Posted on 11/08/2002 3:55:57 PM PST by commish
Edited on 05/07/2004 5:12:17 PM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
"On election night, when Don Siegelman thought he was ahead by 2,500 votes, he declared victory. He said, 'How sweet it is.'" He didn't say it was so close that we needed a recount. He didn't say there was uncertainty.
(Excerpt) Read more at montgomeryadvertiser.com ...
Of course, Al Gore might not have been in a position to run for president at all had the elder Bush beat Clinton in 1992 during a run-off. There are a million variations to "what if" however.
I think the runoff system would favor the Republican candidate because when it comes down to a clear choice between a conservative and a liberal, the conservative usually wins.
I apologize if this has already been discussed. No time to read the thread.
I wish I knew. While they weren't landslide proportions, all of the polls showed Riley 2-6 pts ahead.
We are trying to figure out what the heck happened up and down the ticket. We ended up with a RAT Lt. Gov., RAT treasurer, RAT Sec of State -- All positions held by Republicans. BUT our Republican Attorney General Bill Pryor won in a cakewalk, Rep Senator Jeff Sessions got 59% of the vote, 7 of 9 U.S. Congressional seats went Republican, And all the Circuit and Supreme Court openings went to Republicans in Landslides.
How the State races were so out of whack from everything else is a mystery to me.
Remember the 10 comandments judge? He's the chief justice, if that gives you any idea. :)
I'll respectfully disagree. Having worked as a Republican poll watcher in Alabama, I can say without reservation that a runoff election would only give bugsy an opportunity to rig the results. It is ridiculously easy to do given the fact that we Republicans have been unable to get a law passed that requires a voter to provide a photo ID when he arrives at the polls. I could arrive at any poll, take a quick peek at the voter registration printout, pick a name that isn't highlighted, and claim to be that person. Unless the registration clerk personally knows the individual whose identity I have just claimed, I am home free. I have seen this happen more than once.
Then Riley came on and was so smooth, calming and God fearingly in control. It took my anger away. He was in command. We had a great call to arms of Republican poll watchers this year, especially since Singleplan Lottery man killed the voter id programs.
Now we need to get rid of the most crooked politician in Alabama.... Head Democrat Lowell Barron (makes me ashamed of my user name here on FR).
Excuse the Wednesday morning quarterbacking, but I thought that Riley's campaign was lackluster, particularly down the stretch. His campaign was too much of "I am not Don Siegelman", and seemed a little short on the issues. "I am not Don Siegelman is plenty good enough for me, but I suspect that there's a large block of people who want to hear more.
Another factor is that bugsy ran some pretty effective negative advertising late in the campaign concerning Riley's alleged failure to pay property taxes and something else to do with disability claims by his employees. Riley's negative advertising occurred earlier in the campaign and those issues would have appeared "stale" had he ran them again in response.
Finally, and I have no first-hand proof of this, but I'd suspect that there were the usual shenanigans going on in the heavily commiecrat areas to try to rig things Siegelman's way. They just underestimated the number of votes they'd have to steal.......
Feelings of doubt or certainty are irrelevant. One doesn't have to "prove" they're right to assuage another's feelings. (Christ said let your "yes" be "yes" and your "no" be "no.")
But a recount is the right thing to do when it is this close.
The right thing to do: follow the election laws in place as of the day of the election. We have gone down this road before. SCOTUS slapped the Floriduh Supremes for changing election laws in the middle of the election process. The Floriduh Supremes' "feelings" about the law were irrelevant. They cannot make new law, nor can we. It is for the Legislative Branch of government to make "arbitrary" decision "legal" decisions.
We cannot continue to make a mockery of every election and the Rule of Law.
That says it all! LOL!
Seigelman sounds a lot like Hodges here in SC. Hodges pounded Sanford with negative ads that featured lies and no new ideas. Sanford stuck to his issues and was very positive. It was closer then I would have liked but at least we all have Repub Govs now. Hurray!
SD has an automatic recount provision doesn't it?
The key fact is that the count has been certified.
The original error was noted and corrected before certification.
The Democrat has no basis for asking for a recount, espically since the county in question is a strong GOP one!
The only thing he could be hoping to do is trying to 'find' some new votes out of those counties that supported him.
Case closed.
I heard our local (Houston County, Alabama) Probate Judge, Luke Cooley, on the radio this week. She explaineded that Alabama law states votes are not to be certified until Friday following a Tuesday election. Therefore, she did not certify Houston Co.'s vote until Friday, as per letter of the law. I doubt seriously if there is a penalty provision for early certification, but, legally, Friday was the official day to certify.
Isn't it during this recounting process that Siegelman is claiming someone changed the votes?
I would like to hear from some Baldwin County election officials directly on this matter. Before going up to Bay Minette last night to feast at Fraizer's, we drove around the courthouse looking at all the tv trucks... the media is there but why haven't we heard more facts in the media?? But not Whetstone... he's so hard core Republican and it shows.
Also... if anyone is compiling a ping list for this topic I sure would appreciate being added.
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