So it starts

[Gonz]

The Kerry/Edwards ticket already has a larger than usual number of attorneys, presumably preparing themselves to follow the Al Gore route & try to win by judicial nomination. Add to that the number of non right wing whacko radio & TV "pundits" that are calling for a Bush victory.

Now to top it all off, in this mornings editorial section...not in the editorial area mind you but on page one, came a blasphemous, illogical & idiotic story with no byline whatsoever, perpetrating a fraud on the uninformed.

In 2000, the Electoral College undermined democracy by sending the runner-up to the White House.

In 2004, the Electoral College is already undermining democracy, even though the election is nearly three months away.

And it is particularly harmful to Indiana.

Regardless of whether the Electoral College favors Republicans over Democrats, it is bad for the nation because it undermines the principle of one person, one vote.

On Nov. 2, unless a cataclysmic event or scandal alters the political landscape, TV news networks will declare that George W. Bush has won Indiana and its electoral votes moments after the polls close at 6 p.m. True, distrust of Bush and disgust with a needless war could bring Hoosiers to vote for John Kerry, but the overwhelming odds are that no matter how you vote, Bush will win Indiana.

In the 2004 presidential race, if you live in Indiana, your vote is almost certainly meaningless.

If, however, you live in Ohio or Pennsylvania or one of the 20 or other so states that are in play, your vote really matters. In those states, you have a real chance of seeing one or both of the candidates in person, and you will almost certainly see their TV commercials.

In those states, you have a strong reason to vote.

By almost any measure, a Buckeye’s vote for president counts a lot more than a Hoosier’s. And that is wrong.

In the popular vote, every vote cast in every state matters equally.

In the Electoral College, presidents and members of Congress who want to see their candidate win have many reasons to steer federal money and favors to the contested states.

Fraud déjÀ vu?

Four years after public officials from Sarasota to Spokane pledged to avoid a repeat of the Florida election debacle, efforts to make sure the leadership of the free world doesn’t rest on whether a chad was poked out of a paper ballot have been too little, too late.

For example, Ohio, the key battleground state in this year’s presidential election, still relies heavily on the faulty punch-card ballots known for never producing the same count twice.

Many observers fear the cure that many counties adopted – electronic touch-screen voting machines – present the potential for far more mistakes, problems and outright fraud.

A number of computer experts have strongly warned of the easiness in which the electronic touch-screen machines can be manipulated to skew the results.

Congress did pass laws to improve the vote count, including the 2002 Help America Vote Act that provided money to states and created an Election Assistance Commission to help states with ballot-related issues. But the Bush administration dragged its feet in appointing the commission, and the money going to many states simply didn’t come in time. Ohio, for example, received $91 million, but it was too late to buy new machines.

So, now theye've set up the electoral college is bad excuse, failing to mention that it's spelled out in the Constitution or that someting like 65% of the US population lives within 100 miles of either coast and votes Democrat by a large margin.

It's the electoral system that makes it fair. Without it, a kick ass campaign in California, Florida, North Carolina, Texas, Illinois, New York & Pennsylvania would take the prize.

It's going to be a fun election year, especially after the first Tuesday in November.