Posted on 11/07/2002 1:05:06 AM PST by unspun
News
Thune Response to Close Vote
After hours of meeting with his campaign staff, Congressman Thune addressed his supporters about the narrow margin of defeat during his race for the U.S. Senate.
Thune: "After a long night and a long morning, the preliminary results of last night's election show Senator Tim Johnson with a 528 vote advantage. The next step in the process is the official canvass of the election results. A canvass is done after each election, and the results will be released as soon as that process is finished. Essentially, the canvass is our election system's process for checking everyone's math."
"If there is a change in the numbers or evidence of irregularities after the official election canvass, I will look at pursuing the next step in the process, which is a formal recount."
"However, I do not wish to put the people of South Dakota through this process unless it is absolutely necessary. Therefore, if there is no change in the vote totals or any irregularities after the official canvass, we will pursue no further action and the results will stand."
"I called Senator Johnson this morning to congratulate him on today's results. I'd like to thank my supporters and all those who've worked so hard on my behalf over the course of the last year. No one would be happier than I to see those numbers change as the process continues. However, if the numbers stand, I am prepared to accept the outcome and know that my supporters and all those who have stood with me during this process will accept the outcome as well."
There should be busloads of lawyers and million$ already in SD right now.
Thune gets to call the shots, but he needs a lot of support from the national organization right now.
I can only be as serious about this as God gave me the ability to do so! :-P
Look, the elephant in the room is the 167,000 votes that DID NOT go to Thune. 528 votes out of 167,000...that's 0.3%!
So we're upset because Thune essentially got 316 votes for every 317 votes of Johnson? That ain't no mandate either way. Until you can get these races out of the margin of counting error...there's no way to highlight the fraud.
What the hell was invasive about it? I gladly cooperated and everyone I know did the same. Only a criminal or illegal would not cooperate and feel invaded!
The future of the democrat party may just be at stake. Let me suggest how: the hierarchy of despotic democrats is gravely threatened. They have proven they are corrupt to the core and will do ANYTHING to sieze and hold power. Now, they're defeated and Johnson's seat is not a deciding edge so he is free to be honest without the pressures of his seat being the 'swing' point (unlike Judas Jeffords, who played his swing position for all he could get out of it).
For that once great party to rise again as a voice of reason for their disillusioned constituency --a constituency with which I seldom agree, folks who support abortion, higher taxes and extensive welfare policies, reductions of the military in an increasingly dangerous world, etc.-- someone is going to have to step forward with a degree of honesty now that the crucial edge has been pierced, removing them from control. Tim Johnson's future could be very bright if he were to repudiate the corruption by truly digging for the facts regarding his narrow margin. Freepers have uncovered gross problems with the numbers in SD. How about posting those findings to the Johnson people as well as the Thune people, to seek an open settlement of the issues?
Johnson can be seated on a provisional basis, with full seating contingent on the outcome of the investigation.
hchutch is correct about making sure that this thing gets played properly, and avoiding insertion of the GOP into the fray; we could win Thune's seat and lose several others in the future. The Democrats were very smart; they set this up so that they could play the race card onto the GOP if it backfired. The countermove is simple: don't use the GOP.
Your posts regarding all aspects of this election have shown a consistently defeatist attitude. I question your motives in posting on FR.
hchutch is hell of a lot more honorable than most of the "my way or the highway" types here on FR, sweetie. I leave the questioning of ideological purity to the Mikhail Suslov types.
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