Posted on 12/31/2008 7:28:45 AM PST by stan_sipple
How the Democrats 'won' the Washington governor's mansion in 2004. Sorry Minnesota, but the sequel is never as good as the original.
For those who watched the Washington State governor's race recounts in 2004, the ongoing recount drama in Minnesota is just another rehash of the same script -- albeit for a U.S. Senate seat that might put Democrats one vote away from a filibuster-proof majority.
Four years ago in Washington, Democratic Party candidate Christine Gregoire lost the first count, lost the recount, and then won a second, highly dubious recount by 133 votes. In Minnesota, where Sen. Norm Coleman is defending his seat against comedian-turned-candidate Al Franken, the first count showed Mr. Coleman up 725 votes. Today, thanks to another dubious recount, Mr. Franken is apparently in the lead.
Razor-thin margins like these put election systems to the test. As the old proverb goes, they are a crisis and an opportunity. Yet the crises keep coming and the opportunities continue to be squandered. It's time to learn the lessons of the recount wars and address the systemic flaws in our election processes. Indeed, the price of a continued decline in voter confidence is too troubling for most Americans to comprehend.
In Washington's 2004 gubernatorial election, at least 1,392 felons illegally voted, 252 provisional ballots were wrongly counted, and 19 votes were cast from beyond the grave, according to Chelan County Superior Court Judge John Bridges's opinion in a case brought by Dino Rossi, Ms. Gregoire's Republican opponent.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
As this race headed into recount hell, it was plain to see that the rat would come out the winner. This is almost always the case. It was in the WA governor’s race, and it was in the 2002 senatorial race here in SD. MN is controlled, top to bottom, by a DFL bureaucracy, and they will find whatever votes Franken needs to walk away the winner.
And the Pubbies meekly submit.
There is no opposition to the lies and outright theft of elections anymore. The Repubs have no guts (as a group), no courage to stand on truth or enforce election laws or hardly any other law, they’re worthless and no longer have my support. We will NOT gain back anything by 2010 or for decades at this rate.
Certainly.
as the old machine rat said, “we have lost elections, but never close ones.”
I am blessed to have one of the few remaining conservatives in DC as my congresscritter - Randy Forbes. He gets my support and $$. Surely you have just one true conservative in Texas worthy of your support?
What do you want them (Republicans) to do?
And be specific.
follow the example of Justice Rhenquist who during the 1960’s in Arizona accosted head-on ineligible voters, sorry John Dean if that bothers you.
Is this a test? GROW SOME STONES. That specific enough? STOP ACTING LIKE DEMOCRATS. STOP SPENDING LIKE DRUNKEN SAILORS (and I was a sailor so I can say that). IDENTIFY THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN YOU AND THE DEMOCRATS. SECURE OUR BORDERS. If you’re going to lose anyway, you might consider trying to find some principles - and then stand by them.
Why can’t MN simply have a runoff election like GA did (Chambliss & Martin)? If this happens, Coleman would win by a landslide (as Chambliss did in GA) because the Obamatons would not bother to be there to vote and pull ALL of the DimRat levers.
It's about CHARACTER of which only a handful have, one of them is Sarah Palin. Look, she's doing what she was elected to do, why can't the rest? No excuses. And yet traitors like Murtha, Kennedy et al just keep being put back into power. I watched the outrages of the Kennedys go unchecked ever since JFK and his nepotism through todays elections fraud, corruption in Congress which has become pandemic, up front and bold, the arrogance is astounding.
With the lack of character we will NOT be regaining anything in '10 much less by 2050. It takes many years to recover from such crooked dealings. But I do know this: one person standing for what's right, unwavering, uncompromising can have a h**l of an impact.
As Joe Stalin said,"It's not who votes, it's who counts the votes that's important."
My understanding is MN law does not allow a runoff election in this case whereas GA law does.
If it were you'd have flunked.
What, specifically, should Coleman and the Republicans be doing (in this recount fiasco) that they're not doing?
Well yes, I have found Sen. Cornyn (who I contribute to) to be strong and consistent as well as Rep. Lamar Smith who has an outstanding record for conservatism.
Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison? No. She'll probably win the Tx governorship though because she's a HS cheerleader type, not all that strong, more prone to hold that finger in the air for wind direction.
I found a bag of votes in a warehouse is not a good enough reason to count them (for the first time).
We should fix the problems of lost(?) votes after the fact but not count them in this election.
Why is it not a coincidence that new found votes are always for the DemocRAT?
When your party controls the apparatus that counts the votes, you control the outcome. Democrats are the party of the bureaucracy and they are self-serving and corrupt. You can stick a fork in Coleman. Even if there was a runoff, he'd lose.
Until Republicans can, again, articulate their core beliefs in a way that resonates with the voters like it did in 1994, they will walk the political wasteland. In this political environment, you win big or not at all.
Well, how about Coleman get on TV and says that the canvassing board is committing fraud and he's not going to stand for it. How about he says that the Secretary of State is bought and paid for by George Soros with the expressed intention of assisting election fraud.
He can ask for the Justice Department and other authorities to come in and monitor the election.
The Republicans can stand with him and demand some oversight as well.
And finally, if you're not too chicken, he can ask for the people to demand transparency and fairness. He can say that if they want their votes to count, not just in this election but in all future elections they had better speak up. And he should say that if this is allowed to happen in Minnesota it will continue to happen all over the country in future contests unless stopped now.
All the Republican Senators can stand up and say that they will not allow Franken to be seated and will use any and all means necessary. That they will shut down the Senate for as long as it takes for Coleman to be seated.
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