-Caveat Lector-
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Editor, The Konformist
http://www.konformist.com
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Print/0,3858,4150257,00.html
Recount shows Gore had won
Special report: the US elections
Martin Kettle in Washington
Monday March 12, 2001
The Guardian
Fresh evidence has emerged in Florida that Al Gore might have won last
year's presidential election under a less contentious voting system, and
if the US supreme court had not stepped in to stop the recount.
A comprehensive new survey of "undervotes" in Palm Beach county shows
that Mr Gore would have gained 784 more votes than George Bush if every
excluded paper bearing some kind of mark next to a candidate's name had
been counted.
The butterfly ballot, which has candidates' names on opposing pages with
a row of punch holes in the middle, confused thousands of voters in the
Democratic stronghold, which was one of the areas at the centre of the
post-election recount battle.
Those Palm Beach votes would have been enough on their own for Mr Gore
to overtake Mr Bush, who was declared the winner in Florida by a statewide
margin of 537 votes.
The Palm Beach recount figures came too late to be included in the
official tally of votes certified by the Florida secretary of state
Katherine Harris 19 days after the November 7 election.
The new survey, conducted by the Palm Beach Post, looked at all the
9,150 disputed undervotes of all kinds, including 5,736 which contained marks
next to the names of Mr Bush and Mr Gore and which Judge Burton ordered
should not be counted.
The researchers found that these dimpled chads held the key to Mr Gore's
chances.
Guardian Unlimited Guardian Newspapers Limited 2001
*****
3/14/01
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Most polled say bush NOT in charge of own administration
A CBS News/New York Times poll released today showed bush is burdened by
a prevalent perception that he's not the one who's really in command of
the "ship of state". FIFTY percent say bush is NOT really in charge of
what goes on in his own administration, the Times reported.
Gee -- at least I'm not the ONLY one who thinks that: not by a LONG
shot, in fact. That's certainly reassuring.
It was also noted that deep and lingering resentments remain among black
Americans about bush's appointment to the presidency: three-quarters
don't accept him as the legitimate president, according to poll results.
Me either.
Another looming concern for Dub: 54 percent of Americans say that things
in this country are going in the wrong direction, compared with 40
percent who say things are going in the right direction, the Times
reported. Nearly three times as many now see the economy as getting
worse than just one year ago.
A worsening economy could turn into serious problem for bush and the
BushMob. A separate polling revealed only THIRTY-FOUR percent say they
have much confidence in bush's ability to keep the our economy strong;
36 percent have some confidence and 28 percent have little or none.
VERY, very poor numbers by ANYONE's reckoning.
On other fronts, most Americans aren’t especially enthusiastic about
bush's plan to cut taxes. Interestingly, MOST polled see through all the
smoke and mirrors, saying the plan favors the rich and does little, if
ANYTHING, to help average, middle-class people or stimulate the economy.
There is also VERY little support for some OTHER BushMob high priorities
like drilling in the Arctic Wildlife Refuge for MERE DAYS worth of oil,
and withholding money from public schools that perform poorly, the poll
shows. On a few issues including missile defense, school vouchers and
federal grants to religious organizations, many respondents were
initially supportive of bush's proposals but changed their minds after
learning more about them. Smart thinking there, that's for SURE.
*****
03/15/2001 7:09 pm ET
Bush Refuses To Help West With Power Woes
California Faces Dire Summer Power Shortfall
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - At a hearing before the Senate Energy Committee
Thursday, U.S. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham forcefully reiterated
the Bush administration's opposition to price controls in Western
regions. On a day Californians again faced threats of power shortages,
Abraham said blackouts were "inevitable" this summer in the nation's
most populous state.
California and Northwest lawmakers on the energy panel blasted the
administration's reluctance to get behind price caps, saying a temporary
cap would ease the pain for utilities, businesses and consumers paying
hundreds of dollars more per megawatt-hour of electricity than they
usually do.
Apparently unmoved by urgent calls for such action from western
lawmakers, Abraham said at the hearing: "The problem will get worse, and
blackouts this summer appear inevitable when peak demand is expected to
be 61,125 megawatts while supplies are anticipated to be only 56,159
megawatts."
Testifying before the panel, Washington state Gov. Gary Locke said
unprecedented record low water levels have depleted hydroelectric
reserves in his state, jeopardizing jobs and pushing power bills sky high.
"Utility ratepayers are now facing surcharges as high as 75 percent of
their monthly retail power bills," Locke said.
Later in the day, a White House spokesman said despite threats of
continued power price spikes and shortages in the West, President George
W. Bush was against price intervention.
"The president does not support price controls. He thinks price controls
have not worked, will not work, and do not work," spokesman Ari
Fleischer told reporters.
MAJOR PACIFIC DROUGHT LOOMS
A spring weather forecast just issued by the federal government has
added to the grim outlook across the western U.S.
Drought conditions were forecast to continue growing worse in the
Pacific Northwest, where dams provide hydro-electric supplies for
California.
Seattle's rainfall is already one foot below normal, forecasters said.
With no significant new generating plants built in the state during the
past decade, California has had to buy more electricity from wholesalers
in other states.
POWER SHORTFALLS ALMOST CERTAIN
The California agency that manages a statewide transmission grid
declared the first power alert in 10 days after a sudden loss of
electricity imports from power plants in the Pacific Northwest.
Officials at the California Independent System Operator said about 1,600
megawatts of power were off line, pushing the state's energy reserves
down to within five percent of actual demand and prompting declaration
of a "Stage Two" alert. An ISO spokeswoman said it was unclear why the
generation -- enough to power about 1.6 million homes -- was cut.
Industry experts have cautioned California could total anywhere from 20
to 200 hours of rolling blackouts during hot summer days when air
conditioner use rises, he said.
California, which has struggled to solve chronic power problems in the
past nine months, has already had three blackouts since June. In January
alone, blackouts rolled across northern California for two days, forcing
grid operators to briefly shut down entire neighborhoods on a rotating
basis to avoid uncontrolled and far more widespread outages.
California Gov. Gray Davis, a Democrat who has been desperately trying
to craft a long-term solution in which the state purchases the
transmission lines of three major utilities and encourages conservation,
said he remained confident California "would have just enough power to
avoid blackouts" over the summer.
"Federal officials are of a different view. Our goal remains to do
whatever humanly possible to avoid blackouts," Davis said.
BUSH TEAM LIKES REFUNDS
Abraham assured the senate panel that the White House was concerned
about high energy prices in California.
The administration supports a recent FERC order requiring $69 million in
refunds to California utilities that were overcharged for wholesale
power during January, he said.
The FERC order found 13 wholesale suppliers charged more than the $273
per megawatt-hour price that was justified in January when California
faced dire shortages.
The White House contends that a national energy plan is needed to
address long-term electricity issues as well as oil, natural gas and
renewable fuels. A presidential task force, headed by Vice President
Dick Cheney, is expected to have its recommendations ready by late April.
Robert Glynn, chairman of PG&E, said a five-month cap on wholesale power
prices was necessary.
"Based on what we know today, there is a very good chance that the west
is heading for a meltdown," Glynn told the Senate panel. That could
produce "stratospheric" prices by summer, he added.
A price cap could be ordered by Abraham or FERC for just the peak summer
months of May 1 through Sept. 30, Glynn said.
Separately, two senators announced they planned to offer legislation
requiring temporary price caps.
Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat, and Gordon Smith, an Oregon
Republican, said such a cap would allow wholesalers to charge "just and
reasonable" prices. The legislation would also require western states to
pass on the cost of electricity to retail customers, but the states
would be able to determine how and when this would be done.
*****
Meanwhile, back at the Democratic Party...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A50030-2001Mar10?language=printer
The Democrats Aren't 'Just Resting'
By Robert B. Reich
Sunday, March 11, 2001; Page B07
If I were a political consumer, I would -- with apologies to the late Monty
Python parrot -- be going back to the store right about now and registering a
complaint: "This political party -- the Democratic Party. It's dead."
"No, no, no no," he replies, "it's just resting."
But I know a dead party when I see one, and I'm looking at a dead party right
now. Just consider the past eight years: lost the presidency, both houses of
Congress, almost all its majorities in state legislatures, most
governorships. Will lose additional House seats in the next redistricting.
Most of the current justices of the Supreme Court appointed by Republicans,
also most current federal judges. And the interminable Bill Clinton scandals.
The Democratic Party is stone dead. Dead as a doornail.
Not at all, he says. After all, the Democrats are only one seat away from
taking over the Senate. If Katherine Harris and the Supreme Court hadn't
mucked it up, Al Gore would be in the White House right now. He won the
popular vote by a half-million. Democrats and Greens together won more than 3
million more votes than the Republicans. And the Dems raised as much soft
money as the Republicans for the first time in history. Forget the Clinton
unpleasantness. The public will forget it. It always does. The party's not
dead, "just resting."
Maybe, or perhaps it's stunned, lying there inert with less than two years to
go until the midterms. Simply can't get over not having Bill Clinton in the
White House.
But just you wait, say the party's salesmen: Someone will emerge to bring it
back to life.
Look, the only reason the Democratic Party is sitting upright is that it's
been nailed there, like the Python parrot.
Who speaks for the Democrats? Clinton is utterly disgraced. Gore ran a lousy
campaign. Terry McAuliffe heads the Democratic National Committee only
because he raised a ton of money for Clinton.
And don't tell me the Democratic Leadership Council, with all that talk about
being from the vital center -- why, even Hillary joined up -- is going to
revive this bird. The DLC stands for nothing, nada, zero, except it's
anti-union. No grass roots. No troops. No one out in America cares about the
DLC. The DLC says it's centrist, but centrism is wherever the polls say most
Americans are. And most Americans drift wherever there's a lot of hullabaloo.
Centrism is unprincipled. Centrism doesn't lead. It follows. Centrism is Dick
Morris. Centrism is nowhere.
If the Democratic Party's alive, why doesn't it insist that the budget
surplus be spent on health care for the 44 million Americans without it? And
child care for the millions who lack it? And good schools for all kids? Why
doesn't the party say it's plain absurd to spend $300 billion on the military
when the Cold War is over, and tens of billions more on a missile-defense
shield that won't work? Why isn't it outraged that most of the benefits of
President Bush's tax cut will go to people at the top? Why does it play dead
on the environment? Why? Because it's not playing dead. It is dead!
The Dems aren't even fighting for campaign finance reform. They got so much
soft money last time that they've decided to hold on.
This party is no more. It has ceased to be. It's expired and gone to meet its
maker. This is an ex-party!
The writer was secretary of labor from 1993 to 1997 and is the author of "The
Future of Success."
© 2001 The Washington Post Company
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