So if 2008 rolls around with Iran invaded (WWIII well under way) and...

[JanMichael]

...someone like Jeb wins a 2000-like election (Or 2004 as it turns out), what do you imagine will happen?

A disappointing concession speech and continuation of the status quo?

Resist or reject or challenge the results and the system that allows it?

General strike to force a revote or some other such measure?

Or will the vast majority of Americans change the TV channel and zone out?

I understand the American "Left" not responding well to the events in 2000. It was at the end of a relatively prosperous (A new economy emerged, the IT economy) decade where many meanies were triangulated into retirement and others left frothing at the mouth. Of course there were many policy changes that have been ultimately disasterous (NAFTA, Telecom Act, Welfare Reform, more?) but the outcomes in the future and the effects murky in most liberal minds. Plus those welfare queens in caddies got a thumping by the Feds:eyes:

Also it should be added that the Florida "Felon" Voter Purge story was rejected by the MSM. That alone should have had people infuriated and up in arms.

So while it was traumatic I just don’t think the public had a clue as to how bad it really was.

2004 had the generally accepted appearance of legitimacy (To those outside of Ohio and those not frequenting certain websites) yet it looks manipulated (Holy crap NC looks fixed! But few know or care...See the PS) too. However nationally it has not been perceived as messy as 2000 was. There just wasn’t much of a chance for mass protests or civil disobedience...

Then we can toss in a potential Real Estate bubble burst and a slowing petrol economy and man I don’t know what’s going to happen. I imagine that many poor whites will be easily manipulated into resenting immigrants, "libruls", Blacks, etcetera, and held in check by the Falwell types. It’s been the status quo for decades now. People often vote against their own interests and in the interests of the ones benefiting from the status quo. Nationalism grows rapidly in that hothouse. That’s a really shitty scenario.

So what do you imagine will happen when they steal 2008?

PS: The 2004 NC election results were crazy...The early voting (absentee) in NC was about 30% of the total vote, a massive sample that predicted almost every statewide race either almost identically or with very little deviation (.1-2.4%). The only huge exceptions were for or the Senate (6%) and Presidential (9%) races on Election Day. That’s it.

Take a look at the following.

For President:



PRESIDENT (absentee)
George W. Bush: 529,755 52.9%
John F. Kerry: 469,522 46.9% -6.0
Others: 2749 0.2%

PRESIDENT (overall)
George W. Bush: 1,961,188 56.0%
John F. Kerry: 1,525,821 43.6% -12.4
Others: 13,989 0.4%

PRESIDENT (poll only)
George W. Bush: 1,431,433 57.3%
John F. Kerry: 1,056,299 42.3% -15.0
Others: 11,240 0.4%

A 9% poll day change for Bush. The early voting/absentee of 29% was way off.

Here is the Senate race:

SENATOR (absentee)
Richard Burr (REP): 492,166 49.48%
Erskine Bowles (DEM): 492,536 49.52% .04
Other: 9,917 1%

SENATOR (overall)
Richard Burr (REP): 1,791,460 51.6%
Erskine Bowles (DEM): 1,632,509 47.0% -4.6
Other: 48,103 1.4%

SENATOR (poll only)
Richard Burr (REP): 1,299,294 52.4%
Erskine Bowles (DEM): 1,139,973 46.0% -6.4
Others: 38,186 1.5%

A 6% poll day swing for a slumlord that had trailed for almost the entire campaign, off again.

BUT…Now the rest:

GOVERNOR (Absentee)
Mike Easley (DEM): 573,120 (55.6%)
Patrick J. Ballantine (REP): 445,505 (43.2%) -12.4
Other: 12,490 (1.2%)

GOVERNOR (Overall)
Mike Easley (DEM): 1,939,137 (55.6%)
Patrick J. Ballantine (REP): 1,495,032 (42.9%) -12.7
Other: 52,512 (1.5%)

GOVERNOR (Poll only)
Mike Easley (DEM): 1,366,017 (55.6%)
Patrick J. Ballantine (REP): 1,049,527 (42.7%) -12.9
Other: 40,022 (1.6%)

A .5% difference. The “Absentee” or early voting was right on the money. Here are more.

LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR (Absentee)
Beverly Eaves Perdue (DEM): 561,584 (55.7%)
Jim Snyder (REP): 433,112 (43.0%) -12.7
Other: 13,217 (1.3%)

LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR (Overall)
Beverly Eaves Perdue (DEM): 1,888,382 (55.6%)
Jim Snyder (REP): 1,453,711 (42.8%) -12.8%
Other: 56,367 (1.6%)

LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR (Poll Only)
Beverly Eaves Perdue (DEM): 1,326,798 (55.5%)
Jim Snyder (REP): 1,020,599 (42.7%) -12.8%
Other: 43,150 (1.8%)

.1%

*******************
SECRETARY OF STATE (Absentee)
Elaine F. Marshall (DEM): 575,045 (58.0%)
Jay Rao (REP): 416,145 (42.0%) -16%

SECRETARY OF STATE (Overall)
Elaine F. Marshall (DEM): 1,911,570 (57.3%)
Jay Rao (REP) 1,423,115 (42.7%) -14.6%

SECRETARY OF STATE (Poll Only)
Elaine F. Marshall (DEM): 1,336,525 (57.0%)
Jay Rao (REP): 1,006,970 (43.0%) -14%

2%

*******************

ATTORNEY GENERAL (absentee)
Roy Cooper (DEM): 546,477 (56.7%)
Joe Knott (REP): 417,824 (43.3%)

ATTORNEY GENERAL (overall)
Roy Cooper (DEM): 1,869,699 (55.6%)
Joe Knott (REP): 1,493,061 (44.4%)


ATTORNEY GENERAL (poll-only)
Roy Cooper (DEM): 1,323,222 (55.2%)
Joe Knott (REP): 1,075,237 (44.8%)

1.5%

******************

OTHER STATEWIDE RACES:


******************
AUDITOR (absentee)
Leslie Merritt (REP): 476,257 (48.6%) -2.8%
Ralph Campbell (DEM): 503,250 (51.4%)

AUDITOR (overall)
Leslie Merritt (REP): 1,662,361 (50.4%)
Ralph Campbell (DEM): 1,633,622 (49.6%) -.8%

AUDITOR (poll-only)
Leslie Merritt (REP): 1,186,104 (51.2%)
Ralph Campbell (DEM): 1,130,372 (48.8%) -2.4%

2.2%

*********************
COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE (absentee)
Steve Troxler (REP): 478,794 (48.6%) -2.8%
Britt Cobb (DEM): 506,613 (51.4%)

COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE (overall)
Steve Troxler (REP): 1,665,678 (50.04%)
Britt Cobb (DEM): 1,663,022 (49.96%) -.08

COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE (poll-only)
Steve Troxler (REP): 1,186,884 (50.7%)
Britt Cobb (DEM): 1,156,409 (49.3%) -1.4%

1.4%

**********************
COMMISSIONER OF INSURANCE (absentee)
Jim Long (DEM): 582,238 (58.4%)
C. Robert Brawley (REP): 414,204 (41.6%) -16.8

COMMISSIONER OF INSURANCE (overall)
Jim Long (DEM): 1,934,061 (57.6%)
C. Robert Brawley (REP): 1,421,404 (42.4%) -15.2

COMMISSIONER OF INSURANCE (poll only)
Jim Long (DEM): 1,351,823 (57.3%)
C. Robert Brawley (REP): 1,007,200 (42.7%) -14.6

2.2%

**************************
COMMISSIONER OF LABOR (absentee)
Cherie Berry (REP): 475,570 (50.2%)
Wayne Goodwin (DEM): 472,632 (49.8%) -.4

COMMISSIONER OF LABOR (overall)
Cherie Berry (REP): 1,721,841 (52.1%)
Wayne Goodwin (DEM): 1,582,253 (47.9%) -4.2

COMMISSIONER OF LABOR (poll only)
Cherie Berry (REP): 1,246,271 (52.9%)
Wayne Goodwin (DEM): 1,109,621 (47.1%) -5.8

5.4% This one is odd too.

***********************
SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION (absentee)
June S. Atkinson (DEM): 507,523 (51.7%)
Bill Fletcher (REP): 473,991 (48.3%) -3.4

SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION (overall)
June S. Atkinson (DEM): 1,656,092 (50.1%)
Bill Fletcher (REP): 1,646,838 (49.9%) -.2

SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION (poll only)
June S. Atkinson (DEM): 1,148,569 (49.5%) -1
Bill Fletcher (REP): 1,172,847 (50.5%)

2.4%

**************************

TREASURER (absentee)
Richard H. Moore (DEM): 546,160 (55.3%)
Edward A. Meyer (REP): 440,871 (44.7%) -10.6

TREASURER (overall)
Richard H. Moore (DEM): 1,812,182 (54.5%)
Edward A. Meyer (REP): 1,512,628 (45.5%) -10

TREASURER (poll only)
Richard H. Moore (DEM): 1,266,022 (54.2%)
Edward A. Meyer (REP): 1,071,757 (45.8%) -8.4%

1.1%

*******************************

NC Constitutional Amendment 1 (absentee)
FOR: 432,697 (51.7%)
AGAINST: 403,475 (48.3%) -3.4

NC Constitutional Amendment 1 (overall)
FOR: 1,494,789 (51.2%)
AGAINST: 1,423,195 (48.8%) -2.9

NC Constitutional Amendment 1 (poll only)
FOR: 1,062,092 (51.0%)
AGAINST: 1,019,720 (49.0%) -2

1.4%

****************************

So the Presidential race and the Senate race had statistically significant deviations from the 30% “absentee” numbers with only one other statewide race coming close, the elevator commissioner.

Oh well, nothing to see here, move along...

[acmejack]

1. Gee, nothing at all unusual there!

People are always jazzed about the important post of Elevator Commissioner! The ups & downs of that position are simply fascinating (I know, but I just couldn't help myself!)

[JanMichael]

3. Actually its the LABOR commission!

But Cherry Berry's name is in every elevator in NC because the LABOR commission is also the elevator commission...

A Repuke LABOR commissioner???

[acmejack]

4. If my name was Cherry Berry

I would license it to Ben & Jerry!

[JanMichael]

5. Actually it's "Cherie" but I spell it Cherry.

Hell the only reason anybody probably voted for her is that her name is in every elevator in NC.

It's sort of strange the her race was the only other weird race beside bush and burr.

She must be connected, or "made" like in the mob.

[Cassandra]

2. What if Bushco decides to suspend the election?

Will the cult worshipers wake up or will they just be lulled into a deep sleep on big daddy's lap?

[JanMichael]

6. Prolly.