Reply #94: Yes, I have found even moderate Repubs very open to election "questions"

[tommcintyre]

Recently, I was put in a position where I "broke bread" with over 100 mostly conservative people for three meals a day, for seven days (about 40 meals). <I was on a river cruise in Europe.> I purposely sat with as many different groups as I could, since I wanted to find out more "what made them tick" (politically - esp regarding election issues). I mostly listened, until someone would ask me the inevitable question: "what do you do?" I would tell them: "I run a web site that mainly deals with the many unresolved election "questions" from the 2004 Presidential election."

Their response was overwhelmingly positive. They listened attentively and asked many questions. Many seemed to be genuinely concerned that something "wasn't right" in the election results. And they seemed to be concerned about the "voting future".

Animosity was almost non-existent (Just one idiot finance atty, (who engaged me in the lounge) who strongly implied I hated repubs. BIG MISTAKE. I coolly told him I would just be glad to have a REAL repub to choose from again. ALL the other repubs within earshot were saying "yes", nodding their heads in approval, etc. That guy seemed to avoid me after that. ;) <I think he had it "in" for me since I "gored his ox" the day before at dinner. He said all us "liberals" wanted was welfare for everybody. I answered: "no, I just regret they have added so much CORPORATE WELFARE (Haliburton, etc.) which is ruining our economy (got a lot of support again from the "mods"). btw: Guess how a finance atty make a living. Yep, corp welfare (no wonder he was pissed!)

One other interesting observation. No one, not one person admitted (volunteered) that they voted for Bush (I'm sure a lot did, but they didn't want to admit it.) Many did complain about the "choice" though.

My conclusion (with my admittedly limited "experiment"): You are right. There is a huge, as yet mostly untapped reservoir of bipartisan support just waiting to be reached.