Before the band strikes up “Hail to the Chief,” before the political pressure peaks for Al Gore to concede, before the media and everyone around the water cooler decide election 2000 is truly over, could we wrap up the most spectacular loose ends in the Florida vote story: beginning with the drop out of three, five, eight, sometimes 10 plus percent of votes cast for President? Then there’s the separate matter of the gross difference in the ballot spoilage between black neighborhoods and white all over the state. It turns out as many as one in three ballots in black precincts of Jacksonville didn’t get to count….
And has anyone heard a good explanation yet as to why Miami Dade stopped hand recounting votes? Were they pressured by those thuggish right wing demonstrators rioters inside the county hall or by their Democratic mayor who it’s said might run for Congress as a republican? Before the inauguration and the muckraking books, how bad was it really? This hour on the Connection.
(Hosted by Christopher Lydon)
Guests:
Mark Sibel, Asst. Managing Editor of Miami Herald
Dan Keating, Writer, Washington Post
Todd Gitlin, Writer for Salon.com
and Ron Rosenbaum, columnist NY Observer.