P.S. Sorry I ran against you

[nibot]

WASHINGTON -- Congress yesterday officially ratified President Bush's election victory, but not before Democrats lodged a formal challenge to the electoral votes from Ohio, forcing an extraordinary two-hour debate that began the 109th Congress on a sharp note of partisan acrimony.

It was only the second such challenge to a presidential race since 1877. Even the bitter contest in 2000 between Bush and Al Gore did not produce a formal challenge to the results from Florida, the site of a 36-day standoff. Although House members objected at the time, no senator joined in, as is required under federal law.

But yesterday, a single senator -- Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., joined Rep. Stephanie Tubbs-Jones, D-Ohio, in objecting to Ohio's 20 electoral votes for Bush, citing voting irregularities in the state.

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Dear Senator Boxer,

Thank you for supporting the objection to the certification of Ohio's electoral votes on the grounds of voting irregularities. Your action in bringing this critical issue to discussion when no other senator was willing to do so makes me proud to be a Californian.

thanks,
Tobin Fricke

Comments

N.B. the bitching

[calbruin.livejournal.com]

Let me draw you attention to the curious incident of the Democrat dog. (http://www.livejournal.com/users/calbruin/115928.html)

[quirkyfemme.livejournal.com]

I dont understand why republicans would spin this to their advantage and start whining about irregularities in Ohio when Bush already won. I dont mean to wax conspiratorial, but jesus fucking christ, the Secretary of State was chair of the Bush re-election campaign. This merits a serious debate.

[nibot.livejournal.com]

I don't think there's so much "spin" in the Republican position—I think their official position is, "Get over it already!"

[quirkyfemme.livejournal.com]

Im over it but not over election fraud. Thats why it pisses me off that we would equate this to saving Kerry's ass.

[(Anonymous)]

I was absolutely delighted yesterday when I heard that Barbara Boxer had decided to join the challenge. I heard her speak at a function for Democratic senators prior to the election, at which Hillary Clinton, Barrack Obama, and Howard Dean, among others, also spoke. I was impressed with her then, and I am even happier now. I had been thinking of sending her a thank you email. Hope you don't mind if I steal yours!

ME (Kenny's mother)

[kari-marie.livejournal.com]

I called her (well, her office, anyway) and thanked her. (From what our local Dem. party rep told me earlier this year, in the official governmental way of working things, a phone call counts as 20 voices, whereas I believe an email only counts as 5, so I usually try to call my reps about things like this and like Arnold's thing about tying teacher salaries to merit. Ugh.)

[once-a-banana.livejournal.com]

Better late than never, I guess....
Still, my first reaction is that it's a damn shame no senator joined in at all back in 2000, when it was so crystal clear the Florida election had been so badly botched -- and it was absolutely clear to everyone that Gore should have won the state if these irregularities were corrected, and Gore won the national popular vote. That was our betrayal, and it's totally irreversible now.... Meanwhile, in 2004 the margin for Bush was so large in Ohio that I'm not at all convinced any of these objections are valid (actually I'd be quite interested in a link to any info showing that Kerry could have made up that many tens of thousands of votes, if we accounted for the irregularities). While symbolically it's nice to have actions like this, it doesn't exactly increase my confidence in "the system", and rather than thank her I'd honestly be more inclined to ask our fine senator where the hell she was back in 2000 when we actually needed her. Still, the largest benefit to her action is that it may help create an atmosphere in which the democrats won't be afraid to staunchly oppose things like Bush's supreme court nominees, in spite of his mandate. Unless of course the reaction to it sends the dems running off with their tails between their legs, making excuses...