Mullings A Political Cyber Column By Rich Galen

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Extra Time

Wednesday November 15, 2000

The results of the high risk legal strategies are these:
-- The 5 pm deadline, last evening, was upheld by a judge
   whom the Democrats had carefully shopped.
-- One county - Volusia (which includes Daytona) - started
   and finished its hand recount.
-- The Secretary of State has discretion in whether to accept
   late counts.
-- Three counties - Palm Beach, Broward, and Dade (Palm Beach,
   Fort Lauderdale, and Miami) - have not even begun
   their full hand recounts prior to the 5 pm deadline.
-- She issued an order saying those three counties had to
   submit, in writing, by two pm Wednesday their reasoning
   as to why a hand recount was necessary and should be
   included.
-- The Secretary of State might well accept Volusia, and may
   turn down the other three, largely because they didn't
   even START their recounts timely, much less complete
   them timely, but also because there is a ruling that a
   hand recount can only be taken if there is evidence of
   machine failure.

The Bush team, assuming the absentee ballots do no worse than maintain his lead in Florida, can - and should - begin the national drumbeat that Bush has won Florida and has, therefore, won the election.

A new poll released Tuesday by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, indicated that, according to the AP analysis, "More than two of three voters think Texas Gov. George W. Bush should become president if he prevails in Florida, even by the slimmest of margins�"

In big-time soccer there is the concept of "extra time." A soccer match is comprised of two 45 minute halves. Unlike American football, the clock does not stop when the ball goes out of bounds, or if someone is injured, or if someone scores and races around the field like a madman until that guy finishes screaming "goooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooal!

After the end of a half, the referee decides how much extra time will be allowed. The ref has kept track of how much time was spent watching players writhing around on the ground, balls being retrieved after being kicked up into the stands, and so on, and play goes on.

The amount of extra time is known only to the referee. The teams don't know

Although the players do not know how much extra time there is, they do know it is better to be ahead when the referee finally declares the game over than it is to be behind when the final whistle blows.

The two campaigns understand they are now in extra time in this election. They are both desperate to be and/or remain in the lead until the final whistle blows.

In this case, that whistle will have blown when the nation throws up its collective hands and says, "Enough." Neither campaign knows when that will be. But they know it is better to be ahead when it happens than it is to be behind.

Which ever campaign is ahead at that point will be assumed the winner, and it will be a very steep hill to climb for the other campaign to convince Americans otherwise.

Having said all that, the Gore folks will start their hand counts and, sometime prior to midnight Friday (the deadline for overseas absentee ballots) will submit numbers to the Secretary of State showing that GORE is ahead in the moving count and should, therefore, be declared the winner.

This election will be decided this coming weekend. Right now. Right now. It looks as if Bush will be the winner. As I have written before, Bush is my guy so I see it that way.

A major league reporter called to reminisce over the good old days when "we complained about the length of Presidential campaigns because they STARTED too early."

A participant in history, the Lad was dispatched to Florida by the Bush campaign as was almost everyone in both campaigns. He and his pals spent Monday and Tuesday nights taking turns sitting in front of a steel door with two guys of approximately equal age from the Gore campaign and a couple of Palm Beach County Deputy Sheriffs. Guarding the ballots.

One of the young men said, "My folks have been asking me what this campaign has qualified me to do. I now have an answer: Mall security."

From Reuters out of Berlin about how German papers are laughing at us for the state of the election: "The daily Die Welt simply [wrote]: 'Americans can't count.'"

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