Friday, December 31 2004
THE DISTANCE BETWEEN WASHINGTON AND OHIO: About 2,400 miles and 118,328 votes. That's the difference between Christine Gregoire's 129-vote victory over Dino Rossi in the Washington governor's race (achieved after one machine recount and one hand recount) and George W. Bush's 118,457-vote victory over John Kerry after the recently completed recount in Ohio.

On Wednesday Rossi sent a letter to Gregoire asking her to join him in calling for a revote. Not surprisingly, Gregoire brushed the request aside. Yesterday afternoon Gregoire was offically declared the state's Governor-elect - at least for now.

Rossi is considering challenging the election results in court. If you've been following Soundpolitics you know there looks to be some evidence to support a legitimate legal challenge. This article in today's Seattle Times (which, by the way, shows the growing power of the blogosphere by crediting Soundpolitics' Stefan Sharkansky) ends by quoting state GOP Chairman Chris Vance on the status of a legal challenge:

"We've got to put something together that is rock, rock solid," he said. "It's going to take awhile; everybody needs to be patient."

This is absolutely right. Republicans need to tread lightly here. They should only go to court if and when they have incontrovertible evidence of fraud, manipulation or error that is certain to change the outcome of the election back in Rossi's favor or of generating a revote. Otherwise, if Republicans do challenge the election without producing the goods, they run the risk of looking like sore losers with no respect for the process.

Ohio is a good example of what I'm talking about. After the recount initiated by Libertarian candidate Michael Badnarik and Green candidate David Cobb, Bush's lead shrunk by only 300 votes to 118,457. Now the AP reports the Green-Libertarian-Dem axis is calling for yet another recount.

There is not a single piece of serious evidence of vote fraud, only complaints of long lines and faulty machines, etc. - in other words a list of garden variety election day issues that happened in places all across the country. Neverheless, David Cobb, the Green Candidate, claims in his latest press release that:

"We have done our utmost to protect the integrity of our right to vote in court and through the recount process, yet a cloud of suspicion still hangs over the election results. We cannot sit back and allow our rights to be violated."

A 118,457 vote margin is some cloud of suspicion. And, by the way, from the same press release:

Cobb will be speaking at rallies in Columbus, Ohio and Washington, DC on January 3 and 6, respectively. The Columbus rally is at 1 p.m. at the Capitol Theater, 77 S. High Street, and is sponsored by the Reverend Jesse Jackson, Rainbow/PUSH, the Cobb-LaMarche campaign and many other organizations.

Separately, the Cincinnati Post reports:

A group of 37 Ohio voters, backed by the Rev. Jesse Jackson of Illinois, have filed a complaint with Ohio Chief Justice Thomas Moyer asking that the election results be overturned. The complaint alleges a host of flaws with the election, ranging from long lines at polling places in inner city neighborhoods to results that did not square with exit polls.

In addition the motion to overturn the election, Democrats filed a motion to disqualify Justice Moyer himself:

The chief justice of the state Supreme Court refused Wednesday to remove himself from a case challenging the results of the presidential election.

A group of voters had claimed Chief Justice Thomas Moyer "wittingly or unwittingly acquired knowledge of deliberate national and statewide election fraud" and should step aside.

Moyer called the voters' claim "wholly without foundation." He added that he has no reason to remove himself since the challenge doesn't involve his own election and he has nothing to gain by a change in the results.

In Wednesday's ruling, Moyer said the challengers have provided "nothing suggesting that Ohio election officials are engaging, or will engage, in illegal conduct," and called their documents "woefully inadequate."

Cliff Arnebeck, an attorney representing the voters, said Wednesday said he was reviewing the documents Moyer referred to.

If Mr. Arnebeck is representing the voters, should he already be aware of the documents he filed? Just asking. And it doesn't stop there. Democrats have also filed a separate motion challenging the results of Justice Moyers recent election:

"The allegations of fraud in the presidential election are similar to those made in a separate challenge to Chief Justice Moyer's election over Democrat C. Ellen Connally, a retired Cuyahoga County Common Pleas judge.

The challenge to the chief justice's election, currently being weighed by Justice Maureen O'Connor, suggests the Bush-Cheney campaign included him in its alleged pattern of fraud because it wanted the Republican in a position to rule on any subsequent challenges."

In other words, between the Green party candidate, Jesse Jackson, and the lawyer/co-founder of the far-left Alliance for Democracy we're seeing a full frontal assault designed to undermine the legitimacy of a clear Bush victory in Ohio based on conspiracy theories and flimsy, if not wholly unsupported allegations.

THE LAST WORD OF 2004: What a remarkable year. From the snows of Iowa in January to the waves of Asia in December, 2004 has been jam-packed with the sort of monumental events that had the entire country sitting on the edge of its seat. It's been a great year to be the proprietors of a political web site and we'd like to thank all of the readers who were with us along the way. Best wishes to all in the year to come. - T. Bevan 10:30 am Link | Email | Send to a Friend