for a Progressive Future, takes a good hard look at the real numbers shown by the polls. You wouldn't know it by watching the evening news, but a very healthy slice of the American electorate has not forgiven the Republicans for their theft of the presidency. Bush is still not regarded as a legitimate president by the American public. The truth wants to be told.

The Herald's review of the Florida overvote is based on such erroneous data that the conclusions are completely unreliable. More significant, however, is the marked bias in the errors; they consistently increase the likelihood of a greater net gain in votes for George W. Bush than for Al Gore. The Herald consistently misrepresents its own data and consistently skews the numbers to create a "recount victory" for Bush in Florida... the Miami Herald has abdicated its journalistic duty to present the unbiased truth. Their "inconclusive" results on the recount have been achieved by using false data. Some votes were doublecounted; hundreds of others were omitted. Unable to sort out the confusing spin of numbers upon numbers presented in the Herald report, the average citizen will not question their accuracy or the validity of the conclusion. But if you follow the ball, bouncing all over Florida, the truth emerges. The conclusion that Al Gore got the most votes in Florida is the only way to explain the Bush team's desire to halt the recount, and the Supreme Court's willingness to risk its reputation by ordering the halt.

Researcher Paul Lukasiak invited the principal author of the Herald's analysis, Marty Merzer, to reply to our in-depth critique. His reply was a simple brushoff: "We stand by our methodology, our ballot reviews and our reporting." Lukasiak has again requested a detailed, point-by-point reply.

Upon close scrutiny, the Miami Herald's review of the Florida overvote is so egregiously flawed that it is completely unreliable. More importantly, however, is that there is a marked bias in that unreliability that provides a significant perceived advantage to George W. Bush. The Herald consistently misrepresented its own data, and just as consistently skewed the numbers to make it look as if Bush got more votes than Gore in Florida.

The Miami Herald completed its count of 111,261 overvotes, and Al Gore gained 682 votes among the 3% (3,146) where the intent of the voter was absolutely clear. "Generally, this occurred when voters chose a candidate and then cast a write-in vote for that same candidate," according to the Herald. Under Florida law, these votes are REQUIRED to be counted on Election Day. If these votes had been counted, Katherine Harris would have had to certify Gore as the winner on November 27 by 145 votes - without examining a single hanging chad in Palm Beach County. In addition, Gore beat Bush by 46,466 among the other 97% of the overvotes. These votes would have been clear votes if all of Florida's counties - not just the wealthiest - had used instant-check technology. We now know the truth: Al Gore won Florida, and Bush is not the legitimate President. Since Bush ran on "restoring honor and integrity to the White House," we are calling upon Bush to do the only honorable thing - RESIGN!

Matt Drudge reports that the media consortium has completed its Florida count. "It looks like there is going to be something for both sides [Bush and Gore] to chew on here," said a source with direct access to the recount data. "There are conflicting results." Here's the translation from Drudgespeak to English: Al Gore won the election, but Karl Rove & Co. are doing everything in their power to spin the results to deny this plain reality. Don't let the media distort the truth!

We didn't know that the Miami Herald, which released its count of 64,000 undervotes last month - is also counting the 110,000 overvotes, and will announce its results in "days." Meanwhile, the media consortium count by the AP, CNN, New York Times, Palm Beach Post, St. Petersburg Times, Tribune Newspapers, Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Post, will be announced "within the next two months." The Herald's "Bush Wins Again" spin on the undervote recount was a journalistic scandal, since their own facts showed that Gore won if every vote was counted. Let's see how badly they distort the overvote results.

The Miami Herald rushed to judgment with its recount of Florida's undervotes, sacrificing thoroughness, method, and accuracy to break the story first. Meanwhile, the consortium of major news organizations that has been counting undervotes AND overvotes has hung in there, through internal squabbles, gun-jumping by the press and increasing pressure by impatient editors. When their tally is finally done, the result (no doubt marked by blood, sweat, and tears now as well as hanging chads!) is expected to be the "real thing."

The Democratic National Committee yesterday accused the $8 million Bush-Cheney vote-recount fund of evading a new law aimed at unreported political spending and called for an IRS investigation of the fund's failure to publicly disclose its contributions and expenditures. In a letter to Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Charles O. Rossotti, DNC Chairman Terry McAuliffe charged that the Bush-Cheney recount operation amounted to "the biggest 'stealth PAC'" ever created. He said it should have registered with the IRS under the law passed last year requiring secretive tax-exempt groups to reveal their finances.

Late last week, the National Opinion Research Center completed its tally of 180,000 undervotes AND overvotes in Florida. We haven't heard the results yet, but we bet that Shrub has! And we know that the LAST place he wants to be when Gore is declared the winner is in Florida. So is that why he suddenly cancelled his visit to Jacksonville on Wednesday? Inquiring minds want to know...

When the Miami Herald came out Wednesday with the much-anticipated story about the Florida vote count, I was again hoping against hope that some major media outlet in this country would start covering the Florida Presidential Election in a fair and even handed manner. I was again disappointed.

"[Barry] Richard has discovered that the Bushies' gratitude has its limits. More than four months after the U.S. Supreme Court ended the 2000 election, he and his firm, Greenberg Traurig, are still owed more than $800,000 in legal fees. The firm, which sent 39 lawyers and 13 paralegals into court battles all over the state, is one of a dozen that have so far been stiffed. The estimated total tab: more than $2 million...As for the law firms, they are taking pains not to alienate their deadbeat clients, for fear of damaging their burgeoning Washington lobbying practices. Greenberg Traurig now represents electric power companies, drug manufacturers and Internet gambling interests willing to pay big money for access to policymakers." Bush Daddy's buddies will probably bail out the wastrel son. They always do.

"Bush officials refused to reveal the final tab for the 40 days of legal combat that raged through election boards, a series of state courts and twice went to the Supreme Court. And many of the lawyers who submitted bills totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars concede they may never be paid. Some ethics watchdogs criticized the secrecy, cloaking the millions of dollars in debts and funding that made a presidency possible. One unanswered question is whether attorney Ted Olson of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher worked for free when he argued Bush's case before the Supreme Court, or whether his tab is still pending. Olson, of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, is the president's pick for U.S. solicitor general." Commented Larry Noble of the Center for Responsive Politics: "[These firms] may figure that this is an administration in power and that they'll get paid back in other ways over time," such as through their lobbying practices.

According to the investigation by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist John Lantigua in the April 30 issue of The Nation, Florida's black community -- provoked by Governor Jeb Bush's attack on affirmative action -- mounted a voter registration drive that increased black voter turnout by an astounding 65 percent. What did Bush do? Using taxpayer funds, the state took extraordinary steps to fight the influx of legitmate American voters. As many as 200,000 Floridians -- mostly African Americans -- were purged from the voter rolls or denied the right to vote in what has to be considered the biggest crime against the people since the era of cross-burnings and lynchings.

It has been more than three months since the U.S. Supreme Court violated all principles of law and stopped the counting of votes in Florida in order to declare George W. Bush the President of the United States. With the passage of time, we have learned many details about how Bush stole Florida, but the media remains adamantly opposed to examining these details. Here are some of the many crucial questions we believe the media needs to ask about the Florida election in order to find out the truth.

"If you count every vote, Gore wins." So says Doug Hattaway, a former Gore campaign spokesman. When USA Today declares "Newspapers' Recount Shows Bush Prevailed In Fla. Vote," they are simply lying.

What did our readers think of the Nightline show? Read their own words.

DNC Chair Terry McAuliffe took on the Miami Herald's distorted coverage of the Florida recount results. "The same study that Republicans tout as proving that Bush really won Florida, also shows that if all the ballots were counted on election night, Al Gore would have won. And if all the people who intended to vote for Gore actually got to vote, without being confused or intimidated, the results would have been overwhelmingly in favor of Gore. Any way you spin this data, you still come to the same conclusion, more must be done to protect our sacred right to vote and have our votes counted." And more must be done to tell America that Bush didn't win the Presidency, he stole it!

On the day AFTER its headlines circled the planet, the Miami Herald published a follow-up story headlined: "Recounts could have given Gore the edge." Say what? "Had the Broward and Palm Beach canvassing boards used the loosest standard in judging ballots and finished the recount by the court-set deadline -- which Palm Beach did not meet -- Gore almost certainly would have won. He might have gained 2,022 votes in the two counties when Bush's state lead was only 930." So why wasn't this the lead story on Wednesday? E-mail the Herald (HeraldEd@herald.com) and demand an apology for this journalistic dirty trick. And forward this story to all of the media that yesterday proclaimed that "Bush won."

"If you count every vote, Gore wins." So says Doug Hattaway, a former Gore campaign spokesman. When USA Today declares "Newspapers' Recount Shows Bush Prevailed In Fla. Vote," they are simply lying.

According to Florida law, county officials must count every ballot that cannot be read by a machine. If county officials had followed the law, Gore would have gained 1,323 among the 64,248 undervotes counted by the Miami Herald, not even counting the approximately 120,000 overvotes that will be counted in a few weeks.

On Sunday at 9 pm EST, the Miami Herald is expected to announce the results of its statewide recount of undervotes. On the eve of Bu$h's quasi-state-of-the-union address, the Herald lied to America by declaring that Gore's small gains in one county (Miami-Dade) proved that Bu$h actually won. Let's see how the Herald - and the Republicans - spin the story this time...

We went on high alert on Tuesday, expecting the Miami Herald and USA Today to announce the results of their recount of 67,000 undervotes in Florida. But then they called it off. Is Karl Rove scrubbing the data first? "That's bullshit," said Miami Herald managing editor Mark Seibel. "You can quote me on that." We shall see...

Nearly five months after the election, the US media has still not reported on the many frauds committed by Republicans to steal the Presidency. Judging from the advance writeup, Nightline's show on Duval County (Jacksonville) may be yet another attempt to deny the reality that Bush stole the election. Nightline's angle is that the testimony of countless witnesses is nothing more than "anecdotes" - and because the witnesses are mostly black, they should be dismissed as mere "perceptions." Hey Nightline, quit telling us how to think and do your job of reporting the facts: 1) that the overvotes were caused by specific instructions from Republican Election Supervisor John Stafford to "vote EVERY page", while he spread the Presidential candidates over TWO pages; 2) that 27,000 votes in Duval county were voided, more than any other county in Florida; 3) when Rep. Corinne Brown (D-FL) heard about the 20,000 void ballots in Palm Beach and asked Stafford how many ballots were voided, he lied and told her "a few hundred." If she had known the truth, she would have filed for a manual recount, which could have produced the 154 votes that Gore needed to win Florida. Phone Nightline at 202-222-7000, e-mail niteline@abc.com, or use their web form: http://abcnews.go.com/onair/email.html

An investigation by Democrats.com has revealed that hundreds - possibly thousands - of Florida votes for Al Gore and George W. Bush were never counted because marks in the "write-in" section of the ballot caused these ballots to be incorrectly treated as "overvotes." Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris certified more than 28,000 overvotes from counties that violated Florida law by ignoring such votes. Had these votes been properly counted, Al Gore may well have been declared the winner in Florida.

It is a crime that the Republican Party stopped the counting of Florida's 60,000 undervotes. But perhaps the real crime is in the overvote. There were 110,000 overvotes in Florida, ballots rejected because more than one choice was marked for president. Overwhelmingly, the spoiled ballots were Gore votes. It was the overvote, much more than the dangling and dimpled chads of undervote, that cost America the president we really elected. Did tens of thousands of voters screw up their ballots by mistake, or was the second hole punched by someone other than the voter?

Pat Stone is a member of Democrats.com who responded to our call to send letters to the editor to local newspapers following the publication of the outrageous false story that another recount "proved" that George Bush "won again." The recount in question added more votes to the Gore column from Miami Dade county but not enough by itself to give Gore his margin of victory. So Pat adopted the draft letter we sent out as his own and the Tallahassee Democrat published it, only to express shock afterwards when the same letter appeared in other papers. So offended was the editor of the letters section he ran an editorial against us and -- without having the courage and honesty to include this in his editorial -- unilaterally banned poor Pat Stone from ever getting another letter in the paper. We objected and appealed to the higher ups. The result? Pat Stone's right to speak in the Tallahassee Democrat with whatever damn words he chooses as his own have been restored, and readers get to ponder which is worse -- taking some words from the Internet for your letter to the editor or subverting the will of the majority of voters in a national election?

It has been more than three months since the U.S. Supreme Court violated all principles of law and stopped the counting of votes in Florida in order to declare George W. Bush the President of the United States. With the passage of time, we have learned many details about how Bush stole Florida, but the media remains adamantly opposed to examining these details. Here are some of the many crucial questions we believe the media needs to ask about the Florida election in order to find out the truth.

After helping Shrub steal the Presidency, the Republican Party of Florida (RPOF) is trying to destroy the evidence of its crime. The RPOF issued the most bizarre recount analysis yet, claiming that Bush has gained 361 votes in post-election manual recounts. They claim their analysis is based on "the official Supreme Court vote standard. The Court called for a clearly punched out chad for punch cards or a clearly filled out oval for Optiscan machines." This is just a Big Lie - the U.S. Supreme Court issued no such ruling. The only legal standard in Florida remains the "intent of the voter." In fact, Katherine Harris accepted and certified the Broward recount which used the "loosest" possible standard of counting dimples.

Just days before the Miami Herald is expected to announce the results of its state-wide recount of ALL undervotes, right wing legal attack group Judicial Watch is trying to sabotage that effort by announcing its own distorted results from a PARTIAL recount. According to Judicial Watch, there are 62,205 undervotes statewide. JW counted 42,724 of them, and concluded that Bush - not Gore - would have gained between 107 and 116 votes, depending on the precise standard used. So far, no problem. But then they make this completely fraudulent claim: "a statewide recount of the Florida undervotes would not have changed the outcome of the presidential election." Democrats.com has kept a running tally of media recounts at gorewonflorida.org since Katherine Harris certified Bush as the winner by only 537 votes. As of March 10, Gore had gained 1,773 votes, giving him a lead of 1,236. Using Judicial Watch's higher number of 116, Gore STILL leads by 1,120 votes. By claiming Bush won, Judicial Watch is committing "recount malpractice." Before we declare this election over, let's wait for the recount of ALL 62,000 undervotes. That's what the Florida Supreme Court ordered in November, and that's what should have decided the winner. Unfortunately for America, a narrow partisan majority of the U.S. Supreme Court conspired with George W. Bush to steal the Presidency - regardless of the will of the voters. If the recounts prove that Gore got more votes, we will work tirelessly to remove George W. Bush, his fellow Republicans, and the Felonious Five from office.

"For a group that claims the moral high ground, Judicial Watch's announcement that "Bush is still the winner" following their partial "sunshine count" of the undervotes was contrived and misleading at best. Moreover, the reports in the media regarding this analysis are similarly spurious." In an excellent bit of research, Alan Balch explains the details.

The Miami Herald and USA Today have been counting the roughly 50,000 Florida undervotes that were ordered counted by the Florida Supreme Court - but blocked by the U.S. Extreme Court's Gang of Five. Word is out that results will be announced on Tuesday. Get ready for a bumpy ride...

Yes, the Palm Beach Post, a stalwart for justice during the real Florida Recount stand-off, is once again taking a principled stand for justice. It is telling Republicans and fairweather Democrats alike that the media recount intends to expose the truth wherever the chips may fall. And it is increasingly certain that Gore won Florida. That's the truth -- and it means we have a usurper in the White House. As if we didn't know.

In Palm Beach county, Boca Raton city council candidate Susan Saxton plans to request a hand recount of 11,009 ballots from her two-vote loss to Councilman Dave Freudenberg in Tuesday's election. Saxton's lawyer was part of the Bush legal team that successfully blocked a manual recount for Al Gore. Quick - call James Baker, Mark Racicot, and the Miami Rent-A-Rioters!

The Miami Herald and USA Today claim that their recount of Miami-Dade proves that Bush won Florida. This claim is a lie, because Gore's gain of 682 votes in Palm Beach would have forced Katherine Harris to certify Gore as the winner by 194 votes. But this four-county recount was rejected by the Florida Supreme Court, which ordered a recount in ALL of Florida's counties. As of today, Al Gore leads in this recount by 1,017 votes, but we are still waiting for the media to complete the recount before we know who actually won Florida.

1-2-3, Gore Won! Now that isn't so hard, is it? A British paper could figure that one out, but the American press is predictably unimpressed by the fact that it has a President in the White House who is there as a result of ill-begotten gains. Hmmm!

Al Gore gained 6,607 votes in Palm Beach County, according to an analysis of 19,125 overvotes by the Palm Beach Post. These votes were blamed on the infamous "butterfly ballot." But the increase in Palm Beach's overvotes from 3,073 in 1996 to 19,235 in 2000 could also be the result of tampering - the "Katherine Harris with Tweezers" theory. The Bush campaign fought lawsuits from voters requesting a revote. These problems would have been prevented if Palm Beach had an instant-check system that allowed voters to correct faulty ballots - a system used in many Republican counties in Florida.

Al Gore gained another 102 votes in Palm Beach County, resulting from a manual recount of 4,637 undervotes by the Palm Beach Post. In addition, the Post found a gain of 111 votes for Gore in St. Lucie, and a gain of 19 for Bush in Martin, based on close examination of absentee ballots. These recounts increase Gore's statewide lead to 1,236.

Al Gore gained another 25 votes in a recount of undervotes in Osceola County by the Orlando Sentinel, increasing his statewide lead to 1,042. In addition, Gore probably would have gained 201 votes from overvotes where voters chose Al Gore and the Libertarian candidate, Harry Browne. The Sentinel has detected a pattern of Gore-Libertarian overvotes in Spanish-speaking communities, and speculates that the voters may have thought they were voting for "Gore-Lieberman." Spanish-language ballots - and an instant-check system - could have prevented such errors.

"In order to discredit a media survey they fear will discover enough missed Gore votes to undermine Bush's tenuous claim to presidential legitimacy, GOP activists are reopening the anti-recount playbook that helped put their man in office in the first place. Their goal: to transform a deliberate, comprehensive ballot review conducted by unbiased outside researchers into a chaotic, corrupt, and unfair process, a circus of fallen chads and incompetent methodology conducted by partisan hacks seeking to overturn the election. And the Republicans are doing a pretty good job. After all, they've done it once before." So writes The New Republic.

Here's what one Florida columnist has to say about her state legislature: "There's House Speaker Tom Take-No-Prisoners Feeney, who got his lessons in political civility from Newt Gingrich, and Senate President John McKay, who needs lessons in personal civility. Twice, cops have been called over disputes between McKay and his wives, both No. 1 and No. 2. This crowd is seriously weird. Even victory leaves them sore. Because the state Supreme Court sided with Al Gore, the Republicans want to take down every Supreme Court justice who offends them. It also turns out that they don't think the state is ugly enough."

Bush raised $6 million to fund his post-election theft. He could keep individual contributions limited to $5,000 each, since his "Pioneers" ran such a well-oiled pyramid scheme (See http://www.geocities.com/alanjpakula/bushmoney.html). Unlike Gore, Bush did not disclose his list of expenses, making it hard to identify the key participants in the Theft of the Presidency.

You may not be into horse racing, but be patient with this article and you will be rewarded about midway down the page.

U.S. Senator Bill Nelson (D) of Florida is putting the GOP Florida legislature on notice: ensure the rights of every Florida citizen to vote or he'll ask the Feds to monitor the Sunshine State elections in 2002. Bill, put in your request form now!

When City Council Chair Larry Williams came in third in this week's Mayoral primary, he demanded a manual recount - and the canvassing board said "sure!" "I think in all fairness we need to give him the extreme benefit of the doubt, until people's confidence is restored or we find a better way of doing it," said Councilman Jay Lasita. So why was Al Gore denied "all fairness" and "the extreme benefit of the doubt"? Because the Supreme Court's Gang of 5 ruled those concepts illegal. Someone should send this case back up to the Supreme Court as a violation of "equal protection"!

What is Palm Beach - a potted palm?? The Miami Herald and the national media are declaring the Florida recount over following the recount in Miami-Dade, saying Gore's gain of 49 votes there was too small to overcome his 537 vote deficit on 11/27/00. But Gore gained 682 votes in the Palm Beach recount completed on 1/27/01 by the Palm Beach Post - more than enough to win. Amazingly, not a single news organization mentioned this recount. Karl Rove's Big Lie Machine just keeps on lying. To keep up with the truth on the still-incomplete Florida recount, visit gorewonflorida.org.

The manual recount in Miami-Dade added 49 votes to Gore's total and increased his statewide lead over Bush to 1,017. But the news media is spinning the story as proof that Gore LOST Florida. How? First, by ignoring Gore's gain of 682 votes in Palm Beach, which would have compelled Katherine Harris to certify Gore as the winner by 194 votes. Second, by ignoring the Florida Supreme Court's ruling ordering a state-wide recount, which was stopped by an outrageous ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court that has been condemned by 673 law professors. Democrats.com is tracking the media recounts at www.gorewonflorida.org while we wait for ALL the votes to be counted. Gore's current lead of 1,017 makes him look like the real winner of the Florida election - and the rightful President of the United States. If so, we will not give up until justice is done and Bush is removed from office. (Send this letter to your local editor, and sign it as a member of Democrats.com. For more details, read "Bush Propaganda Machine" below.)

To the U.S. Congress: George W. Bush stole the Presidency of the United States with the help of his brother Jeb Bush, his Florida co-chair Katherine Harris, and five partisan Supreme Court Justices appointed or promoted by Reagan-Bush and Bush-Quayle administrations. Bush thereby assumes the Presidency on the basis of a crime against the American people – and against Democracy itself. We call upon Congress to Impeach President Bush. If they fail, we will elect a new Congress in 2002 that will do so. We will never accept the theft of the Presidency. Sign the Petition!!

"I've been searching the web all day for articles on the USCCR hearing, and have yet to find a single reference to what I considered one of the most remarkable incidents during Bruder's grilling. The Commissioners did a good job getting Bruder to specify the parameters of the methodology used to compile the "felons" list. Bruder initially said it was "too complicated to go into" (gee, sorry to inconvenience you, Bruder). Then, after repeated questioning, he asserted that race was not one of the factors used to weed out supposed felons. At that point, a Commissioner held up a copy of a letter written by Bruder, which read: "The information used for the matching process included first, middle and last name, date of birth, race and gender."

More than 90% of black voters in Florida believe that Al Gore won the election in their state. Of course, they are right -- and they blame the state for their disenfranchisement. "Bush isn't the real president," said Leroy Jones, a 66-year-old Democrat and retired fruit picker from Oak Hill, near Daytona Beach. "He stole it from Gore."

We'll just keep repeating it: Gore won Florida. Enough recount votes are in now for the DNC to declare victory. Now, the next step is to lure the usurper out of the White House and get the legitimate president installed. How about someone giving George W. a baseball league to run? It might be just the right thing to get him to step down.

Al Gore gained 13 more votes today in Seminole County when county officials found 83 clear votes on ballots not counted by the machines. Seminole County uses an optical scan system with instant verification, but some clear ballots were nevertheless rejected for reasons that could not be explained. Independently, the Sentinel has now completed a review in 17 counties with about 10 percent of the 180,000 uncounted ballots statewide. The results in Seminole are consistent with the findings elsewhere -- that hand recounts would have helped Gore even in GOP strongholds Bush won easily. All but two of the 17 counties studied were carried by Bush on Election Day. By our exclusive tally at www.gorewonflorida.org, Gore's Florida lead now stands at 968.

In the end, Gore is expected to beat Bush by 20,000 votes in Florida. That will be quite a victory, given that Gore beat him by 540,000 in the general election. Unfortunately, the general public -- let alone our own Democratic leadership -- isn't ready to declare Al the winner. Meanwhile, the Usurper from Texas is watching movies and munching on popcorn at Camp David this weekend.

Al Gore gained 203 more votes today in Orange County when the Orlando Sun-Sentinel found 799 clear votes on ballots not counted by the machines, both overvotes and undervotes. Orange County uses an optical scan system with instant verification, but some clear ballots were nevertheless rejected. Election officials spent 3 weeks examining 280,000 ballots to find the 2,300 overvote and undervote ballots. This brought Gore's Florida lead to 955 (see http://gorewonflorida.org). Amazingly, no US news organization has YET reported Gore's Florida lead.

Dear President Chirac: As President of a country which champions human rights, we respectfully ask you to invite Al and Tipper Gore to France, so that the people of the United States and the rest of the world may see and hear your commitment to the core democratic principles of 1) one voter, one vote, and 2) each vote must be counted. These values rank among the highest, since they are the basis of a free and fair society. You would honour democracy and honour yourself on the international scene by inviting Al and Tipper Gore for a private visit to yourself and Mrs. Bernadette Chirac, or better, an official visit to the Palais de l'Elysée, before inviting George and Laura Bush. Sign the petition!

On Saturday, DNC Chair Terry McAuliffe's declared what all Americans know, but the media refuses to report: that the Federalist Society majority on the Supreme Court chose Bush, not the voters. But this fact is way too cold and hard for Ari Fleischer, who said he was "disappointed" by McAuliffe's remarks: "Our nation has spoken and ... Bush is the nation's president [sic]." C'mon Ari, if you want to have any credibility at all, just admit the truth - you stole the White House. Repeat after us: "Gore Got More!"

Terry McAuliffe looks like he's going to give the Democratic Congressional leadership two options: Get tough or get lost in the dust. Moving quickly to bring the theft of Al Gore's presidency back to the front burner, McAuliffe pledged to hold hearings on how voter rights were denied in Florida.

"Roll Call," the venerable Capitol Hill publication, is calling on Bush to honor his public commitment to voting reform. Of course, like most of Bush's promises, his pledge has appeared to be disingenuous. If ever there were an issue for Daschle to redeem himself, this is the one. The Democrats, for the sake of democracy, cannot afford to be "bipartisan" (read appeasement) on this one.

It is a crime that the Republican Party stopped the counting of Florida's 60,000 undervotes. But perhaps the real crime is in the overvote. There were 110,000 overvotes in Florida, ballots rejected because more than one choice was marked for president. Overwhelmingly, the spoiled ballots were Gore votes. It was the overvote, much more than the dangling and dimpled chads of undervote, that cost America the president we really elected. Did tens of thousands of voters screw up their ballots by mistake, or was the second hole punched by someone other than the voter?

Well, here we go again -- gotta go to court to attain what the laws of Florida provide. This new suit by the Miami Herald once again shows the outright terror evoked in Republicans when the public wants to look at ballots. This time it's Duval County -- suspiciously enough a Republican County with heavily Democratic precincts in Jacksonville, including one precinct where 1 in 3 of ballots were voided for the presidential race. There must be something in those ballots they don't want us to see, hmnnnm wonder why?

The Rent-a-Nazi's celebrated their Theft of the Presidency in Washington during the Inaugural weekend. "An Inaugural Reception Honoring the Men and Women Who Made it Happen," was sponsored by the power law firm of Patton Boggs, home to Bush lawyer Ben Ginsberg and Cokie Roberts' brother Hale Boggs Jr. Ginsberg's co-host was Joe Allbaugh, Bush's campaign manager and nominee for FEMA who is at the center of the Funeralgate scandal, who got "all choked up" when thanking the rioters. Featured guests included Ted and Barbara Olson and - you guessed it - Katherine Harris herself. Veterans of the "19th Floor Riot" - their term, not ours - were given T-shirts and lucite trophies - and top jobs in the Justice Department, no doubt.

The Guardian of London became the first major news organization to publish the conclusion we published on December 19 - that Al Gore won Florida, based on the manual recounts that were illegally blocked by the U.S. Supreme Court. The Guardian reached its conclusion following the detailed analyses of overvotes and undervotes by media organizations published over the weekend. When will U.S. news organizations report this inevitable conclusion - that Bush stole the election by stopping the recount???

Al Gore gained 196 more votes today when the Orlando Sun-Sentinel examined 15,596 discarded ballots in 15 smaller counties. These counties had optical ballots but no instant-check machines at the polling places, which produced the highest error rate - 5.7% - compared with 3.9% in the punch card counties. They found 1,776 ballots in which the "intent of the voter" was clear, but not counted by election officials - favoring Gore by 1071-705. This brought Gore's Florida lead to 1,263 (see http://gorewonflorida.org).

Al Gore gained 682 votes in Palm Beach County, following a manual recount of 4,513 disputed undervotes by the Palm Beach Post that counted dimpled ballots. This ONE batch would have been enough to overcome the 537 vote lead that was handed to Bush by his state co-chair, Katherine Harris. Combined with other recounts (see GoreWonFlorida.org),this brought Gore's Florida lead to 1,067. The Palm Beach Post is still reviewing another 4,600 undervotes and 19,235 overvotes.

The Washington Post analyzed overvotes - ballots with more than one candidate marked - in 8 of Florida's largest counties, and found a Gore gain of roughly 29,000. There were 46,000 overvotes with a mark for Gore and 17,000 with a mark for Bush, but it's impossible to be 100% certain about the intent of these voters, although these same ballots went 70%-24% for the Democratic Senate candidate. The counties examined were Miami-Dade, Broward (Fort Lauderdale), Palm Beach, Hillsborough (Tampa), Pinellas (St. Petersburg), Marion (Ocala), Highlands and Pasco, which together cast 2.7 million - nearly half - of Florida's 6 million votes. These counties all used punch card ballots, while wealthier counties using optical scan ballots with instant ballot checkers at the polling place had negligible overvotes. Analysts are quick to blame the voters, but the truth is the instant-check technology is crucial - and this should be the basis for an equal protection challenge to the Florida election.

"The Herald found that 85 percent of the 1.7 million voters in the three counties punched at least one chad that didn't correspond to a candidate -- a feat that's supposed to be impossible with a properly maintained voting machine." That's the astonishing conclusion reached by the Miami Herald after examining 1.7 million punch card ballots in Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach. Next time you hear a Republican blame "stupid voters" for the problems, ask them if 85% of all voters are "stupid".

An investigation by Gregory Palast in The Nation found that aides to Jeb Bush and Katherine Harris defied explicit court rulings and prevented thousands of Floridians - mostly black - from voting. This was done by illegally purging and denying registration to thousands of Florida residents who committed crimes in other states but had their voting rights restored after paying their debts to society. Bush and Harris refused to answer the reporter's calls; they must be brought to justice for criminally interfering with the voting rights of thousands of Floridians.

Salon.com credits us with being the Democratic answer to the ultra conservative Judicial Watch, and with taking positive steps in Florida to ensure that voter fraud is uncovered. "Democrats.com co-founder David Lytel said his organization's efforts have focused on so-called overvotes -- ballots that marked more than one presidential candidate. The goal is not to try to change the outcome of the election, Lytel says, but to determine whether there was any evidence of voter fraud. Overvotes, he argued, are the easiest way to perpetuate fraud, whether by punching an extra chad or by making an extra mark on a optical scan ballot to render a ballot unreadable by a vote-counting machine."

Much of the public has been brainwashed into believing that Bush won Florida. While you're out protesting, you can help get out the facts by printing out this excellent flyer.

The Palm Beach Post reported that W picked up 6 net votes in their recount of dimpled chads in Miami-Dade. The New York Daily News seized on that one statistic and screamed "And in Fla., Bush Wins Yet Again." But the News conveniently ignored the other numbers in the article which gave Gore a net gain over 307 votes - as well as the six other recounts which put Gore's lead at 611. To help the media overcome its math phobia, we've unveiled a new site called GoreWonFlorida.org. Anyone who can read a box score can figure out who really won Florida!

Al Gore gained 307 votes in Miami-Dade county, following a recount of uncounted ballots by the Palm Beach Post. 302 of Gore's gain (1023-721) votes come from ballots that were not properly inserted into the voting machines, but the intent of the voters could still be determined. Gore also gained 11 votes (35-24) from ballots where the chads eventually fell off during repeated handling since the election. Bush gained 6 votes (251-245) on ballots with dimpled or hanging chads.

The NAACP, along with The Advancement Project, American Civil Liberties Union Foundation, Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund and People for the American Way Foundation filed a historic lawsuit in Florida to eliminate discriminatory and unequal voting policies and practices from Florida's electoral system. The suit alleges that the disparate and unfair voting practices across the state resulted in the invalidation of a disproportionate number of ballots cast by black voters for President, the wrongful purge of black voters from official voter lists, a failure to properly process registrations of black voters, and the establishment of unjustifiable barriers to black voters. This lawsuit seeks fundamental change to the voting practices in Florida to make them fair and equal for all Floridians.

During his brief testimony before the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, Jeb Bush "denied that he had any special contact with Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris, one of six co-chairs of his brother's Florida campaign, or other elections officials before or during Election Day," according to the Washington Post. Interestingly, Jeb's remarks were made under oath...

News guys, stop your infernal ballot-counting - Don't you know that that is very obscene?

On Dec. 12 -- another December date which will live in historic infamy -- Vice President Al Gore was still confident that the Florida recount would resume and that the vote tally would give him the presidency. "We're going to win this thing, Sarah," Gore told Sarah Brady of Handgun Control Inc. "I just have all the faith in the world that Sandra Day O'Connor is going to be with us on this one."

Jimmy Carter has traveled all around the world monitoring controversial elections. His role is to ensure that voters are given an opportunity to cast ballots. But he said that he's never seen an election as flawed as the one in Florida -- and that, as an American, he is embarrassed.

"In a few days, whilst Laura Bush holds up a Bible, Bill Rehnquist will look across its open pages at the face of the man whom he and his four pals made President. Then he will administer the oath of office to the little Texan. The act will have been consummated, but no amount of sonorous incantation and invoking the Foresight of the Founding Fathers and the Wisdom of the Framers will lessen the conviction of millions that five black-robed mothersuckers have given them a royal *ucking." So says Nicholas von Hoffman.

Several major news organizations announced plans to examine 180,000 uncounted Florida votes. The consortium includes CNN, Associated Press, The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Palm Beach Post, the St. Petersburg Times and Tribune Publishing. The effort will take 10 weeks. CNN News CEO Tom Johnson told a Democrats.com member that CNN has been attacked by right-wingers for participating, so voice your support on the message board linked from this article.

"We keep hearing, 'Get over this.' We will never get over this. The Supreme Court selected George W. Bush as president -- he was not elected." So said Rep. Corrine Brown (FL-3). Congressional Black Caucus Chair Eddie Bernice Johnson (TX-30) asked: "How long will we suffer injustice in America? How long will we have to fight to perfect the 15th Amendment? How long will we have to struggle for something that should be every American's birthright?" And Alcee Hastings (FL-23), said "because of the overwhelming evidence of official misconduct, deliberate fraud, and an attempt to suppress voter turnout by unlawful means. I felt the necessity, as do my colleagues from the Congressional Black Caucus and other members of the House of Representatives, to object to the kinds of errors against democracy ... that were permitted in the state of Florida." Together, the "Florida Fourteen" were magnificent.

Al Gore gained 316 more votes in Miami-Dade County, according to Anthony Salvanto, a faculty fellow at the University of California at Irvine. Salvanto discovered that 1,700 votes were invalidated because the punch card ballots were not aligned properly with the ballot books, either because of equipment problems or voter unfamiliarity. Salvanto found 1012 votes intended for Gore and 696 intended for Bush, a net Gore gain of 316.

Oh, the shredding machines must be working overtime in Tallahassee tonight. The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights has subpoenaed Jeb Bush to explain why so many minorities lost their right to vote in Florida. He is also being asked to bring all evidence of communication with Katherine Harris during the election to the hearing, along with other communication documentation. Of course, Jeb's Daddy headed the CIA, so expect that there will be a lot of paperwork that gets burned up in a mysterious fire. Then again,who knows, maybe there will be some justice after all.

Democrats.com is launching an emergency campaign to persuade Congress to reject Florida's electors when Congress meets on Saturday January 6th. Several Members of Congress have already pledged their support and we are in contact with a number of Senators who are giving it their consideration. Our members and subscribers have already contributed more than $25,000, which we have used to hire lawyers and investigators to collect and document credible allegations of official misconduct, deliberate fraud and a conspiracy to suppress voter turnout through illegal methods. We need your help!!! Please contact your Representative and Senators and urge them to reject Florida's electors. For more details, visit TrustthePeople.com

Al Gore gained 120 MORE votes in the Tampa Tribune's recount of Hillsborough County's 5,533 machine-rejected votes. That brings his lead to 260 - and adds 120 more reasons why Congress should reject Florida's electors on January 6!!

"It's no secret that Latter-day Saints, including myself, almost exclusively vote Republican. If you are a member of the Church, I would encourage you to rethink very carefully about how you vote in the future. God will hold you accountable for the choices you make. It is common for Latter-day Saints to believe that if we share the same view on abortion or some other issue with someone, then that is what is most important. This is false. When it comes to government, the most important issue is freedom." So says W. John Walsh, webmaster of the unofficial site Mormons.org, in his persuasive critique called "Bush's Coup: The Fall of Democracy in America."

The "Great Usurper" may be headed for the White House, but the battle over fairness in Florida continues."Democratic Party leaders in Duval County submitted in court Wednesday a motion to re-file a lawsuit over allegations of voting irregularities in November's presidential election, WJXT-TV reported. While saying they no longer dispute the results of the presidential election, the party leaders want a circuit judge to take another look at what happened to voters in their county."

Al Gore's margin of victory in Florida increased to 140.
-154: 12/8/00 Florida Supreme Court ruling
-24: 12/18/00 Lake County manual recount (+130)
+140: 12/19/00 Broward partial manual recount (+164)

Jeb tried to foist the image of a Governor distancing himself from the mugging of Al Gore in Florida. But now the evidence is being gathered, and it is clear that Jeb's fingerprints are spread all over the crime scene. He's the guy who directed it all in the Sunshine State.

Remember the thugs who rioted in the Miami-Dade elections office and stopped the manual recount of 10,000 undervotes? This one criminal event probably stole the election for Bush. But please try to forget it, because the Washington Post doesn't want you to remember this ominous event. On December 6, the link below showed a photo of the leaders, current and former Republican Congressional staffers. Now it's gone - straight out of Orwell. If you don't want this event to disappear down the memory hole, here's the full list, courtesy of bushwatch.com: 1. Tom Pyle, policy analyst, office of House Majority Whip Tom DeLay (R-Tex.). 2. Garry Malphrus, majority chief counsel and staff director, House Judiciary subcommittee on criminal justice. 3. Rory Cooper, political division staff member at the National Republican Congressional Committee. 4. Kevin Smith, former House Republican conference analyst and more recently of Voter.com. 5. Steven Brophy, former aide to Sen. Fred D. Thompson (R-Tenn.), now working at the consulting firm KPMG. 6. Matt Schlapp, former chief of staff for Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-Kan.), now on the Bush campaign staff in Austin. 7. Roger Morse, aide to Rep. Van Hilleary (R-Tenn.). 8. Duane Gibson, aide to Chairman Don Young (R-Alaska) of the House Resources Committee. 9. Chuck Royal, legislative assistant to Rep. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.). 10. Layna McConkey, former legislative assistant to former Rep. Jim Ross Lightfoot (R-Iowa), now at Steelman Health Strategies. These individuals should be punished to the fullest extent of the law, and ethics complaints should be filed against the Members of Congress who employ them.

With 871 of 6,800 (13%) discarded ballots thus far counted in Broward County, Gore picked up a net gain of 164 votes. At this rate, Gore would gain nearly 1,300 votes in Broward alone! The truth is making Republicans crazy - Rep. Mark Foley compared the vote counting to the Warren Commission and said the ballots should not be open to the public.

Florida law says it is a third-degree felony to fill out another's ballot unless that person is blind, disabled or unable to read or write. But that didn't stop Republican activist Isis Segarra from filling out ballots for numerous voters. Segarra was convicted by a jury of vote fraud in 1983, although a judge overturned the conviction. Segarra's illegal votes should be removed from the official total - this alone could put Gore over the top.

As the first media recount showed Gore gaining 130 votes - enough to win Florida - in the first county, Governor Jeb Bush condemned the media's recount effort. No surprise here - Al Gore won Florida, and the facts will prove it.

Al Gore picked up 130 votes today in the first manual recount by a media organization. The Orlando Sentinel reviewed 3,114 "overvotes" on optical scan-type ballots, and found 376 uncounted votes for Gore and 246 uncounted votes for Bush, for a net gain of 130 for Gore. The Sentinel used the same standard as was used for the official count in Orange and Seminole counties. This gain of 130 would have overcome Bush's lead of 113-114 votes when the U.S. Supreme Court slammed the door shut on the recount ordered by the Florida Supreme Court. Predictably, the Bush campaign attacked the effort, accusing the Sentinel of "trying to stir things up" - yeah, like the truth.

When the narrow 5-4 majority of the U.S. Supreme Court blocked a manual recount in Florida by citing the "equal protection" clause, they completely contradicted all of their other "equal protection" rulings. In the past, the Rehnquist Court required proof of official intent to discriminate. But no one alleged that the county officials intended to discriminate. The fact is, the Court's ruling in Bush v. Gore was strictly political and had nothing to do with the law.

"The Supreme Court can enjoin local officials, but it cannot enjoin election researchers or the press from searching out the truth. Stealing Florida once left only a small ripple in the history books. Stealing it twice could leave a deep and damning stain on the Republican Party," said respected conservative commentator Kevin Phillip on National Public Radio.

If the Supreme Court decision not to permit Florida to conduct the recount that Florida law requires confused you, then this is essential reading. Our reaction? Don't confirm a single new judge until 2004 -- at the earliest!

Attorneys for Texas Governor George W. Bush filed Suit in federal court today, seeking to prevent Santa Claus from making his list and then checking it twice. The complaint seeks an immediate injunction against the beloved Christmas icon, asking the court to effectively ban his traditional practice of checking the list of good boys and girls one additional time before packing his sleigh. The suit, filed in the Federal District Court of Austin, Texas, asks a federal judge to "hereby order Mr. Claus to cease and desist all repetitive and duplicative list-checking activity, and certify the original list as submitted, without amendment, alteration, deletion, or other unnecessary modification." "There are no standards for deciding who is naughty, and who is nice. It's totally arbitrary and capricious. How many more times does he need to check?"

Make that $682,000 and climbing. That's how much the taxpayers have paid thus far to pay for Katherine Harris's legal costs. That's a lot of taxpayer dollars to help Ms. Harris become the next ambassador to Luxembourg. By the way, on election eve, guess where she called from her cellphone. Austin, of course.

Gore's Florida strategy was brilliant, but guided by a concern about maintaining an image of integrity. That was certainly something the Bush campaign did not give a second thought about.

FRIDAY 12/15
NYC 3pm UN/Dag Hammerskjold Plaza; SATURDAY 12/16
Los Angeles 11am Federal Bldg Westwood;
NYC 1pm Washington Square Park Arch 5th & Waverly; SATURDAY 1/20/01
DC Inaugural Voter March;
SUNDAY 5/6/01
DC Million Voter March

"It is completely dysfunctional to talk about healing at this point. Nobody would tell a man with a knife in his back to just start healing. First we have to remove the knife. Then we have to stop the hemorrhaging. Then comes the organ repair and the stitches, the bed rest and so on. Oh yes, it will be awhile. Most importantly, we need to make sure our man doesn't get knifed again." From one of our readers.

As low as the bottom of the scum pond. The GOP leader of the Florida house, an ardent Dubya backer and former running mate of Jeb Bush, called Gore's speech "evil." His friends joined in jeering Joe Lieberman. It's the dark, ugly underside of the Bush campaign that's not going to go away.

You, our readers never cease to amaze us with your insight and brilliance. So let's discuss what we should do now. Click below to participate in an e-mail discussion list with the greatest minds in America - the members of Democrats.com!

Even if the Supreme Court nullifies 40,000 undervotes in Florida, there are at least 6 ways that Al Gore could become President.

This petition has broken all records: in two days, we collected over 10,000 signatures. On Tuesday morning, Democrats.com member Timothy Beauchamp of Washington DC hand-delivered a full printed set of petitions to the Supreme Court building - we posted the stamped cover sheet. If you want history to record that you opposed the Supreme Court's intervention the Democratic process, add your name!

The Bush campaign, the media, and even some cowardly Democrats are urging Al Gore to concede. But Al Gore rightfully won the popular vote in the United States AND in Florida, and earned the Presidency. If anyone should concede, it's George W. Bush - who not only lost, but also did everything possible to block a fair and accurate count of the votes. Gore - and Democratic leaders - must stand firm until every legal and political remedy is explored. If that means challenging the illegitimate slate of Florida Electors in the Congress on January 6, we'll support Al Gore all the way. We cannot allow George W. Bush to cheat his way into the Presidency with dirty tricks by his brother Jeb. Sign our petition below.

The U.S. Supreme Court says we might have had a legitimate recount in Florida that was rigorous and methodical, but there just isn't time. We propose a Constitutional Amendment -- Candidates may request a recount of the votes by hand except in states in which their opponent's brother is governor.

The Florida Supreme Court affirmed the trial court rulings in both the Seminole and Martin County cases this afternoon. Despite the finding at trial that there was strong evidence of fraud, the court refused to set aside the ballots secured by unlawful activity by Republican election officials and party workers. The Florida Supremes would only call the actions of the Republican election officials "troubling." Really! "Troubling."

To: the Democratic Legislatures of Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Tennessee, and West Virginia. The Republican majority of the Florida House of Representatives has undermined the foundation of American democracy – that every vote should count. The people of Florida are powerless to right this wrong. But you, the Democratic majority in your state legislature, have the power to bring about justice not only for Floridians, but for all Americans. We therefore urge you to IMMEDIATELY convene a special session of your legislature to choose a new slate of Electors before they are scheduled to meet on December 18. Sign our petition below.

If it weren't America, you might think that the whole thing is rigged. But, it is, isn't it?

WASHINGTON--Democracy, an American ideal who championed causes ranging from full enfranchisement to civil rights, and was an influential presence in national political issues, died Saturday. She was 224. Officials writing for the majority at the United States Supreme Court, where Democracy died Saturday afternoon, declined to release a rational explanation for her demise. Constitutional scholars and historians say she apparently succumbed to injuries suffered during prolonged and violent torture and gang-rape.

Even if the Supreme Court betrays the Constitution by delivering Florida to Bush, the election is not over. To avoid a massive historical injustice, three Republican Electors might be persuaded to switch their votes to Gore. The Electoral College is comprised of people with consciences, not machines, and many states do not legally bind Electors to vote for the candidate to whom they were pledged. Help persuade 3 Republicans to "Vote With America" - click below for the latest list.

During oral arguments, it appeared the Supreme Court wants to base its decision on the "equal protection" guarantees of the 14th Amendment. Many Justices seem unhappy that different vote-counting standards apply to different counties. But it has been this way since the beginning of the Republic, when voters placed marks on paper ballots and election officials had to determine the "intent of the voter." (What ever happened to original intent?) Still, if the Supreme Court invokes the 14th Amendment, then they will give a gargantuan boost to the Seminole and Martin County cases, where it was proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that Republican voters were treated massively differently from Democratic and other voters. If the 14th Amendment is thus applied, 25,000 absentee ballots will have to be rejected, giving Gore a 7,000 vote victory.

By a 6-1 vote on Monday, the Florida Supreme Court told off the U.S. Supreme Court. The Florida Supremes said that their decisions have been based on the Florida Constitution and Florida law, and that it was Katherine "Bush" Harris who had misinterpreted the law. Take that one Scalia!

Day-by-day, it is becoming clearer: there was a systematic GOP effort to suppress the black vote in Florida, through a variety of methods. It all amounts to "Jim 'Jeb Bush' Crow" doing what he could for his brother. Hail to the Commander in Thief and his sib.

Please join with me in writing to the Democratic State Legislatures, Governors, Representatives, Senators, and party officials in Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Missouri, and North Carolina to prevent the tyranny the Republican Party would otherwise impose. Ask that the Democratic slate of electors be sent to Congress for certification, that the democratically elected candidates for President and Vice-President be inaugurated in January, 2001: Albert Gore Jr., and Joseph Lieberman.

We will never attain a perfect tally of the votes cast in Florida on November 7th, nor in any other state or election. The best that we can achieve is the most accurate count, which can only be accomplished by manually recounting the ballots. The winner of such a count would have true legitimacy to govern.

The U.S. Supreme Court's consideration of the Gore recount challenge is not likely to end this. Briefs were filed today in the Seminole County voter fraud case. Remember: All of the precedents for protecting the integrity of the electoral system were decided on appeal, not in trial courts. These cases are about illegal advantage for Republicans, not minor honest mistakes.

The Supreme Court of the United States may yet part company with Scalia's logic, reconstitute a majority around Stevens' position, and allow the recount to continue and the legitimate winner of the Presidential election to prevail. Crazier things have happened.

"Reading the candidates' briefs makes clear just how astonishingly spurious the Supreme Court's stay of the Florida election contest was. It is, by my count, seven giant steps outside of the normal legal standards for such a thing." So says Prof. Phil Agre, editor of the wonderful Red Rock Eater news service.

On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court will decide whether American Democracy will live or die. There is no other way to put it: if the U.S. Supreme Court can overrule the the Florida Supreme Court and stop the count of legitimate votes in order to guarantee the election of George W. Bush, then Democracy is dead. Wear black on Monday - black clothes, black ribbons, black armbands. And if the Supreme Court kills American Democracy, wear black until the end of the illegal Bush Administration.

You don't need to be a Constitutional scholar to see through the Republican lies. Here are nine simple questions from an American citizen and a voter. Can any Republican answer these questions?

George Bush's lawyers vehemently reject the validity of manually counted ballots, and have enlisted the Supreme Court to stop any further manual counts. But what about all of the manually counted votes that are included in Bush's infinitesimal lead? There's only one solution - Bush must give them back. And if he doesn't, we'll find some lawyers to convince the Florida Supreme Court to apply a single standard state-wide.

On Saturday, the Supreme Court committed the most anti-Democratic action since Dred Scott. So why are Democratic leaders so resoundingly silent?? We, the rank-and-file of the Democratic Party, will NOT accept a Supreme Court Coup d'Etat, nor a President who is installed by stopping the count of legitimate votes. Congratulations to Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. for speaking up - now how about all the other Democratic leaders??

Those Justices who appear most prepared to thwart the consent of the governed are those who most closely hold the ideology of strict constructionism. They must be warned that their decision must adhere to the foundation of the Nation. The Constitution provides the law. The Florida Legislature has properly amplified the constitutional procedure for selecting the President. The Florida Supreme Court has properly interpreted Florida election statutes and has ordered the appointment of Florida’s Electors on the basis of the Constitution and the Florida election statutes.

As Al Gore gained 58 votes in manual recounts throughout Florida, the U.S. Supreme Court created a Constitutional crisis by halting the count of votes in Florida. The ruling was along strict ideological lines, with the 5 most conservative Justices - Rehnquist, Thomas, Scalia, Kennedy, and O'Connor - exercising the greatest judicial activism since Dred Scott. Everyone who can possibly travel to the Supreme Court on Monday at 10am should go and be heard. Otherwise sign our petition or join a local protest.

If Al Gore is declared the winner in Florida, the Republican leaders of the Florida legislature plan to nullify 6 million votes by choosing Republican electors for Bush. But Democrats can play this game of dirty pool too. There are EIGHT states that voted for Bush, but are controlled by Democratic legislatures: Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Tennessee, and West Virginia. If any ONE of these states switches its electors to Gore, then Gore wins - even if Bush steals Florida's 25 votes.

Don't be fooled by all the legal mumbo-jumbo from the Republicans. If the Florida legislature appoints Electors to replace those chosen by the voters, they will do so illegally.

Dubya,the other day you started to play out your compassion spin again, saying that you want to end the cynicism that is in the air. Well, listen to this advice from the New York Times editorial board and make good on your word: "If Mr. Gore does carry Florida after the hand counts, Mr. Bush should concede, since the vice president would then have won both the national electoral vote and the popular vote."

First, two judges ignored uncontested felonious conduct and allowed 3,000 illegal votes for Bush to be counted. Then the Florida Supreme Court ordered a manual recount of the 40,000 uncounted undervotes, but immediately came under vicious attack from Republicans. Bush consiglieri James Baker announced an immediate appeal to the Supreme Court, and an emergency motion to the 11th Circuit to stop the counting. And the Republican hitman, Tom DeLay, menacingly declared the Florida Supreme Court ruling to be "judicial aggression." The Republican message remains the same: Bush had better be declared the winner, or we will destroy everything that stands in his way.

The Florida Supreme Court has overturned the lower court ruling and directed that a recount begin immediately. More than 9,000 votes in Miami Dade will be recounted, as Vice President Gore had asked. And recounts are authorized in all Florida counties that have not yet examined ballots in which a machine was unable to detect a vote for president. The court also put back into Gore's tally the vote totals from Miami and Palm Beach that Secretary of State Katherine Harris refused to include in her certification, closing the Bush margin to a razor sharp 154 votes. So this one ain't over yet, folks.

If Republican leaders of the Florida legislature believe they can choose 25 electors without regard to the voters, then so can Democratic legislatures. The following states have Democratic legislatures and governors: Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Missouri and North Carolina.

Despite clear and undisputed evidence of fraud, Judges Lewis and Clark refused to exercise their authority to toss out tainted ballots. Happily, Democratic plaintiffs Harry Jacobs (Seminole) and Ronald Taylor (Martin) vowed to fight to the Florida Supreme Court. We urge them to go even further - into Federal Court, which in 1994 tossed out 2,000 absentee ballots to elect a Republican as the Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court.

The Bush campaign has finally admitted it is knee deep into the special session of the Florida legislature. In fact, its fingerprints are all over the effort to steal the decision of the voters and elect Bush by Republican legislative fiat.

GOP operative Michael Leach, who spent 3 weeks illegally providing Voter ID numbers on Republican absentee ballot applications, got the numbers wrong! Once again, that didn't matter to Sandra Goard, who made a policy of ignoring the Voter ID numbers - you guessed it - on Republican applications ONLY. If the fate of the nation wasn't on the line - and it wasn't a felony - this would be comedy at its purest.

Is Bush playing the childhood game of "Heads I win, Tails you lose"? You betcha' he is, and the media is playing the game along with him.

Jeb has been lurking behind the scenes, pulling the strings of key players in the Florida recount battle. It's all part of his strategy of seeming to appear unresponsible for the election theft in the Sunshine State. But a lot of Democrats now have Jeb targeted in 2002. Will this be the beginning of Jeb Bush's downfall? We certainly hope so.

The tactics have changed, but the goal remains depressingly the same: Keep the coloreds, the blacks, the African-Americans - whatever they're called in the particular instance - keep them out of the voting booths. Do not let them vote! If you can find a way to stop them, stop them.

With each passing day, it becomes ever clearer that the Florida Republicans engineered a multi-pronged effort to steal the election, both before Election Day and afterwards. Today's riveting - and unchallenged! - arguments by Gerald Richman in the Seminole County case revealed how the Seminole board of elections was turned over to the Republican Party to engage in a conspiracy to commit fraud. If Democrats had done this, the nation's airwaves would be pulsating with outrage. When Republicans do it - and get caught - it's just a "hypertechnicality." Folks, this election is being stolen in broad daylight. It's time for our side to get angry - and put the world on notice that we will not take this lying down.

While the Florida Supreme Court mulls over Judge N. Sanders Sauls' ruling against Al Gore, one of our readers did a search on Sauls' record. Turns out Judge Sauls has been reversed on appeal 55 times since 1991, has had 6 or 7 other adverse rulings and has only been affirmed 28 times. Let's hope the Florida Supremes don't give him any "special" treatment this time!

Rep. Corrine Brown (D-FL) and other black leaders filed a lawsuit in Leon County to declare Al Gore the winner in Florida based on race discrimination in Duval County. The suit charges that over 26,000 votes were not counted in Duval, including 9,000 in black precincts where Gore won 90% of the vote.

The bottom line here, the issue not yet raised or ruled on in any of the various lawsuits in Florida or in Federal court, is fraud. Clerical misjudgments, butterfly ballots, inconsistent and ad hoc canvassing board standards relating to chads - these are all important considerations. But fraud is another matter altogether, which is why the Seminole case is such a wild card.

Fact is far outpacing fiction in Florida, as an ex-CIA agent claims that the Martin County absentee ballot vote fraud scheme was "an act of responsibility." All we can say is consider the source.

Steve Kirsch, a Republican from Silicon Valley who made a fortune as the founder of Infoseek, believes Al Gore won the election. He has already put $150,000 into Gore's legal battles in Seminole County. More importantly, he has put his mind behind the effort to get to the truth about the Florida recount. Visit his site below.

Late Wednesday, Republican leaders of the Florida legislature announced their plan to call a special session next week. There can be only one result: the selection of 25 Electors for George W. Bush, REGARDLESS OF THE OUTCOME OF THE LAWSUITS AND RECOUNTS. This is a declaration of war on our Democracy and the Rule of Law. In response, Democrats.com is expanding our "Boycott Florida" campaign, and will begin asking major national groups to join us. Please sign up for our boycott and spread the word, especially to the groups to which you belong. We must send a loud and clear message to the Florida Republicans: we will NOT let them steal the election in broad daylight.

"Today's rally, sponsored by the Rev. Jesse Jackson's Rainbow Coalition and the AFL-CIO, featuring minority voters bussed in from southern Florida counties is one symbol of the anger growing out of this election by minority voters. Justice Depart lawyers are investigating a laundry list of charges that harks back to the Civil Rights era. Were blacks and other minority voters turned away at the polls or otherwise denied the right to vote? Were there incidents of intimidation? The Justice Department has no authority to change vote totals from the Nov. 7 election, but it can bring civil lawsuits and prosecutions against people who deny others the right to vote."

In a setback to the Bush efforts, a U.S. Appeals Court has denied Bush's request to overturn the ruling mandating inclusion of the recount in the Florida vote totals. Anybody got a score card to keep track of all this?

They specialize in character assassination. Bush puppets are perenially portrayed as honest government workers maligned by the Democrats. But take an honest judge who isn't in the Bush camp and the Bush machine turns to its favored enforcement tool: character assassination. That's what they've launched against Judge Clark. It's scum pond tactics --but that's what we've come to expect from the Bush squad.

The Florida Democratic Party is asking everyone to wear an orange ribbon on your lapel to show your support for democracy. The orange ribbon shows that you believe that the people of Florida should choose their presidential electors, not the Florida State Legislature.

You can catch Democrats.com co-founder Bob Fertik on the following shows: Thursday 12/7 8am Doug Stephan's "Good Day USA". Thursday 12/7 5pm Sam Greenfield WEVD/NY.

Faced with the loss of thousands of votes in Seminole County due to GOP voter fraud, the lead Bush lawyer in Florida is claiming the following, according to the Associated Press:"The Republican case stresses that a voter's right to have his or her vote counted outweighs any technical problems with ballot applications." Why don't they just call the Bush Campaign "The Liar's Club"?

The first challenge to the Florida election involving allegations of clear violations of election law began Wednesday morning in the Seminole County case. Republican election commissioner Sandra Goard permitted Republican officials to complete absentee ballot applications for Republican voters while discarding incomplete absentee ballot requests from Democrats. This is the case that will decide the election for Gore.

It's time to deliver a very simple message to the Florida State Legislature: DON'T YOU DARE NULLIFY 6 MILLION VOTES! Join tens of thousands of outraged citizens in Tallahassee on Wednesday December 6 at 1pm. Buses leave from Miami, Broward, Palm Beach, Jacksonville, Orlando, and Tampa.

Of course, Ms. Harris made a big booboo that resulted in hundreds, maybe even thousands of black voters being stricken from the election roles. A Texas firm, you guessed it, was hired by Ms. Harris to remove felons from the voting lists, but they removed tons of people with only misdemeanors, and they never fully rectified the errors. Maybe it's just a coincidence that a lot of Gore minority voters didn't get to caste their ballots. Somehow, we doubt it was due to unplanned mistakes. This one stinks to high heaven.

The bottom line here, the issue not yet raised or ruled on in any of the various lawsuits in Florida or in Federal court, is fraud. Clerical misjudgments, butterfly ballots, inconsistent and ad hoc canvassing board standards relating to chads - these are all important considerations. But fraud is another matter altogether, which is why the Seminole case is such a wild card.

Judge Sauls, a Republican appointee, gave the Bush team everything that they wanted, including his upholding of the Nassau County disenfranchisement of Gore voters. Judge Sauls apparently incorporated the Bush legal memorandum as his decision. The Bush lawyers were jubilant and congratulated the Judge. It's getting clearer every day. If you are going to lose a Presidential election by a few votes in the machine count, don't do it in Florida. That's a Corleone (read Bush) state.

There are a number of ways to look at the unanimous U.S. Supreme Court Decision. But the bottom line is that it lengthens the judicial process, no matter what. In that respect, it can be of little assistance to Gore. Maybe this was the Supreme Court's way of running out the clock without having to make a firm decision.

The Republican Rent-a-Riot sent 300 protesters to the Seminole County courthouse to intimidate Democratic plaintiffs and lawyers who are preparing for Wednesday's trial. The Rent-a-Rioters protested the possible rejection of 15,000 absentee ballots, ludicrously oblivious to Republican efforts to block the count of tens of thousands of votes. We can be sure the Rent-a-Riot will be slandering and threatening Judge Nikki Ann Clark in the days to come.

To: Judge Nikki Ann Clark. We know you are under UNBELIEVABLE pressure from Republicans to throw out the absentee ballot lawsuit against Seminole County Supervisor of Elections Sandra Goard. Don't let that pressure stop you from UPHOLDING THE LAW! Sandra Goard broke the law when she allowed REPUBLICANS to complete 2,138 absentee ballot applications - but prevented DEMOCRATS from completing over 550 applications. The remedy under Florida law for this illegal conduct is clear: REJECT ALL 15,000 ABSENTEE BALLOTS. Judge Clark, we know you'll do the right thing. We're behind you 1000%! Sign our petition below.

What happens in America's favorite sports if a game is tied at the end of regulation play? We go into overtime, of course. NYU Law Professor Stephen Gillers says Congress should keep President Clinton on for a few weeks until all the lawsuits and recounts are settled and a new President is chosen legitimately. Best of all, it's perfectly legal!

As an ambitious young attorney in Arizona, William Rehnquist led a Republican effort to disenfranchise minority voters. Rehnquist has consistently lied about his involvement in the program. Now he has the power to disenfranchise the overwhelming majority of Florida's minority voters who voted for Al Gore.

Well, the truth will out. The Washington Post has concluded that blacks had a much higher percentage of votes tossed out than whites. Talk about a solid case for the GOP disenfranchising minorities! Jeb "Jim Crow" Bush doesn't care of course, never has.

From the minute we voted, thousands of us knew something was fishy here. For days we walked around in shock, then anger, then outrage. Now people are outraged but tired.

Wondering how to respond to Republican friends who condone the Bush tactics? A reader shared his e-mail retort to a Republican. "Hell, Impeachment Almost Looked Principled Compared to This!" he exclaimed in reaction to the unethical behavior of the Bush camp.

That's what an analysis of the Florida vote conducted by the Miami Herald shows. Of course, the Bush campaign won't let every vote be counted -- so there's the rub. Otherwise, Gore, the Miami Herald analysis shows, would have won by 23,000 votes. That's why he was declared the winner early on in the evening. If Bush wins in the courts, he will indeed be the Commander-in-Thief!

Nobody says it better than Joe Conason: "During the nation’s last great political crisis, Republican politicians and pundits repeated a certain phrase over and over again, as if they were droning their guru’s favorite mantra. Whenever anyone thought to question their zeal for impeachment, they would draw themselves up and intone those four righteous words: "the rule of law." Just how little that concept actually means to the Grand Old Party’s public philosophers and assorted goons, however, has become painfully obvious over the past few weeks. Among Republican partisans, respect for the rule of law dissolved as soon as the legal tide turned against them in the Florida Supreme Court."

Time's investigation found that Roger Stone, a former Reagan operative, was running the mobile home headquarters. Meanwhile, Florida Republicans tried to muscle Miami Mayor Alex Penelas into leaning on the canvassing board, but he refused.

Of course, the conservatives on the Supreme Court have been bigtime upholders of state's rights - until today. Right wing stalwart Antonin Scalia suddenly decided that there is a role for the Supreme Court in interceding in a state court issue. Is he abandoning his principles to help out his right wing buddies? Perish the thought. And then there's the issue of Scalia's son being in the law firm that is representing Bush. Conflict of interest. Oh, no, Republicans never have conflicts of interest, they are above all that. Aren't they?

Democrat Ron Taylor is filing a lawsuit in Tallahassee, challenging nearly 10,000 absentee ballots. As in Seminole County, the Republican Supervisor of Elections allowed Republican operatives to complete absentee ballot applications, which violates strict state law. In this case, Peggy Robbins, the Supervisor, allowed the applications to be removed from her office, which could lead to criminal charges.

A group of local Democrats has launched a new online effort to support the lawsuit against Republican election fraud in Seminole County. Today's big news: the Court of Appeals turned down the Republican plea to yank the case away from Judge Nikki Ann Clark. It turns out the Clark was one of two African-American judges considered for promotion to the Court of Appeals recently, but she was the one NOT chosen by Jeb Bush. Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus!

In a decision deeply disappointing to Palm Beach residents, the Florida Supreme Court refused to order a revote in Palm Beach. "Courts have generally declined to void an election" unless defects in the ballot "clearly operate to prevent a free, fair and open choice," the court ruled. This decision disenfranchises tens of thousands of Palm Beach voters, many of whom testified eloquently before the State Legislature this week.

On Saturday, Judge N. Sanders Sauls will conduct a crucial trial to determine whether a recount of 14,000 disputed ballots from Palm Beach and Miami-Dade would change the outcome of the election. Sauls set unusual groundrules for the trial to prevent Bush's lawyers from running out the clock. Sauls will also have to decide whether he can order a recount of only the disputed ballots, or whether more than 1 million ballots shipped by van must all be recounted.

Late last night, we sent an urgent fundraising appeal to our 10,000 subscribers so we can expand our efforts in Florida. We are overwhelmed by your generosity! If you missed our letter, you can still contribute by visiting the link below.

What's life without a little levity? Read about the Grinch who stole the Florida vote. Guess who?

"Yet for well over a week, I have been hearing persistent reports, from sources as far-flung as KGO Radio and The New York Observer, that CNN and Newsweek and The New York Times all have the goods, at least in part, pertaining to an alleged sexual relationship between Florida Governor Jeb Bush and HIS Secretary of State, Katherine Harris -- yet very little has actually made it into print on this matter."

The Martin County supervisor of elections, a Republican, let Republican Party workers take away the ballot requests on a daily basis, add missing voter identification numbers and resubmit them, a deputy elections supervisor said. At the same time, the elections office allowed other incomplete applications submitted by voters, some of them Democrats and independents, to stack up without being corrected. This could result in the disqualification of 10,000 absentee ballots, which went 2:1 for Bush. As in Seminole County, this alone would make Gore the winner in Florida.

More and more, Florida is starting to look like a one-horse town where everything is controlled by Jeb Bush and the fix is in. That's because it's true. If the Florida legislature decides to co-opt democracy and choose its own Bush electors, there should be protests swamping the streets of Miami.

Jeb Bush: You are in violation of the will of the people of your State - You have once publicly recused yourself on Nov 8th - and now your honor is lost. We call for your impeachment from Governor of the State of Florida for your reckless action taken to obstruct the fair Election of President of the United States in the year 2000.

How little does the "rule of law" mean to Republicans? "Instead of urging their disorderly minions to behave, Mr. Bush and his running mate Dick Cheney reportedly joked about the Dade disruption over the speaker phone at a Thanksgiving dinner in a local hotel, where their G.O.P. posse was celebrating its victory."

Why isn't Rep. John Sweeney, R-N.Y., being held accountable for his alleged role in starting the Miami mayhem? Good question!

On Monday, four black voters from Florida filed a Federal lawsuit against George Bush and Katherine Harris. The suit charges "systematic exclusion of minority voters" and the use of "illegal ballots." It asks the court to nullify Harris' certification of the election results, order a recount or possibly a new election. Among the complaints listed in the suit is "the systematic use of intimidation and illegal force by the local and state police forces to physically prevent voters of color from reaching their poll sites."

The Republican-paid mobs are still operating in Florida, despite widespread condemnation. Rev. Al Sharpton was the latest target during a rally in Palm Beach, when GOP thugs shouted "We don't want you and your people around here."

Read for yourself the complaint in the lawsuit filed by three voters against the Seminole County Canvassing Board, Republican operatives, and George W. Bush. Notice paragraph 34 on page 7, which reads: "The fraudulent and/or illegal conduct of the Office of the Supervisor of Elections . . . the Florida Republican Party and the Republican representatives . . . to fradulently alter absentee ballot request forms, tainted the November 7 Presidential Election and were sufficient to change the oucome of that election by the counting of thousands of illegal fraudulently obtained absentee ballots . . ."

The media has begun a completely transparent propaganda campaign to manipulate public opinion against Al Gore. Well, we're mad as hell and we're not gonna take it any more! Tell the media to stop interfering with the counting of votes by signing our petition below.

You would think that there might be a sense of urgency, except in Jeb Bush's state. Gore's key consolidated case won't be heard until Saturday. Is this called stalling or what?

The Seminole County case, which could cost George W. Bush nearly 5,000 votes and give the election to Al Gore, went before Circuit Court Judge Nikki Clark on Tuesday. Judge Clark refused a Republican request to combine the Seminole case with the Democratic Party's complicated contest case, so the fraud committed by Republican officials will get the undistracted focus that it deserves. It also now appears that Republican officials in Martin County committed a similar act of fraud. The trial begins Monday - stay tuned!!

George W. Bush seems like a man more interested in running away from the Presidency than toward it, Maureen Dowd writes. He's the boy in the bubble, the Mini-Me that wants to win but doesn't really want to govern. By the way, Papa Bush was on the morning news this morning lamenting that Al Gore is not playing nice-nice with Junior. What a thoughtful dad! After all, it's Papa who's going to be President again -- unless, of course, justice prevails.

That's right, Dubya picked up quite a few votes as a result of hand recounts in GOP counties, and you can bet he's not complaining that they were chosen with inconsistent criteria. But hypocrisy, as we know, is Dubya's middle name.

In a highly unusual move, the GOP leadership in the Florida Legislature filed papers with the U.S. Supreme Court claiming the right to choose electors on behalf of the people of Florida. Watch out for this one. It would provoke a firestorm if the Sunshine State wing of the GOP adopts Tom DeLay tactics and picks its own electors.

The Republican leadership of the Florida legislature took the first step towards nullifying the votes of 6 million Floridians. Republicans formed a "nullification committee," which today listened to 3 hours of pep talks from conservative activist law professors. Under instructions from James Baker, the "nullification committee" will soon call a special session to appoint 25 Republican electors if Al Gore wins his legal appeals and wins the final vote count. The committee will meet again tomorrow, and Democrats will send "several bus loads" of voters. Democrats.com has been expecting this move for a week, and has launched a Boycott Florida campaign to stop the nullification of Florida's 6 million votes (see item above).

Al Gore was conditionally certified the winner of New Mexico's 5 electoral votes with a margin of 483 votes. But in yet another astonishing display of hypocrisy, Bush's lawyers challenged 570 uncounted ballots because a 10% 'undervote' in one county was unusual. In Florida, Bush's lawyers vehemently denounced Gore's efforts to get recounts of similarly unusual 'undercounts.'

The Miami-Dade thugs included 200 Capitol Hill aides rounded up by Tom DeLay's staff and sent on an all-expenses paid trip, paid for by the Bush campaign. Right up front on television images were Thomas Pyle, an aide DeLay, and Michael Murphy, who works for a DeLay fund-raising committee. That evening, the vigilantes received a congratulatory call from George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, who joked about the riot. Then Wayne Newton sang to them - unbelievably - in German.

The outcome of the election may hing on the private lawsuit against Seminole County, where the Republican Supervisor of Elections, Sandy Goard, allowed Republican operatives to complete nearly 5,000 incomplete absentee ballot applications, but denied Democrats the same opportunity. Goard's attorney says Democrats had the same opportunity, but county Democratic Chair Bob Poe says Goard rejected his request and told him to "go fly a kite!" After ethical questions were raised about the local judge, Debra Nelson, the case was moved to Tallahassee.

"Every four years there is one day when the people have their say. In many ways the act of voting and having that vote counted is more important than who wins the majority of the votes that are cast, because whoever wins, the victor will know that the American people have spoken with a voice made mighty by the whole of its integrity." That's music to our ears!

On Monday, Shrub crowned himself Emperor and began choosing his cabinet. Memo to Al Gore: YOU WON THE ELECTION! Don't let Shrub play mind games with you. Go ahead and name your cabinet members too!!

"The vote totals reported in the election canvassing commission's certification of Nov. 26, 2000, are wrong. They include illegal votes and do not include legal votes that were improperly rejected. The number of such votes is more than sufficient to place in doubt, indeed to change, the result of the election." So begins the historic Gore campaign's challenge to Katherine Harris's abominable certification.

The biggest risk now is that Americans will question whether Florida’s statutory process, as interpreted by various state and Federal courts, can produce a full and accurate count – and that the public’s patience will run out before the process is concluded.

If you think that the gig is rigged in Florida, you are right. By all accounts, including the Bush campaign's unstinting assertion that the vote counting must abide by the letter of the law, Dubya should lose more than 4,700 votes cast in Seminole County. Of course, that would put Gore way over the top and make him the next president. Unfortunately, everywhere you turn in the Sunshine State, you encounter someone beholden to Jeb or George W Bush. That includes the judge hearing the Seminole County case today, where it should be a slam dunk to declare those ballots -- and possibly the entire absentee vote in Seminole County -- invalid. But don't count on justice. After all, this is Florida.

WHO says Bush won Florida? Do you believe Cruella Harris, or do you believe your own eyes? C'mon Tim Russert, put these numbers up on the board!
-537: Gore deficit according to Cruella
+157: Miami-Dade for Gore counted but uncertified
+215: Palm Beach for Gore counted but uncertified
+174: Illegal overseas ballots for Bush
+9 GORE WINS!!!!

Okay, so it's just another Bush-associated conflict of interest. They are so prevalent in Florida, they have become the norm, rather than the exception. In this case, a Jeb Bush appointed Judge is hearing a case that could result in the voiding of nearly 5,000 Bush absentee ballots because of illegal activity on the part of the GOP election board head. The only problem is that the Judge's assistant did a similar thing during the Judge's last campaign. Has the Judge recused herself? Don't be silly, she's a Bush appointee. They have no shame, just chronic conflicts of interest.

ABC News has been the most aggressive news organization investigating the role of Bush campaign operatives in organizing the mob intimidation in Florida. The Bush campaign has moved the control center (a trailer) for managing the roving goon squad to Broward County, where the same "spontaneous" demonstrators tried to intimidate the Broward canvassing board today. Many of the pro-Bush "activists" are reportedly thugs hired from out of state. Vice President-Elect Lieberman denounced the ongoing mob action, and several members of Congress called for a Justice Department investigation. The roving thugs successfully intimidated the Miami-Dade canvassing board to suspend their recount, using threats of violence and physical intimidation. It is akin to threatening a juror, which is a felony, and reminiscent of the brownshirts used by the Nazis to seize control of Germany.

Emulating Napoleon, George W. Bush arrogantly crowned himself as Emperor following his "certification" by his Florida campaign co-chair, Katherine Harris. Rich Wright, a Democrats.com reader, suggested making paper crowns - let your children help, it's fun for the whole family! Then mail the folded crowns to Emperor George W. Bush, P.O. Box 12428, Austin, TX 78711-2428 - and send a letter to your local newspaper explaining your protest action. Enjoy!

While the media has been preoccupied with glitches in voting technology, a far more insidious problem has been largely ignored - namely, the systematic obstruction of the voting rights of black voters across Florida. Civil rights lawyers have been quietly gathering evidence and plan to file lawsuits this week under the Voting Rights Act and other civil rights statutes.

On Monday, Democrats will challenge Katherine Harris' certification. Bush's razor-thin margin of 537 does not include over 10,000 uncounted ballots in Miami-Dade and several thousand more in Palm Beach. Vice President-elect Joe Lieberman denounced Harris' action: "What is at issue here is nothing less than every America's simple, sacred right to vote. How can we teach our children that every vote counts if we are not willing to make a good faith effort to count every vote?" Democrats will file challenges in Miami-Dade, Palm Beach, and Nassau counties. And keep an eye on Seminole County, where 5,000 Bush votes may be tossed out in a trial that begins tomorrow.

Katherine Harris had her marching orders from the Bush campaign prior to the Florida Supreme Court order - to slow the hand recount process down by any means, which she did. Now, she might have succeeded in disenfranchising hundreds, if not thousands of voters. She has been assisted by boorish and hostile GOP vote counters who have slowed up the counting process at every step of the way.

"After eight years of relentless Republican guerrilla warfare aimed at crippling the Clinton administration, you would think the Democrats would have some pent-up anger and indignation to fuel their Election 2000 battle royale in Florida. From Whitewater to Travelgate to FBI filegate to Chinagate, the Republicans threw one bogus scandal after the next at the Clinton White House, culminating in the historic federal case they made out of a blow job. But instead, once again, it's the GOP that has the fire in the belly, that wants to win back the White House in the worst way. GOP protesters in Florida have not just limited their actions to the streets, but have stormed the offices where ballots are being counted," David Talbot of "Salon."

Governor George W. Bush: We are shocked and appalled by the mob intimidation campaign that your staff has unleashed in Florida. Your campaign operatives, working out of a mobile home, sent in busloads of militant protestors to stop a court-ordered recount in Miami-Dade County - possibly a felony. Our Democracy cannot survive if political campaigns hire threaten and intimidate election officials. We call upon you to immediately and forcefully denounce acts of violence and intimidation by your supporters. We call upon you to denounce and fire those responsible for organizing these activities. We call upon you to take full responsibility for the actions of your campaign staff and to apologize to the Miami canvassers and the American people. And we call upon you to immediately find concrete and meaningful ways to reach out to Democrats to unite this country, not divide it, as you promised in your campaign. This is a critical test of your character and leadership. We call upon you to raise your voice now and show that you truly love the country that you wish to lead. Sign our petition below.

In 1876, Democrat Samuel Tilden won the popular vote by 264,000 votes. But Republican Rutherford B. Hayes cut deals with three southern states where the results were in dispute, including Florida. He promised to remove Federal troops and thereby end Reconstruction in return for the southern Electoral College votes. A Republican-rigged Electoral College commission completed the theft of the Presidency for Hayes, who was subsequently called "Rutherfraud." There are many parallels to the events unfolding before our eyes.

It turns out that the judge who is hearing the absentee ballot case in Seminole County had a similar "problem" to the one she is judging. Thus far the plaintiff in the law suit has not asked for a replacement judge, but, well you read the story and judge for yourself.

As the Bush Bully Squad wreaks havoc in Florida, strong arming the vote through a roving mob and in individual verbal attacks by observers in the canvassing rooms, the Democratic leadership has been curiously quiet or mealy mouthed. Gore, who was criticized for not being aggressive enough in the general election has assumed the mantle of bold leadership and is taking on the Bush "scorched earth" machine virtually by himself. He is standing up to a morally bankrupt "Bush brother" effort to intimidate their way into the White House. Where are Daschle, Gephardt and the other Congressional Democratic leaders? Why are so many Democratic Senators acting like political Hamlets? Despite the ethical wasteland of the Bush campaign, Republican leaders are rallying around his truculent "burn the house down" efforts. Meanwhile, many of the Democrats are wringing their hands and acting scared and apologetic.

Outrage is growing over the revelation that the shock troop effort to storm the Miami-Dade vote counting office was orchestrated and paid for by the Bush campaign. Don't let the media pass over this one! Our readers are steamed, as they should be at this egregious throwback to the George Wallace days, when vote counts were subject to intimidation and coercion.

On Wednesday, George W. Bush abandoned the rule of law and embraced mob violence and anarchy. For the sake of our Nation, our Constitution, and our Democracy, George W. Bush should concede the election to Al Gore immediately. Sign our petition below and tell everyone you know who cares about America.

In one of the few incisive media commentaries, Eric Alterman calls on Al Gore to stay in the race and become a true American hero. His point is simple. Either we elect the true winner, or we elect the man who unleashed thugs onto the Florida streets in order to bully a win for Bush. As Alterman begins his commentary,"It’s getting harder and harder to believe one’s eyes and ears as George Bush, James Baker and the Republicans grow ever more brazen in their effort to seize the presidency with or without a lawful mandate. As amazing as this sounds, it is distinctly possible that the 2000 election will be decided by a bunch of riotous thugs, operating under the direct control of the Republican Party."

The Republican-dominated U.S. Supreme Court violated its core conservative belief in federalism and agreed to hear George W. Bush's challenge to Monday's ruling by the Florida Supreme Court. While the Bush camp claimed a big victory, the net effect will be to delay any final resolution well beyond Sunday, when Florida officials stop counting votes. This gives the Gore campaign time next week to contest the certification of votes in Miami-Dade, where the recount was stopped following intimidation by Republican rioters. It also gives Judge Debra Nelson time to rule on Republican fraud in Seminole County, which could cost Bush 5,000 crucial votes. It even gives the 5th Circuit time to rule on Dick Cheney's violation of the 12th Amendment, which could cost Bush 32 Electors from Texas. Memo to Bush: be careful what you wish for, because you might get it.

Citing "protests, political attacks, and near mob-like action," the Gore campaign formally challenged the vote count provided by Miami-Dade County. Miami-Dade had planned to recount 10,000 partially marked ballots, but abruptly stopped after a GOP-engineered riot. The Gore action places the matter in the hands of a state judge in Talahassee, who could order a recount in Miami-Dade

In an extraordinary statement at noon Wednesday, George W. Bush trashed the people of Florida, their Supreme Court, and the Rule of Law. In a petty statement, Bush simply repeated the arguments that his lawyers presented in court, which were rejected in a unanimous 7-0 ruling. Bush ignored his resounding loss and effectively declared that he considered the Florida Supreme Court's decision to be meaningless. Politically, Bush set the stage for the Florida State Legislature - which is solidly controlled by Republicans - to nullify the results of the manual vote count and declare George W. Bush the winner, thereby using their raw majority power to steal Florida's 25 electoral votes. If Bush pursues this reckless and lawless course, he will set off riots in the streets of Florida - and the United States. It is time for all honest and law-abiding Americans to rise up and demand that Bush concede NOW.

Peggy Noonan wrote speeches for the Gipper, Ronald Reagan. Now she is writing McCarthy inspired, incendiary opinion pieces for the WSJ. They are a perfect match, since the Journal recently accused Gore of attempting a coup d'etat. This piece by Noonan should put every Democrat and Independent on notice. The right wing "intelligentsia" has gone over the top. They are going to burn the country down before they will allow a legally elected Al Gore to assume the presidency.

Did the Bush campaign engage in mob action that resulted in Miami-Dade County stopping their recount? Was it akin to intimidating a jury, which is a felony. Some readers think so -- and so do we.

The Republicans have whipped up national hysteria over the rejection of roughly 1,500 military absentee ballots. Here's a rare article which describes why 41% of Pensacola's 272 ballots were rejected. One-fourth of the rejects "both sides agreed were plainly illegal." Another 31% "were rejected because the voter (or somebody claiming to be the voter) had already voted." The other voided ballots "fell into a murky area of legality," but Bush's lawyers could only make a reasonable case for another one-fourth. Project these numbers to the whole state and there are maybe 373 ballots that are invalid but arguably legitimate. Yet amazingly, the Bush campaign has gone to the U.S. Supreme Court to block the current manual recount because the standards for evaluating ballots are inconsistent and shifting - precisely what they are trying to do with the military ballots.

Read the headline again. One more time. After a week of screaming about uncounted military ballots, the REPUBLICANS are refusing to count any military ballots without postmarks. Why?? Because recounting military ballots after the certification deadline would make it legal to recount the votes in Palm Beach, Broward, and Dade. This is exactly what the Republicans fought for (and lost) before the Florida Supreme Court, and what they are now fighting all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. The Republican endgame gets uglier every minute.

Republican leaders in Congress are escalating the battle over 1,500 disqualified absentee ballots. They now want to pass Federal legislation retroactively forcing Florida officials to count ALL military absentee ballots, whether they are legal or not. Once again, the impeachment gang led by Tom DeLay will crush the rule of law to win at any cost. But this time, they are playing the most dangerous game of all - inciting the military to overthrow our Democracy. Who will stop the Revolutionary Republicans?

Gerald Richman, an attorney challenging presidential returns in Seminole County, said it is possible some people voted twice -- once by absentee and a second time on Election Day.

In 1995, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta allowed a REPUBLICAN campaign to throw out 2,000 DEMOCRATIC absentee ballots, which provided the margin of victory for the Republican candidate for Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court. This powerful precedent may be all that is needed to have 4,700 REPUBLICAN absentee ballots thrown out in Seminole County, more than enough to give Florida to Al Gore.

I spent several hours this morning watching the NAACP public hearing on the Florida vote on C-SPAN. Having done so, it is very clear to me that there was a systematic and calculated effort to lessen the Gore vote by denying the franchise to as many African Americans as possible.

In a serious setback to the Gore efforts, the Florida Supreme Court unanimously decided not to enforce continuation of a Miami-Dade recount that had been suspended. Gore's chances of surpassing Bush in the vote count now hinge on the counting of dimpled ballots in Broward and Palm Beach Counties.

Jeez Louise, it's been quite a day in Florida, and it's not over yet. The Washington Post offers a recap of the wild and woolly action -- and it's only 6 pm EST!

In a serious blow to the Bush attempt to defy the will of the people, the Florida Supreme Court unanimously directed to Katherine "I want to be a Bush appointed Ambassador" Harris to include the hand recounted votes in a final tally. However, the court put a November 27th deadline on the recounting process and did not address the issue of what standards should be used for determining ballot eligibility.

Late Tuesday night, the Florida Supreme Court declared that "the right of the people to cast their vote is the paramount concern overriding all others." They ordered Katherine Harris to accept all recounts by Monday 9am at the latest. They rejected Bush's insistence on "trusting the machines" by declaring "our society has not yet gone so far as to place blind faith in machines. In almost all endeavors, including elections, humans routinely correct the errors of machines." The ruling is a slam-dunk victory for Justice.

The brazeness of the Bush camp's hypocrisy and conflicts of interest is so glaring that is hard for a Democrat to comprehend. That's right, the Bush campaign is discussing a transition team role with Harris even as she is denying voters the recount that they deserve. Why isn't the Gore campaign bringing this up? It's their responsibility to point out the outrageous GOP hypocrisy.

Bush, whose well-documented dereliction of service in the National Guard has been featured on Democrats.com, couldn't resist taking the low road in regard to military ballots that did not meet election board criteria. His campaign sent surrogates out to attack Gore and Lieberman for allegedly being slighting members of our Armed Forces. Simply disgraceful!

They got trouble, right here in Seminole County. That's trouble with a capital "T," oh, okay, we'll forget the Music Man routine for the moment. We'll let the New York Times do the talking: "A local judge agreed yesterday to hear a lawsuit seeking to throw out the 15,000 absentee ballots cast in heavily Republican Seminole County, Fla. At issue is a decision by the county supervisor of elections to allow Republican Party workers to correct Republican voters' incomplete absentee-ballot applications that had been rejected in the weeks before the election."

Although the Bushies have different thoughts on this subject, the majority of Americans want all of the ballots counted. That's what a new USA Today poll reveals. But they're not really listening in Austin.

Last week, Al Gore proposed that ALL of the votes in Florida be manually counted, as a way to end the arguments over manual counts in three counties which happened to request recounts before the deadline. Over the weekend, Gore's proposal got support from two unexpected sources - Republican Senator Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, and media consultant Dick Morris.

I see the past 12 days as a fascinating glimpse into the future. Email in this case has served almost as a form of telepathy. 10,000 people were all able to communicate to each other at the same time, "I want to go demonstrate, but I don't want to be the only one." Via email, thousands of people communicated to each other that they wanted to come. This solves the most fundamental problem of organizing: getting everyone who wants to take a step forward to all take it at the same time (because nobody wants to be the only one).

Any political process like this, given the Presidential stakes, would be rife for rhetorical abuse and attacks. But insulated from the windy rhetoric outside, inside the counting rooms in Palm Beach and Broward is a workmanlike reality, facilitated by considerable bipartisan cooperation. What is occurring on Palm Beach serves the entire country, as it awaits the results. If this is democracy in action, maybe there is reason to repose some faith in the human, if not the technical, mechanics of democracy.

The Republican Elections Supervisor of Seminole County, Sandra Goard, abused her official powers to help Republican voters and disenfranchise Democratic voters. At issue are thousands of absentee ballot applications which arrived at her office missing essential details. Goard let Republican operatives sit in her office and complete the Republican ballot applications, but let Democratic applications "pile up". As a result, Bush won 65% of the absentee votes, despite winning only 55% of the walk-in votes - an advantage of nearly 4,800 absentee votes. Local attorney Harry Jacobs has filed a lawsuit, but Circuit Judge Debra Nelson may dismiss the suit on Monday amidst local pressure from conservative groups. This may be the first documented fraud, which would cast grave doubts on the final vote count.

The Republican Elections Supervisor of Seminole County, Sandra Goard, used her official powers to help Republican voters and disenfranchise Democratic voters. At issue is thousands of absentee ballot applications which arrived at her office missing essential details. Goard let Republican operatives sit in her office and complete the Republican ballot applications, but let Democratic applications "pile up". Local attorney Harry Jacobs has filed a lawsuit, but Circuit Judge Debra Nelson may dismiss the suit on Monday amidst local pressure from conservative groups.

George W. Bush lost last Tuesday's presidential election. The networks knew it, the voters knew it, the Republican Party knew it, and George W. Bush knew it. But they couldn't accept it. Despite all the character attacks, the negative ads, the outrageous spending of a record $138 million, Bush lost. So with nothing more to lose, they resorted to dirty tricks.

In a latebreaking Friday afternoon ruling, the Florida Supreme Court unanimously ordered Florida Secretary of State Katherine "Jeb Bush Owns Me" Harris to cease from certifying a winner in the Presidential election until further order of the court. That must have surely cast a pall over the celebrating in Austin after an early morning circuit court ruling that had permitted Ms. "I want desperately to be an ambassador to France in a Bush administration" Harris to proceed in rejecting the hand recounted votes.

Get out your winter coat and join one of the 144 pro-democracy rallies being held Saturday at 1 pm. For the past 10 days, George W. Bush and the Republican Party have tried to prevent the people of Florida from counting every vote, in order to steal the Electoral College and the Presidency. This is our chance to send a message that is loud and clear - every vote counts so count every vote! Visit trustthepeople.com to find the list of locations and to print your own sign to carry at the rally. Be there - or beware!

The Florida Supreme Court issued a stinging rebuke to Katherine Harris and the Republican Party by giving the green light to manual vote counting in Palm Beach, Broward, and Dade Counties. During the day, heroic civil servants in Broward defied an imperious edict from Harris and continued counting votes, finding 21 additional votes for Gore. It looks like the Florida Supreme Court will uphold the fundamental democratic principle that every vote must count.

All eyes are on Florida, but it looks like Bush's 32 Electoral College votes from Texas are up in the air. Read the 12th Amendment: "The Electors shall meet in their respective states, and vote by ballot for President and Vice President, one of whom, at least, shall not be an inhabitant of the same state with themselves." Cheney popped into Wyoming to cast a vote, but a federal lawsuit in West Palm Beach says that doesn't meet the legal requirement. It all hinges on the meaning of "inhabitant".

Late Wednesday night, Katherine Harris told the voters of Palm Beach, Broward, Miami - and America – that she alone rules America. She said she would certify Bush the winner on Saturday, the voters be damned. The Gore campaign will challenge Harris in court. But for the citizens of America, the next step is clear: we must do everything in our power to stop the theft of the Presidency. We must call every talk show, write every newspaper, and march in the streets until justice is done. Our slogans: Every vote counts - count every vote! The people decide – not Katherine Harris! No justice - no peace! Start by signing our petition to Stop the Theft of the Presidency by George W. Bush.

On Wednesday, the Florida Supreme Court summarily rejected Secretary of State Katherine Harris's efforts to block manual recounts. Harris has proved that she is more than willing to disenfranchise thousands of Florida voters in order to declare George W. Bush the winner. Harris is a partisan Republican who co-chaired the Bush campaign, and has also faced extensive ethical problems, according to the New York Times. Harris should take politics out of the vote certification process by recusing herself immediately. In one day, our petition gathered nearly 3,000 signatures. Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle also urged Harris to recuse herself. Sign our petition today!

As Secretary of State in the first Bush administration, James Baker's most famous quote was "Fuck the Jews. They didn't vote for us" (reported in The New Republic, 3/30/92). So is it any surprise that Baker is playing every conceivable angle to stop a recount in Palm Beach County? Although he failed to persuade a Federal District Court to overturn state laws, Baker is filing an appeal that could go all the way to the Supreme Court.

Dear Governor and President-in-Waiting Bush: This has to be the first time in our history that a candidate who is losing BOTH the popular vote AND the electoral vote insists on being anointed President of the United States. I can understand why you expect this title to be yours. You have spent your entire life having everything handed to you. You have never had to earn your place. Money and name alone have opened every door for you. Without effort or hard work or intelligence or ingenuity, you have been bequeathed with a life of privilege.

Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris, who was George W. Bush's campaign co-chair in Florida, proved her continuing partisanship today by issuing a ruling massively favorable to the Bush campaign. Harris announced that she would not wait for county officials in Palm Beach and elsewhere to complete their manual recounts, even though manual recounts are specified by law. Harris says she won't accept vote counts after 5 pm on Tuesday. Harris should recuse herself immediately from these hotly contested proceedings. In the meantime, Gore's lawyers are going into court to let the manual recounts be completed.

Our involvement this week is essential in order to uphold the principles of democracy. Propaganda is flying left and right. To combat this barrage, we present a point by point analysis of some key myths in the media today, substantiated with footnotes. Please read, copy, and forward to friends, relatives and colleagues! Thanks!

The consternation, if not gloom, that has descended on Democrats in the aftermath of the election is premature. A hard look at the numbers points to a strong chance for Vice President Al Gore to carry Florida and win the Presidency. Importantly, it appears Gore can win purely on the basis of vote counts, without resort to litigation.

Pro-Democracy protests will take place all over the United States on Saturday at 1 p.m. If you care about Democracy, hit the streets!

The most powerful person in the world tonight is Chad Dimples. Well, not really. "Chad" is the word for the remains of a partially punched ballot hole. "Dimple" is a punch that didn't tear the paper. Either way, these are rejected by the optical counting machines. On Saturday, Palm Beach canvassers will review some of these questionable ballots to decide whether they count. Let's hope so - Palm Beach voted nearly 2 to 1 for Al Gore, and there are 10,000 incomplete ballots.

A reverse of logic is required to believe that democracy is honored by ignoring the will of the people in deference to a strict adherence to municipal regulations regarding the punching of small holes in a slip of paper. To follow such a course is to mistake the form of democracy with the actual thing. Especially when there are so many other serious problems with the voting in Florida.

According to the New York Times, Florida's 25 electoral college votes are not essential. "The Constitution requires only that a winning candidate have the votes of 'a majority of the whole number of electors appointed.' If Florida's votes are not resolved by then, or if a legal restraining order bars Gov. Jeb Bush from filing a certificate listing Florida's electors, then Mr. Gore has enough votes from other states, if current vote totals stand and if his electors keep their pledges, to reach a majority of the 513 electors actually appointed."

Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Kathleen Kroll issued a temporary injunction Thursday night preventing the county's elections canvassing board from releasing the ballots before a court hearing next week. The injunction was requested by Beverly Rogers and Ray Kaplan, two Boca Raton voters who filed a lawsuit saying they and thousands like them were cheated out of their right to vote because the county's two-sided ballot was illegally confusing.

If the people of Florida intended collectively to instruct their Electoral College representatives to vote for Al Gore, not George Bush, and if the law provides to give them an opportunity to do that, well then fairness, democracy and the law of the land should ensure that it does. And we, in the media, had better get on the case… for the good of the country.

Bush's tiny lead in Florida has dropped from 1784 on Election Day to 225, with two counties yet to be counted. As Papa Bush would say, we got "Big Mo!"

Gore's campaign chairman, Bill Daley, fired a shot across the bow of the sinking Bush ship. "All we are seeking is this: that the candidate who the voters prefer become the President," he said. The message was loud and clear: don't try to cheat Al Gore out of his victory.

Pat Buchanan said he believed most of the 3,407 votes he got in a Florida county belonged to Vice President Al Gore and that people had voted for him by mistake. "I don't want any votes that I did not receive and I don't want to win any votes by mistake," Buchanan told NBC's "Today" show. "It seems to me that these 3,000 votes people are talking about -- most of those are probably not my vote and that may be enough to give the margin to Mr. Gore," he said.

In response to reports of widespread voter confusion in Florida's Palm Beach County, Democrats.com has launched a campaign to collect affidavits from Palm Beach voters. Many Palm Beach voters have come forward to complain about the confusing ballot. To assist these voters, Democrats.com has created a web page with the affidavit required under Florida law to report voting problems. Democrats.com will deliver the affidavits to an attorney who will review the affidavits and possibly prepare a complaint to be filed with the local courts.

Palm Beach election officials invalidated 19,120 votes - 4.1% of the total - because voters accidentally voted for two Presidential candidates, due to an illegal ballot design. Palm Beach citizens hit the streets today to demand a revote. In addition, a lawsuit was filed on behalf of three voters calling for a new election.

Thousands of elderly Gore voters in Palm Beach County mistakenly cast votes for anti-Semite Pat Buchanan because of a horribly designed local ballot. Voters left the ballot in tears of frustration and anger, according to numerous reports. Buchanan ended up with an unexpectedly high 3,407 votes in Palm Beach, compared with only 781 in neighboring Broward County and 561 in Dade County. With a statewide difference of only 1,805 votes, the roughly 2,600 Gore votes that apparently went to Buchanan by mistake would swing Florida to Gore. Local Democrats are determined to rectify this electoral injustice, using the court system if necessary to get a re-vote for the Presidential race. They must act quickly, because the official recount must be completed by Thursday afternoon.

Democrats.com has just learned that an unopened and uncounted ballot box was found earlier this morning at North Shore Elementary School in Palm Beach, Florida. North Shore Elementary is in a traditionally Democratic neighborhood, so this discovery could add hundreds of votes to the Gore total in Florida. We have also learned that two more uncounted ballot boxes were found in Boca Raton. Meanwhile, CNN is reporting that a fourth ballot box was found at a pre-school center in Miami. These four ballot boxes alone could make up the 1,805 vote difference and give Gore a recount victory.