Hey CMcD, when did you change your user name to Olive Oil???? You can't hide here sweetie! And, stop rubbing it in about your boat!!!

I can't believe the things I am hearing from these Gore supporters. Why in the hell would you want a lying idiot in office. Anyone who firmly believes that he started the internet and the many ideas he has stated about what he has accomplished in life and where he came from and he can't even get that straight.
Lets see with Gore in office we will no longer have military. Noone in the armed services wants to serve under someone like him that would cut our funds and send us all over the damn world to babysit. And for all you supporters of Gore noone in the military would want to put their lives at risk for someone that obviously doesn't care about nothing but political kiss kiss.
Gov. George Bush will win. Its just sad that Al Gore has to sit here and look like a desperate man doing everything he can trying to turn it around. FACE IT...YOU LOST. Don't think for a second supporters of him that EVERYONE doesn't see that fraud you guys have pulled with the votes. Wisconsin...people taking 5 or 6 ballots to vote. And who does that happen to be? The Gore supporters of course. A ballet in a popular democratic area that was approved by a democrat and now they wanna say...I don't know how to look at a damn arrow. Are you an idiot?

A proud Gov. George Bush supporter

Excellent rendition of the party line, but try not to get your blood pressure up so high. You make hilarious typos: "a ballet in a popular democratic area"! Great image.

But why would you want someone who has only actually worked in the last few years and who presided over the demise of two corporations? Oh, yes, because he can say "oh gorsh" and sound no smarter than da averge guy, how cute.

You can tell me why you don't want Gore, but I can certainly tell you why I don't want Bush -- and guess what -- a bunch of strange Floridians in some very strange counties will make the decision for us.

Republicans were calling for an end to the electoral college until a day or two before the election, and now the Democrats are piping up.

It's time for Automatic Run-off Voting (you vote your 1st choice, then your second, then your third), with a weighted electoral college. You, dear Proud Popover, could have voted Patton, then Buchanan, then Bush, while I could have voted Bartlett, then Nader, and then Gore -- and we wouldn't be in this mess.

You non-Texans just don't know Dubya. He was doing cocaine still at 30 & didn't quit drinking until he was 40--so much for "youthful" indiscretions. He got his oil business from his father's friends, his money from the sale of the Texas Rangers (after the city of Arlington passed a half-cent sales tax to pay for the ballpark & raised the value of the team), cost Texas taxpayers millions & our air even more when he stopped an unpopular but important emissions control program after the company who won the bid spent millions preparing for the program. Texans don't like to give people power so the governor has little power. He HAD to work with Democrats--he had no choice. He is arrogant, has a smirk and is not the smartest man. His people are rude.

George W. Bush approved recounting PAPER BALLOTS by hand!! Has anyone been allowed to see the medical report of the present resident of The (tarnished) White House? No one has seen them, because he, the current resident, has not ALLOWED them to be released to the public.

Bill Daley and Gore are blowing it. As soon as the Secretary of State refused to extend the deadline, they should have done two things. First, they should have gone to court, which they did.

But they didn't do the other really important thing they should do. They should have held a quick press conference where Gore personally pledged to agree to abide by the results of a state-wide manual recount.

This is a win/win for Gore. A statewide manual recount will likely go in his favor, which is why the Bush people oppose it. But if Gore were to lose a state-wide manual recount, he would look honorable and look like a leader too, ready to mount a strong challenge in four years. Also, if Gore makes this offer and Bush refuses, Bush will look like he stole the election and won't be able to govern.

The reason Bush opposes a manual recount is that the poor slobs who work in these offices for Burger King wages are all Democrats, so disenfranchised that they would happily "lose" a few Bush ballots if it meant algore could get elected. Mechanical counts eliminate cheating.

Any recount will be done with observers from both candidates at each table. Besides, you Republicans are always so quick to say Democrats cheat--this is where Jeb Bush is the Governor, the Secretary of State is a rich Bush backer with some interesting history of her own, and the person who called the election for Dubya on Fox (1st one to call) was a first cousin to the Bush brothers. Of what are they afraid?

All these Gore Whiners are hilarious. They keep asking what the Bush people are afraid of but the Gorons are the ones shaking in their shoes. They know that once the counting stops, they have to admit defeat. Therefore, by their reasoning, they will try and keep the country recounting votes for the next 4 years. Get a life Gorons.

Wow, your rapier wit is truly disarming, Legal Voter (!) What's your point? Your legal team will mount challenges wherever it needs to. That's the AMERICAN WAY!
So typical of repubs to insult and personalize.

Interestingly, with all the bashing of one another's opinion, most posters seem not to be looking forward to post-January 20, and asking how government will function. Last night, I witnessed something encouraging. Here were some new House members-elect, still learning their way to the bathroom (as one admitted)in a Kennedy school-type setting, working to find out about the gears of Congress. And all of them emphasized that they wanted, above all else, to work in coalitions to get bills passed and sent to the Senate. These were young Repos and Demos vowing to get above the fray and try to move needed legislation. They said this was the message from their constituents. Is it possible that Federal power and leadership will now shift back to Congress as in the early 1800's, because Al and W. are both damaged goods, by any measure one could choose. I'm assuming that people like DeLay, Armey, Kasick - inept maniacs all when it comes to governing - will back off and let someone more positive set the direction. Hastert needs to relinquish his position too, because he's not leadership material, but of course this will not occur. I nonetheless hope those new, young members will not become discouraged, and I for one will keep an eye on them and root for them, mightily. It will not matter a hoot who wins the Presidency because neither will have the strength to enact any of their fringe ideas. The US wants to remain centrist a la Bill. Congress, however, never fails to daunt one's hopes. During the impeachment imbroglio, all the Repos in the House had to do was give an appearance of governing, and then reap the benefits in the fall of 2000. Of course they did none of this. It should have been W. in a walk. And the Demos in Congress are as a group equally pathetic. I do hope for the US. Lets stop bashing one another and offer some postive ideas. Write a letter to your House member and tell her/him you want to see cooperation, not confrontation. Redirect your energies to make an impact. Hope you do, because there are some very birghts folks on this thread. Signing off: worn out with the daily media and politico minutiae from Fla., and yearning to look at the post-election picture.

As an education lobbyist who deals with Congress every day, I can tell you one thing. All new members give the appearance of being above the fray when first elected. They all say they are about cooperation and coalitions. In the end, they are just as partisan as all the other members of Congress.

Yea lets let Gore in office so he can sell us out to the chinese and finish what Clinton has started. And with our military diminishing maybe they can nuc the US where all the democRATS are.

Couple of points: First, the US presidency is one of the weakest chief executive positions in any democratic country in the world. Bill Clinton had lofty ambitions, but did not get much accomplished. Not one of his major proposals for domestic reform came to fruition and his foreign policy is almost as bad. The US Constitution purposely diluted the office of the presidency and prevented undue concentrations of power. Checks and balances!

As for the electoral college being unfair, our founding fathers wanted everyone to have the same voice in government. They feared overly ambitious politicians who might demagouge large segments of the population. The electoral college was meant to protect the rights of the minority in a national election. This allows small states a voice and focuses candidates to court minority voters including farmers.

As for Bush and Gore, IMO, both men are behaving badly. We are seeing the real Al Gore, desperate and needy and Bush, arguing he won the election. They are like two little children fighting over a toy. Both men need to call off their dogs and wait until the recount is completed.

As for the voter confusion, we need standardized procedures and ballots for all elections. What would happen if each county designed their own highway signs?

Ilisa, perhaps you work for an assn., interest group or law firm in DC, but I'm on the Hill all the time, in a different capacity, but not as a staffer, and in working on bills and hearings, I see members change and work together productively. I do not see such a sameness as you describe. Members are genuinely interested in SOME of their subcommittee assignments, and if they're to have anything to report through their district offices, they MUST coalesce with others and at least get some bills introduced. True, 99.99% of it will die, but sometimes, as you no doubt see, after some efforts over several or more years, you may end up with a rider in some bill, and you have made a dent. So, it takes time. And that's the way it's played. But Demos and Repos band together much more than the media report, and they actually move pretty good bills sometimes. Congress has changed over time, sometimes for the worse (one has only to see the track record since 1994), but there is a capacity for change. I know because I see it first-hand all the time. This is based on 20 plus years of seeing it up close and personal, as they were wont to say at one time. I am just more optimistic because of that. One way to view the situation up there is to look at the tradition and make-up of the subcommittees. Some have a tradition of bipartisan work, and this rubs off on the new members. In those instances Repos and Demos seem able to work to move something very quickly. Often it bogs down in the Senate, which in many ways is now more archaic than the House (never thought I'd say that!). Anyway, I remain hopeful, and I hope posters will in fact contact their Members and encourage cooperation. I'm going to be leaving this city in the near future, and I'd like to see more cooperation while I'm still here and having to watch the scene. Especially with the weak White House we're like to face in the next term. Ciao, J

News Flash: This just in. This weekend is The Big Game, Florida vs Florida State. Every room within 50 miles of Tallahassee has been sold out for months. The press, all of them, national, and international will have to take their cameras and mikes and vacate their hotel rooms. Floridians retake Florida! Yes!

And "ARegular", it's *Miss* Olive Oil to you, thank you!

Alohaaa Kalena,
No, not my handiwork. (Maybe I'm being "Noached" by a HI travel agt?).

Lifelong Dem. (since'70) even though you may describe me as a "Lapsed Dem", of late.

I've actually walked precints for McGovern and some local Dem Assembly and Congressional races.
Of course, I had hair, smaller waistline and walked faster and longer(like some other things in '72) but until Clinton came along, who did we offer up for me to support?

Big Dan Inouye fan, also.
Been pretty much apolitical the past 15 years since we've been traveling more.

I think if there are any Earthquakes on the east coast, it's our Founding Fathers rolling over in their graves.

Mahalo and Kauai no ka oi! 44 more days,yes...New Years!
Kal

ps This is all making Grand Cayman, Costa Rica and Belize look better and better.

An associated press story that just came over the wire a very short time ago said in part: "As for the 5 p.m. Tuesday deadline, Democrats say Harris is a partisan Republican -- she campaigned for Bush -- who decided to stick to the letter of Florida law in order to pull out a squeaker of a victory for him. Judge Lewis ruled that there was nothing in state law to prevent Harris from considering late totals, and warned her in strong language that she would need good reason to ignore them. ''To determine ahead of time that such returns will be ignored ... is not the exercise of discretion. It is the abdication of that discretion,'' Lewis wrote."

Harris is just a lackey for the Bush brothers.

Olive Oil-I stand corrected, you are not CMc. She is one of the nicest people here. Not someone like you who is completely full of themselves, rude, arrogant and *itchy. I bet you scare the sharks on your laa dee da boat.

ARegular, I should have passed on your original note, however, you should remember that if you reach out and smack somebody...you should probably expect to get smacked back.

As far as boats...the double reef and storm anchor tale was an allegory, attempting to inject humor into the storm that is surrounding us here that I anticipated this week. The other mention was only to say that I HAD to get away from these issues, as they were eating me up and that, without any source of shore communication was the only way I could accomplish that. Please understand that there are 1 MILLION registered boats in the state...and only boats over 16' are registered--so how many there are all told is probably close to double that figure. It's a way of life here, and owning one means absolutely nothing. No one thinks a thing about going out...nothing! It's a non-event. If my comment was misconstrued as boasting, I apologize, but that was the furthest thing from my mind and I don't believe it deserved the response from you that it garnered, nor did the 2nd rather innocuous note! (And as far as the sharks go...I hope you're right, the man who was killed by the Bull shark down here this summer was swimming in our little bay). gt;