Reply #19: Ohio’s Gap was NOT Florida’s Gap. What exactly would Kerry have been

[KaliTracy]

contesting if it weren’t the closeness of the race? The gap was not under 1,000 as in Florida 2000 but over 100,000 in Ohio. 2004. So was Kerry just supposed to throw his hand up in a press conference the November 3rd and say This is not over yet, I believe that there were things wrong with this election and I want an investigation, now. While suppression was known in Ohio -- when the Secretary of State denies that there was a problem in Ohio the day after the Election, and says "We had a very good election" and implores everyone to just "breathe deep" how would Kerry calling for an investigation change things?

There is still no real "smoking gun" -- though people are working on this tirelessly -- people who believe that something happened, but cannot, even now, with all of the documentation in the US get a rise out of the general public, or definitively say This is what happened folks, This is who did it, This is How, and This is why.

But, some say, if Kerry went out there on November 3rd and demanded more investigation into the disenfranchisement in Ohio (that's all we had at the time to go on), it would have made a difference. I wish with all my heart I could say they are right, but after what they did to Gore and his recount efforts, I just don't see it.

Actually, if this had happened I do not think we'd be in the same place we are right now. I actually believe we've moved this issue up a few notches, because we've made it NOT about Kerry -- but about the Democratic process and free, open and transparent elections. I don't believe the press would have been kind to Kerry halting things for an investigation -- hell, they could care less that our White House is a propaganda machine even with real information regarding this at their fingertips and for something as amorphous as Election Fraud to them (and ultimately the general public) they would simply have let the Republicans spin, spin spin spin.

People would have been even more divided than they are now about Kerry's action or inaction because it wouldn't have changed anything (Blackwell would have STILL done all he could do to delay the certification (although granted, we only know that because we've just lived through it, I truly think that one of the reasons Kerry did pull back is because he knew something was brewing with Blackwell – hell, the man had lawsuits in the courts that were decided on even ON the day of the election (specifically here, about the challengers in the poll places) )-- and Kerry would have been seen as a sore loser, much like Gore (maybe worse than Gore).

Bush would have still been inaugurated. Members of the House and Senate may still have stood to show their support -- but the media still would have neglected to tell the general public that these Senators and Members of the House received thousands, if not tens of thousands of pieces of correspondence urging them to take action. When the media doesn't inform the general public that large groups are fighting for our own Democracy , and instead, pin the contested election on a Feisty Barbara Boxer and Stephanie Tubbs-Jones, the general public is missing the entire picture. Would they have reported this differently if Kerry led the action? Would they have still called those of us Protesting in Ohio and other states "sore losers?" I tend to think so. But I’ could be wrong.

And let us not forget, Fallujah was already on the books to be an issue -- and I believe that was a strategy the * administration planned.... look at Kerry counting votes when our troops are doing the Hard work at keeping us free... This article says it better than I could, though http://www.moderateindependent.com/v2i21election.htm

It’s easy for us to have our opinions and think about what could have happened differently if Kerry, indeed, did not concede. I would like to hear from people here who believe he should have waited it out about what they thought

1. he would say in order to do this
2. what the press would do, (how they would have handled it)
3. how the Votes would have been recounted (or the election deemed “False” and then re-voted). Would it just have been Ohio?
4. How the populous would have reacted
5. how long he should stay in concession
6. If the word “fraud” would be used at first – or later
7. etc.

I’m truly curious to see what people think would have played out here – for right now, I cannot see how this could have played out any other way and him keeping what political power he currently has (as noted in his travels to the Middle East).

For me, unless Kerry was/is holding a golden trump card in his hand that detailed/s everything, and he simply miscalculated when to play it, there really wasn't/isn't much he could do with the hand he was dealt. But I’d like to know how you would have played the hand differently.