i'm concerned with the nature of the political game lately. have we ever had another moment in history (ignoring 2000 election) where the candidates have contested and brought about legal battle over the results? the loser can't just accept that he lost? rather than drag the race out to exhaust all resources in hopes of exploiting errors or other issues?.. i have a strong feeling that we are going to have another jejune battle over the presidency.. i strongly feel that the loser, whether it be the candidate of choice or not, should step away and accept his fate. bush might have been a little better liked if he didn't act like a selfish little rich boy who gets his way. i'm sorry, but if you don't win the big fuzzy ape at the carnival, then don't take the carnies to court over who should get the prize.. accept it, you suck at throwing those little rings at the fishbowls.

lol
good points, but at the same time.
I think the presidency is an important enough prize to where we go to great lengths to ensure that the proper person was chosen, no matter how far those lengths may be. Cause if we make a mistake we wont be able to correct it for almost half a decade.
In close races, in our day in age, things like this may be necessary. If it doesnt come close, I don think the lawyers will be brought into it, and if so, thats a bit petty.

I agree, H.S. class president we don't need to count the chads.
But President of the US, yes it's important enough to do it.
I would rather it be a clear win for one than the other, but if thats not the case
then every precaution to make it clear who is the rightfull winner must be undertaken.

i do agree that proper action should be taken if the voting appears irregular or fraudulent, but if this is supposed to be an important prize, i would rather see a candidate relinquish properly, rather than be cast out by a ruling, to be gentlemently enough to be above the squabble.. grumble grumble.. politicians make me sick..

i think you speak for everyone with that last statement, no matter who they're behind . . .

looks like someone agrees with you wonderful

well.. as much as i'd hate to admit it, kerry did what i would have hoped he would have done. he conceded defeat, and accepted his defeat. he did it with a logical decision and the right of mind, in dragging the decision out, he would have divided the country even more, but he did the right thing, i applaud him for doing just that.

it was a good race, too bad i dislike gee'dub

Interesting how the first race was won slowly by Bush because of the squabbling of his party. And the second race was won quickly by Bush because of the "decency" of the opposing party (although its all politics really).

I'd like to know if all of these extra votes in all of these states are going to be counted for historical accuracy, or just disregarded. I'm sure those who voted by provisional dont want their votes to be "lost".

it'll be interesting to see how that all plays out, most of the absentee ballots in some states haven't even been looked at yet.
theoretically, those are to be counted within 10 days of the election, at which point, it is tradition to give the final result.

lol.

Afghanistan have held an election at the same time. They seem to have managed to elect a president without any problems at all!

;-)

if the media didn't hype the coverage and sensationalize to keep viewers watching things would look alot better. aka...Ohio should've been called last night. It's sad when ratings are considered more important than inspiring global confidence.

Actually, this time I'm not so sure it was totally a ratings ploy. I think they were going over the top to avoid what happened in the last election, in which Florida was called before it's time. I'd rather have them be overcautious than jumping the gun.

i agree canoe, i'd rather have accurate accounts of the polls than erroneous results

agree with rebecca, I would rather they not call a key state early in a close race. florida was in the same state last yr, they called it early and look where it got them. I think it was very tactful for everyone to wait it out on ohio.

by last nite i mean 1 or 2 am central time...98% of the vote was in in Ohio and it was the same margin as it is today ~150,000 votes...New Mexico should've also been called at the same time(unless there were monster provisionals that i didn't know about) because based on percentages it was enough for it to be impossible for Kerry to win.

(at the same time they were building Wisconsin and New Hampshire on 1% margins. they were building drama and it just made me quite angry) [not that it matters anymore anyway].