respublica

Bush and Kerry: a retrospective

If you're bored with basketball, confused over the news, sit back, relax, and have a look at contrasting photos of Bush and Kerry taken during the past presidential campaign.  I will confess, I laughed.

Prosecuting campaign violence

During the run up to the November presidential election each week brought news of acts of vandalism and/or sabatoge against republican campaign headquarters or campaign workers nationwide.  These acts were matters of fact, not fictional urban myths.  Anyone reading about these things probably figured no one would ever be caught much less charged in these crimes.  Once the election cycle ended, taking with it the emotional partisanship, the question remained as to whether law enforcement would bother with any lasting investigation. 

But it appears as though Wisconsin is not going to let those responsible for the tire slashing of republican campaign workers' van used to get people to the polls.  5 democratic activists working for the Kerry campaign, including the sons of a first term congresswoman and Milwaukee's former acting mayor, were charged with "criminal damge to property", a felony which carries a maximum penalty of 3 1/2 years in prison and a $10,000 fine. 

Maybe, just maybe, we are entering into a period of zero tolerance for those who try to mess with the elections.  In East St. Louis, Illinois, a grand jury was convened to investigate vote fraud in that city.  Now Wisconsin is stepping forward, not being cowed by those with political connections.  Let's see if the same actions hold true in other parts of the country where campaigns headquarters were attacked. 

Could it be?

It looks like it just might be.  Kerry's back.  He had a talk with Newsweek which is bringing the story out in this week's issue.   Funny photo to begin the article, brings back memories of all the campaign pictures of John Kerry in various poses, both athletic and otherwise.

Ohio recount ends...or does it?

Ohio election officials officially finished the presidential race recount today and you just have to laugh at the Associated Press.  Or you have to know as you read that you just can't take what they say at face value.  The headline reads:  Ohio Recount Ends, Shows Vote Closer.  Yes indeed, the total is a huge 300 votes closer and Bush still won by 118,457.  Sheesh  Does someone there at the A.P. miss Al Gore or what?

Meanwhile, here in Illinois, voting continues for our favorite state reptile and amphibian.  At a news conference on Monday, Lt. Governor, Pat Quinn urged the people of Illinois to get out the vote before the Friday deadline.  And oh, my gosh, he was joined on the podium by "six students from Jackson Middle School in Villa Park."  Villa Park is my childhood hometown.  What are they thinking?

The finalists in the amphibian category are the gray tree frog, the Eastern tiger salamander and the American toad. Reptilian choices are the Eastern box turtle, the common garter snake and the painted turtle. Each species was represented at the news conference.  That I would loved to have seen.  You too can make your voice heard by voting here.  There is not a choice for: I do not want a state reptile which would be my first choice.

Provisional ballots voided

Slowly but surely Illinois counties are nearing the end of the provisional ballot process.   In McLean County, the city of Bloomington had 64 provisional ballots and 14 were counted.  Bloomington and McLean County seemed to follow a statewide trend where hundreds of provisional ballots were thrown out because there was no evidence to show the voters were registered.

The McLean County clerk believes the provisional ballot system "largely failed and needs to be fixed."  However...

"We had people driving through McLean County from Cook County who stopped to vote," Milton said. "Those votes cannot be counted."  It looks to me as though the provisional ballots worked as they should, in other words, ballots were not counted when given to people who did not live in the correct precinct or county. 

In suburban Cook County about half the provisional ballots were thrown out.  In most cases the reason these ballots did not count was because a person attempted to vote who was not registered or was in the wrong precinct.  Maybe those Cook County voters should have been down in McLean and vice versa.

Get out the vote campaigns were one of the major stories of this election, but largely ignored by so many was the very real fact that you have to be registered to vote and you have to be registered by a certain length of time before the election.  At least in Illinois you can't just walk into a precinct and register that day.  Voters simply have to take some responsibility and make some effort to get themselves legally on the voter rolls.  It isn't difficult, actually it is much easier than getting a driver's license and no one is complaining about having to do that. 

But I mean, getting off the highway and trying to vote in a strange city?  Come on.

Swift boat recap

The Swift Boat Veterans for Truth held an election debriefing Saturday evening in order to close the files, so to speak.  An interesting recap found here.

Election vote tally keeps climbing

Looks like the states are still counting votes.  It must be absentees or something, but President Bush's vote total has climbed past 60 million.  Amazing.  Check the map and the latest vote numbers here.

The last thing to go

So the election is over and you've cheered or threatened to move to Canada, but now you face the most formidable challenge in coping with the end.  (Theme from Jaws) da da da duh...How do you get that bumper sticker you were so proud of off your car?  Many people smartened up this time around and put the stickers on their rear windows which may take a razor of some type to remove.  But for those who stuck theirs on the actual car frame, you now know political bumper stickers are made with the nastiest of glues.  Peel the paint right off...Well, eHow can help.  Every bit of information you need for adhesive removal.  I linked one page, but search around for advice unique to you.

Electoral college maps-final 2004

                           

Bush 286  Kerry 252  via Yahoo news  Finally New Mexico is red.

                         

Red State/Blue State by county.  How did your county vote?   Check out Alaska...No Blue.  Same for Oklahoma, looks like Kansas almost made it all red.

Carville rehashes for St. Louis

James Carville came to St. Louis yesterday and spoke twice, to the students and faculty of Maryville University and at Powell Symphony Hall as part of the university's featured speaker series.

His television brashness was missing and a sort of resigned depression took its place.  However, his remarks did echo the thoughts of the democratic letter writer which is found directly below this.  Neither man is clenching their fists, scrunching up their brows and muttering about values, morals, evangelicals.  While they are both on the same page, the question will come down to how they change their party to make it viable to voters across the country.  Let's be honest, there is a resentment against East Coast pretensions.  A James Carville quote from yesterday:

The Democrats' message? It was all over the board, Carville indicated. They talked about everything from war to stem cell research, he said.  "We need to get off the somewhat correct perception that we're an accumulation of interest groups," he said.

Echos of the letter to the editor, no?