Mullings A Political Cyber Column By Rich Galen

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THIS is the Millennium Bug

Monday November 20, 2000

From Austin, Texas

In a Mull from last December, this:
- Here's another thought about the millennium: In
the year 1000 nothing much happened. 66 years
later everything changed. In a hurry. This led to
the first recorded instance of the cry: "Norm!" in
a mead hall.

A reference, of course, to the Battle of Hastings and the victory there by William of Normandy over King Harold.

Remember all those computer geeks who were on standby on New Year's Eve as the new millennium zoomed around the planet time-zone by time-zone? Nothing much happened that night, but 45 weeks later �

Here's what the Gore camp is now facing. They are down by 930 votes. The hand recounts are not producing nearly the changes they had hoped for. The GOP has done a pretty good job casting doubt on the hand-recount process - especially the Gore campaign's unsavory attacks on military overseas ballots. Gore, to legitimize a Florida victory, must now win by way more than a handful of votes.

To see the breakdown of the Florida Supreme Court, as well as regularly updated recount news from Florida, go here.

The Miami Herald ran a story that said at least 39 felons cast absentee ballots in Broward and Miami-Dade counties. The majority of them, 32, were Democrats, the Herald reported. Felons are barred from voting by Florida law.

Let's see, 39 is about four percent of 930 - the size of the lead George W. Bush has over Al Gore as of Sunday. Four percent is, as luck would have it, the same percentage of ballots in Palm Beach County which were spoiled because people voted for two candidates.

If the election gods are in a truly playful mood, Al Gore will end up winning Florida by 32 votes - cast by felons.

As a teeny, tiny test of whether or not the public is "riveted" on this process: On the Saturday prior to the election, Mullings.com received 44,000 hits. On the Saturday after the election there were 27,000 hits. This past Saturday? 13,500, which is still about double the normal weekend rate, but dropping steadily as people go back to their normal lives.

A case in point: A mother worried whether her Lad would be home from the Chad Wars in time for Thanksgiving. "Thanksgiving?" her classically insensitive husband said, "Spring Break. Maybe."

Democrats are joyfully pointing out that Texas law permits hand recounts in cases similar to what we are facing in Florida. On MSNBC Friday night, I suggested that if the Democrats want to use Texas as the fair and rational answer, fine. Let's recount all the votes in Texas and whoever wins is the President.

The irony, of course, is the notion of Democrats and their allies on the cable news shows, using Texas as a GOOD place after eight months of messin' with Texas.

Having lived in Texas for most of the 90's, I can tell you what outlanders don't understand about punch card voting in Texas.
  - You pick out a ballot at the registration desk.
  - You and an election official take it outside.
  - You yell, "VOTE."
  - The election official flicks the ballot as high in the
air as he or she can.
  - You draw your six-shooter and drill that sucker in
the appropriate place.

They ain't no hangin' chads in Texas. The only thangs hangin' in Texas are the bad guys.

I can't tell who is being paid off by whom, or for what, but Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala announced Saturday that she will become president of the University of Miami in March, 2001.

On Fox News Sunday, Joe Lieberman refused to say that every military ballot should be counted, but did say that election officials in Palm Beach, Broward, and Miami-Dade counties should aggressively try to determine voter intent. This, Lieberman said, was "being consistent."

No hobgoblins in Senator Lieberman's head.

Mullings had the opportunity to speak to the Young Republican National Board of Directors meeting on Saturday night in Austin. This is one of a number of groups - Republicans and Democrats - who do a huge amount of work, with almost no recognition, on behalf of candidates for public office at all levels.

The speech took place at a barbeque place in Austin on the stage which normally hosts a live band. No chicken wire, but there was, at the bar, a fairly large box marked: Ear Plugs; $1.00.

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