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Sort of. For all of the silly Nader apologies cluttering DU--that not a one of Nader voters would have voted for Gore, that eight zillion Dems voted Republican, that Clinton's penis cast thousands of ballots, etc.--I'm surprised that no Naderites have mentioned the only way Gore could have made every Nader vote irrelevant.
There's only one way that Gore could have won after the votes were cast, and he blew it.
Gore could have gone on TV and said, "There are so many irregularities in this election--the disenfranchisement of voters, ballot problems, and machine problems to name a few--that there is only one way to determine who Floridians chose to be their president. And that is to count all of Florida's votes by hand. Since fairness is more important than winning, I have instructed my lawyers to request a statewide recount using standards identical to those signed into law by Governor Bush less than one year ago."
It would have been over. Chimp would have lost the PR battle (since he couldn't have possibly fought a method he signed) and, as it turns out, the election at that moment.
Gore would have had to file for a recount in every county separately, but that was certainly doable with the number of lawyers who were ready and willing to help. If Brazil et. al. had decided the day after the election to demand a hand count of all the votes, the papers could have been filed immediately after the machine recount.
This would have eliminated at least two weeks of wasted time and
This is actually the ONLY valid point the Nader supporters make since it was the only way the Gore campaign could have made the Nader effect irrelevant.
There were people in the Gore campaign who were arguing for that position, and it turns out that they were right and that the wobbly kneed Gore advisers who won the day cost Gore the presidency.
Why do I want to give Nader supportrs with their argument? I don't. I just think we should remind ourselves that when you're dealing with the rethugs it's always better to risk a nasty fight than to finesse them.
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