Screaming Penguin - Source Does Matter

Well, as of this AM, although all of the news sites are very bogged down, the election results are still foggy. Currently both of the presidential camps are claiming victory.

This has been an amazing race with good voter turnout and the amazing result is that Gore is undoubtedly the popular vote winner by a margin of about 200K votes (very slim) and that Bush appears (emphasis on appears) to be the electoral vote winner also by a very narrow margin.

The state that hangs in the balance is currently FLA. The votes are in and a 1200 vote margin puts Bush in the lead. However, there are apparently still around 2000 out of the country absentee ballots to tally and those could be the difference either way (the Bush folks think these must be military votes and as such they feel confident, but at the same time these could be other overseas votes such as the high number of Florida citizens whom live abroad in places like Israel where people are generally concerned about foreign issues and favor Gore.)

Also, the media incorrectly reporting the victory of Gore early may have certainly had an impact on voters still in line, the entire FLA picture is unclear at this point and either way "unbelievable."

While the president is still up in the air the congressional votes are considered to be fairly complete. The Republican party lost a few seats in the Senate and a few in the House but still holds a razor thin majority in both (not enough to stop a philibuster in the Senate for example, that number is 60.) This means that whomever wins the presidency will have a very balanced and potentially difficult Congress. Note that there are also several senior republican senators who are in ailing health and are from states with democratic governors (governor appointee if people like Strom Thurmond, now 97, cannot continue for any reason.)

Many other issues were on ballots across the country and these are all now resolved. Several states voted overwhelmingly to pass laws that regulate gun buyers at gun shows, Alabama repealed a law on the books banning same sex marriages (60% to 40% - who the hell is in that 40%?), several states banned same sex marriages, school vouchers were defeated in several states, drug programs in lieu of prison sentences were approved in some states and rejected in others and maybe most importantly of all (kidding here) Alaska did NOT legalize pot (the stakes were not medical marijuana, but simply LEGAL marijuana, hmmmm.)

Overall, the political turnout was high and the process seems quite healthy. The focus of real third parties like the Green party and Ralph Nader (dont get me started on the profoundly ignorant and incredibly stupid Pat Buchanon, I dont want to go off ad hominem again) were definitely felt and should be recognized. Issues concerning our political process should be thought over carefully and hopefully something will be done about the electoral process (popular vote meaningless?), campaign finances and special interests. This election was overall very good for America and again it seemed to demonstrate a healthy process that we can all be proud of although certain issues in the process do need attention.   Usa Today Results