This is the United States of America. We don't stop counting votes as soon as
one person or another gets ahead.
The results of the Florida recount, required by Florida law, are not final.
Hand recounts, allowed by Florida law, have not even been started. The
absentee ballots have not been counted. The suits, filed by citizens with the
right by the Florida and US constitution to seek redress in the courts for
potential wrongs, have not been resolved. If George Bush disagrees with
Florida law, he ought to take it up with his brother Jeb, not the Gore
campaign.
In the United States of America, and in this election more than any other,
every vote counts. Let's count all the votes.
And if Bush wants to call the election now, I suppose he can. Gore leads in
the popular vote. Absent Florida, where the results aren't final, he leads
the electoral college. So Bush can certainly concede if he doesn't want to
wait for the rest of the votes to be counted. (As the GOP reminded us
endlessly Thursday, while the AP results showed Bush's lead in Florida
steadily narrowing, the AP figures are just projections and not to be
trusted. Of course, the Bush campaign is suddenly showing a lot more
confidence in the AP figures this morning.)
Patrick
