Ohio Was A Diversion

I haven't alleged anything. I have, however, noted the following odd confluence of facts and circumstances.

First, it is a fact that the Florida tally was way out of step with the pre-election polls. It is extremely anomalous, from a statistical perspective, that the final Florida results fell outside of the range of the all of the major pre-election polls, other than the Quinnipiac poll, which had Bush +8. Only one other of the Florida polls cited by RealClearPolitics conducted post October 1st (36 such polls, in all) produced an 8 point margin, and none produced a more lopsided result. Further, no other Florida poll conducted within the final two weeks (other than a Rasmussen single day poll that produced a 5 point Bush bulge on Oct. 27) produced a Bush margin more than four points.

Second, consider in light of point one that the late day exit polls (as distinct from the 2:00 PM exit polls) were very accurate, with the exception of a few 50% to 49% type results that had the right margin but the wrong winner. But the late day Florida poll had Kerry by 51% to 49%, way off the final 52% to 47% Bush margin.

Then you may recall the recent Sarasota Herald-Tribune article that cited a May 2004 e-mail in which a FL bureacrat notes that the republican Governor of Florida rejected advice to scrap a manifestly flawed felon purge list that disenfranchised black felons but permitted Hispanic felons to vote.

And then you may recall the 58,000 ballots that were lost in heavily democratic Broward County. Who was responsible for sending out the 58,000 ballots? Supervisor of Election Brenda Snipes - a republican appointee.

And, conveniently, Florida is one of a limited number of "no paper trail" states, where e-voting disappears into the ether once the votemeter is reset.

And who made the e-voting machines? A company called Deibold Election Systems, whose CEO and Chairman is one Walden O'Dell, one of Bush's elite fundraisers - a member of the exclusive "Pioneers and Rangers" big-bucks pimps for Dubya. But not to worry, Diebold's board adopted a policy that bans its executives from any political activity other than voting. They adopted this ban in the wake of the disclosure that its CEO was a big Bush backer and the author of a letter that pledged his commitment to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the President. That's right - Ohio, Walden's home state, another of Diebold's biggest clients and another "no paper trail" state.

Finally, you may remember the problems in the Sunshine State in 2000.

Oh, yeah, and the republican Governor of Florida is the brother of the President - did I mention that?

If it comes time to form a commission on this matter, George would do well to engage the services of one Arlen Specter, whose facile ingenuity helped pave the way for the Warren Commission report by formulating the "single bullet theory".