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Politics: Gregoire may challenge 42-vote 'win'

Democrat Christine Gregoire would like to challenge a ballot recount that gave opponent Dino Rossi the governorship of Washington with a 42-vote margin. That means she must raise $700,000 as a deposit on another recount of at least some districts. If discrepancies are found in selected districts, that will trigger a statewide recount.

Gregoire must make an official request for a recount by 5 p.m. Friday. About 9.2 million votes were cast in the race Nov. 2.

The Olympian reports.

"Our goal is to have a statewide recount. . .the trick is raising money. If this happens tomorrow and we have to raise $700,000 by Friday, it presents a challenge," Gregoire spokesman Morton Brilliant said Monday in Seattle.

He said the organization has less than half the money needed.

Brilliant did not specify how much money is in hand, but said: "We are raising money for a hand recount right now. . .These are a lot of small donors coming in now."

Secretary of State Sam Reed and Gov. Gary Locke, a Democrat, will certify the elections results today. That will initiate a process that allows the person on the short end of a very close contest to request a recount. The previous recount was automatic and the costs were covered by the state. Gregoire will pay for the new recount if it occurs.

. . .When Reed certifies the election results, Rossi will become the state's governor-elect, but the title might not be as significant as it usually is.

"With the race this close, one thing I've made clear to the Rossi folks is that it doesn't really mean a whole lot, because we expect a recount," Reed said.

So many voters. Such a small margin. How did it happen? Rossi, who is anti-abortion and quite far to Right on other issues, has downplayed his conservatism. In 2003, Rossi earned a 100 percent rating from the Washington Conservative Union (www.washcon.org). Like former candidate Jack Ryan of Illinois, he relies on a pleasant demeanor and hints at moderation to enhance his electability. His reputation, as a self-made millionaire in real estate and budget wizard, may also have impressed some voters. Gregoire may have been hurt by her gender. There are still voters who will favor a man over a woman in electoral politics. She was doubtlessly harmed by the higher than usual turnout by voters who oppose gay marriage, and, voted Republican. Some also say she ran a low-key campaign, not touting her achievements enough.

The Associated Press cites a more direct reason why Gregoire trails -- write-in votes from Democrats for other candidates.

SEATTLE -- If Christine Gregoire officially loses the race for Washington governor her supporters might blame 502 voters in King County who wrote in Ron Sims.

The King County executive lost to Gregoire in the primary. His supporters may not have known that a candidate who loses in the primary cannot be a write-in candidate in the general election.

The write-ins disclosed by the county also show 40 votes for Gary Locke, who is not seeking a third term. His wife Mona got one vote.

Other write-ins included Phil Talmadge with 28 votes, Mike the Mover with nine votes, Edgar Martinez with nine, Norm Rice with six, Donald Duck with six votes, Ralph Nader with five, Alice Cooper with two and God with two votes.

Neither Nader nor God drained away enough votes in King County to make a difference. But, 502 ineligible votes for Ron Sims may cost Gregoire the election.

Reasonably related

The Seattle Times describes the transformation of Dino Rossi's image from hardcore conservative to moderate.

Update

As of Dec. 1, Democratic Candidate Christine Gregoire is soliciting donations for the recount through the national party. The online donation site is here.

Whatever happened to?

•Getting a governor

We've followed the strongly contested governor's race in Washington during the three weeks it has been undecided. The results from the initial recount came in this week. MSNBC has the details.

OLYMPIA, Wash. - Republican Dino Rossi on Wednesday won a recount for Washington governor by just 42 votes out of more than 2.8 million cast, but Democrats were expected to order yet another recount.

A statewide machine recount left Rossi clinging to the narrowest victory ever in a state gubernatorial race over Democratic Attorney General Christine Gregoire. Rossi had also won the regular count, his 261-vote margin just a tiny fraction of 1 percentage point, triggering an automatic recount.

A statewide machine recount left Rossi clinging to the narrowest victory ever in a state gubernatorial race over Democratic Attorney General Christine Gregoire. Rossi had also won the regular count, his 261-vote margin just a tiny fraction of 1 percentage point, triggering an automatic recount.

In the final Thanksgiving Eve flurry of vote tallies, Gregoire gained ground on Rossi in Democratic-leaning King County and picked up votes in Kitsap County, completing the 39-county tally in a near tie.

Even before the last big surge of ballots was tallied, Democrats had signaled they would seek a hand recount in at least part of the state if Gregoire ended up on the short end.

Persons who have not watched the cliffhanger closely may think 42 votes is tight. But, the differential has been as narrow as 19 votes.

•The muddled mortician

Tales of funeral homes and crematoriums gone stingy are not all that unusual. From time to time, we hear about the cost-cutter who saves money by reusing expensive caskets. He transfers bodies to cheaper ones after viewings. The helicopter pilot for crematoriums who dumps the remains just anywhere appears and reappears. Ray Brent Marsh of Georgia captured our attention because of the volume of his neglect and where the remains were found. He failed to cremate hundreds of corpses and allowed them to deteriorate on the property around his home. Marsh is headed for prison.

ATLANTA -When former crematory operator Ray Brent Marsh pleads guilty Friday to dumping 334 bodies and passing off cement dust as their ashes, the victims' relatives and resident of a rural northwest Georgia community may still be left asking the question "Why?"

Marsh will reportedly be sentenced to 12 years in prison, with credit for time served, and, one assumes, good behavior. There are also charges pending against him in Tennessee.

I would be remiss if I did not emphasize that I believe the mental health issue in this case, and many other, is being ignored. An estimated 30 percent of inmates nationally suffer some form of psychiatric debilitation. If Americans took mental health issues seriously and funded treatment, many cases like this one would not occur. Read more about Marsh's mental health at Silver Rights.

•The image of the American soldier

The image of U.S. troops has been subjected to retouching by the powers that be since the invasion of Iraq began. But, the carefully planned stories of heroism topple as easily as statues when they are looked into. A Pfc. from West Virginia and a former pro football player were victims of negligence, not Iraqi gunfire. The Guardian has considered the image of the American soldier in Iraq.

. . .Stuff happened and terrible errors were made in the early days of Donald Rumsfeld's occupation-lite: disbanding the army and de-Ba'athising as if Iraq were Nazi Germany helped fuel an insurgency in which Iraqis now far outnumber the "foreign fighters" we have heard so much about.

It emerged only afterwards that the statue-toppling was staged for symbolic effect, a piece of political theatre as carefully managed as George Bush's wildly premature action-man "mission accomplished" gig on an aircraft carrier's flight deck a few weeks later. And we know, from the 24/7 TV news channels and their extraordinary pictures, that this story is far from over.

Many will remember the footage shot by an NBC cameraman of a US marine killing an injured and apparently unarmed Iraqi in a Falluja mosque, the Americans' laconic profanities and blank faces washed in eerie green light. Others will think of the casually-posed snapshots of Lyndie England and the abuses of Abu Ghraib prison as the moment that the brutality of occupation came home to them.

A single American soldier, Shane Werst of Wyoming, has been charged with killing an Iraqi detainee, ten months after the episode. I can't speak for anyone else, but as I watch the footage of cheerful troops shouting season's greetings on television, I am well aware of what is not (for some people, cannot) be said about the abuses that are an integral part of the invasion and occupation.

Health: Cost of smoking is high

I was out and about today. That meant being around smokers. I've also been doing additional research on Right Wing interests that use a handful of minority spokespersons to put a sympathetic face on their societally damaging practices. The tobacco industry is one of the worst of the lot. With tobacco on my mind already, it was with some interest that I read news about a study establishing just how costly smoking is to smokers.

The Associated Press reports.

DURHAM, N.C. (AP) - Cigarettes may cost smokers more then they believe. A study by a team of health economists finds the combined price paid by their families and society is about $40 per pack of cigarettes.

The figure is based on lifetime costs for a 24-year-old smoker over 60 years for cigarettes, taxes, life and property insurance, medical care and lost earnings because of smoking-related disabilities, researchers said.

"It will be necessary for persons aged 24 and younger to face the fact that the decision to smoke is a very costly one - one of the most costly decisions they make,'' the study's authors concluded.

Smokers pay about $33 of the cost, their families absorb $5.44 and others pay $1.44, according to health economists from Duke University and a professor from the University of South Florida. The study drew on data including Social Security earnings histories dating to 1951.

Incidental costs such as higher cleaning bills and lower resale values for smokers' cars were not included.

Most smoking studies rely on a snapshot of annual costs, said co-author B, an economics professor and the director of the Center for Health, Policy, Law and Management at Duke's Terry Sanford Institute of Public Policy.

Activism by health organizations to curb smoking and the government's ban of advertising tobacco products in some venues has been reasonably successful. According to the Centers for Disease Control, bout 22.5 percent of adults in America smoked as of 2002, a reduction from 24.1 percent in 1988. In 1955, 56.9 percent of American men and 28.4 percent of American women smoked. Though some in the tobacco industry stubbornly refuse to acknowledge the link between using their products and illnesses, including heart disease and lung cancer, Americans have gradually come to believe the relationship exists.

The 'bright' side of the study is that the cost of smoking to society is less than previously thought. That is because smokers die, often of diseases related to their habit, before expending monies from Social Security, Medicare and pensions. The cost to society is estimated at $1.44 per pack of cigarettes.

The researchers believe that more of the funds from the multi-state tobacco settlement in 1988 should go toward preventing smoking. Currently, most states do not target the monies to programs to prevent smoking.

Reading: 'Lost' Chopin is worth finding

Kate Chopin is one of those writers who was not prolific, but has earned a place in our memories anyway. She was born Catherine O'Flaherty in 1850, a native of the volatile state of Missouri. It is the rare class in American literature that does not include her classic, The Awakening, in its syllabus. Like other women writers who were in danger of being forgotten, Chopin's reputation has seen a resurgence since feminists spearheaded the creation of women's studies. It was with considerable pleasure that I recently discovered some short stories by Chopin that I had not read.

As someone who can never leave the house without something to read stashed on her person, I still have reason to own a personal digital assistant (PDA). It can be tucked in my purse and taken it out when an impromptu opportunity to read presents itself. Having created some additional free time this week, I set out to remedy my neglected ebook downloads to my Palm Tungsten C. I buy some ebooks, usually from Fictionwise or PalmOne. But, I really prefer to locate free ebooks online. One can find a weallth of no longer copyrighted American, British and French masterpieces. Less well-known works, including some by women and minority writers, are available in library collections. Among the short stories I downloaded and read yesterday and today are three that definitely confirm Chopin's expertise.

~ "Ma'aame Pelagi" would fall victim to the Myth of the Genteel South in the hands of a less capable writer. Pelagi is the elder spinster daughter of a deceased planter. Her dream for the last 30 years, since Union soldier's burned the plantation's mansion, has been to restore it to its former glory. She and her younger sister, Pauline, reside in a spartan cottage and drink their coffee black. Every penny earned from their crops is hoarded toward the eventual, and still distant, goal. Their sleep walking lives change when their traveling salesman brother sends his teenaged daughter to live with them. The ingenuet initially makes an effort to accept the loss of the social and mental stimulation she thrived on. But, she soon reacts to the sluggish life of the sisters with physical and emotional malaise. Either she must really live again or she will die. Ma'aame Pelagi must choose between restoring the dream house of her own youth or saving the life of the youngest member of her family. Chopin captures the cost of the choice in a way that leaves the reader stunned.

~ "Ozeme's Holiday" is the kind of story that O'Henry might have written had he had not been blinded by racism. Ozeme is a working man who revels in his annual week-long holiday. He borrows a horse and buggy and goes "broading" miles from home. Ozeme's holiday starts off fortuitously enough. Spic and span and ensconced in a buckboard pulled by a tranquil horse, he decides to spend the night with older friends before heading to a community where he knows the young folks will be festive. The elderly couple isn't home, so he detours to drop by the shack of the former housekeeper at a plantation where he worked. Aunt Tildy isn't faring well. The gnarled old woman has re-injured her bad hand and her adolescent grandson is down with malaria. Meanwhile, their ripened cotton crop will be ruined if the weather turns. People who understand the mores of the South will know there is an easy answer for Ozeme. He is a white man, so he can keep going. At the next gathering, he might regale the crowd with jokes by shiftless Negroes. Ozeme spends his holiday helping nurse the boy back to health and picking cotton. After his return home, he keeps the experience secret.

~ "The Father of Desiree's Baby" is the most predictable of the three stories, though it is about a topic America has yet to come to grips with. Desiree is a foundling. She turned up on a successful plantation and toddled right into the childless owners' hearts. The next heart she conquers is one that turns cold, however. The French-born heir to one of Louisiana's greatest fortunes, Armand Aubigny, brings his bride home to a large plantation where her every desire is easily met. The two live in bliss for nearly a year. Armand seems fully gratified when she presents him with a healthy son. But, as the newborn matures, the peaceful aura of Desiree's life dissolves. The slaves are properly subservient, but seem ill at ease around the mother and child. Armand stops talking to his wife and averts his eyes when his child is present. Desiree has an epiphany when the baby is three months old. A small 'quadroon' boy is assigned to fan the infant in his crib. Desiree's world quakes when she notices the resemblance between the boy and and her baby. The foundling mother and her child are sent away to perish. Armand burns their clothing and furnishings publicly. The circle of white aristocrats he has cast his lot with never considers that none of them have ever seen his mother -- who never left France.

I must confess that even though I was not surprised by the O. Henry ending, I much admire "The Father of Desiree's Baby," for a pessimistic reason. It appeals to me because Chopin masterfully captures the cold hearts of so many human beings. We live in a country in which the Myth of Family Values is so much a part of the national lying contest people seldom acknowledge its falsehood. Yet, there is little doubt in my mind, that given the choice between a life of privilege and jettisoning spouse and child, many people would make the same choice Armand Aubigny does.

Kate Chopin's other short stories are also works of a fine artist who deserves our attention. In addition to sometimes being available free as ebooks, many of them are in the anthology, Bayou Folk . Several collections of all of her writing in one volume are in print. You may also want to read Chopin's first novel, At Fault .

Reasonably related

~ A biography of Kate Chopin can be read here.

~ Read a brief biography and buy ebooks at the Palm software store.

~ I download free ebooks from University of Virginia's E Book Library for MS Reader and Palm Devices . The Chopin short stories reviewed here are available there.

Opinion: Eat turkey if you like

It is almost Thanksgiving. That means it is time for a yearly rite. No, not buying cranberry sauce. The tradition I refer to is one begun by the animal rights movement. Each year about this time, animal rights organizations publish claims that eating turkey is injurious in one way or another. Their objective is, of course, to persuade the public that they should decide what other people can eat. Turkeys would be excluded from the list they would email us, I gather. Maybe we would be allowed lobster on our birthdays, though. This material is typical of the trend.

Press release from D.E.L.T.A. Rescue:

You're Eating Cats and Dogs for Thanksgiving!

GLENDALE, Calif., Nov. 22, 2004 -- As millions of Americans feast this Thanksgiving, they have no idea what their turkey ate before ending up in the supermarket.

It is unimaginable to consider that our holiday main course may have been fed the bodies of dead pets, but according to actor and animal welfare activist Leo Grillo, rendered animals end up in the feed lots of the nation's livestock and poultry industry.

Rendering is the gruesome practice of "cooking" the bodies of euthanized pets from animal shelters, veterinary offices, horses, other livestock, and "road kill" to produce animal protein meal and "yellow grease". These products are then either sent to Asia (where they are used as feed for farm salmon, eel or shrimp returning to the US for human consumption) or used as a dietary supplement in the poultry and livestock facilities across the country.

And the chemicals used to euthanize the animals, the drugs used to treat the animals if they were sick, may ultimately find their way back into the human food chain too.

"Don't forget the diseases those poor animals died from, the cancers ... the bacteria and toxins in their decomposing bodies ... and we wonder why we have so much cancer," said Grillo. "What we as consumers don't understand is that the food we eat, from hamburgers, to fish and shrimp, to milk and cheese; contain the bodies of our dead pets and the chemicals, drugs and diseases that they took with them."

This is not one of those mocking attacks on the animal rights movement that the writer ends by urging readers to go out for a nice, thick, juicy medium--rare steak. I don't eat beef. Or pork. Or chicken. Or turkey. (I really liked turkey. Still miss it after all these years.) I've been a semi-vegetarian since college. Furthermore, I do not detest the animal rights movement. I believe it does some good by publicizing abuses of animals -- such as not enough space in pens -- that lead to reforms. But, unfortunately, the animal rights movement undermines the good it does by lying and its occasional violence.

I wish people would not publish material like this press release, mainly because the allegations are not true. Fowl are fed grains. Sometimes drugs to encourage fast growth or prevent disease are added to their feed. It is illegal to include tainted stockyard debris, though that occurred in the past. Renderers mainly process large animals, such as cows and horses. Since the last Mad Cow Disease outbreak, including the bodies of dead animals in feed is under scrutiny. New rules, not yet finalized, will prohibit it. The claim that Thanksgiving turkey eaters will be dining on cats and dogs is false and fatuous. D.E.L.T.A Rescue apparently thinks people are both ignorant and vapid. Stupid enough to believe lies about what turkeys are fed. Vacuous enough to shove away that drumstick at the thought that it is somehow Fido or Puffball.

Furthermore, activists such as these ignore two important aspects of the decision-making about diet:

~ People are naturally omnivorous. That is not going to change, though a minority will choose to be vegetarian.

~ People have much of their autonomy stripped from them in modern society. They should be free to make their own decisions about what to eat, within reason.

Lou Grillo's activism would be better served by publishing intelligent, well-written, and, true material about how Americans can make the lives of both food animals and pets easier.

What does a vegetarian do for the holidays? Make do. Tomorrow, I will eat vegetables, bread and dessert while ignoring the enticing aroma of the turkey and dressing. Fortunately, I like cranberry sauce. It will be my consolation prize. This evening, Trader Joe's gave away free packages of bell peppers. (They would have perished while the store was closed.) I will have to find a recipe for stuffing peppers that does not use hamburger.

The more responsible people in the animal rights movement mean well. But some seem to get involved because of the opportunity to lord it over others. A participant I discuss the topic with from time to time says he is becoming annoyed with some of the tactics being used himself. He will not be participating in a monthly protest in front of a doctor's office, anymore. Her offense? She conducted a medical study in which she used three house cats.

So, I am shirking my supposed duty as a vegetarian. I will not harangue all those meat eaters out there. What you eat is your business. Neither I nor anyone else should try to mislead you with disinformation about foods. Enjoy your Thanksgiving meal -- turkey and all.

Reasonably related

•After pressure from consumers and health care officials, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration produced less meat industry-friendly rules for what animals can be fed in July. I blogged the controversy here.

•You can help make the food supply safer by urging the Bush administration to act on those delayed federal rules. Write your Congressperson.

News: Not a simple hunter's tale

When I read about the hunter in Wisconsin who shot eight people yesterday, I visualized the news item as a blog entry. As other bloggers can attest, it becomes habitual to do that after you've had the weblog habit for a while. I even had a headline: "Hunter bags 5, maims three." The blog entry would have been simple. It might have taken one of two forms. A reminiscence about growing up around people who hunted, and, getting rid of the last gun I owned when I was in my early twenties. I could have talked about the bear that got away. Or, I might have blasted a myth: that hunting is a pure-hearted, safe sport. Actually, self-injury or accidental shooting of others is not unusual at all. Nor are drunken hunters who couldn't shoot straight if their lives depended on it. I would have sought and published statistics to support my claim. I thought the story was about an intoxicated or insane man who became so possessive of a hunter's roost that he shot anyone who came near it. But, today the saga of the hunter who shot eight people took an unexpected turn.

The Associated Press reports.

HAYWARD, Wisconsin (AP) -- A man suspected in the killings of six hunters told investigators he began firing after he was shot at first and some of the victims called him racially derogatory names, according to documents filed Tuesday.

A judge set bail at $2.5 million for Chai Vang, 36, of St. Paul, Minnestora, who is suspected in the killings Sunday of six deer hunters and the wounding of two others.

. . .Vang, a Hmong immigrant from Laos, was arrested Sunday about four hours after the shootings as he emerged from the woods with his empty SKS 7.62 mm semiautomatic rifle.

Vang told investigators he didn't realize he was on private property when he climbed the tree stand, according to the probable-cause statement released Tuesday.

A hunter approached Vang to tell him he was on private property, and Vang started to leave as other hunters approached, the statement said. Vang said the hunters surrounded him, and some started calling him racial slurs.

Vang said he started walking away but looked back to see the first hunter point his rifle at him and then fire a shot that hit the ground 30 to 40 feet behind him, the statement said.

That's when Vang told investigators he started firing at the group, and some fell to the ground and others tried to run away, according to the statement.

Vang is said to have killed five people at the scene. Another died in the hospital. Two survived their wounds. Friends of the deceased and authorities portray the gunman as aggressive, pursuiong and slaying unarmed people. They say only one weapon was on hand for the eight victims, and it may not have been fired.

The St. Paul area has had tensions between its predominantly white population and immigrant Hmong for years. Conflicts have involved unusual courtship rites, hunting and trespassing.

Chai Vang, a veteran of the U.S. armed forces, has a history of domestic violence. He waved a gun in one incident.

It is premature to speculate about how this episode will go down in history. The number of casualties guarantees it some notoriety. Will it be man versus society or man versus himself? A sane man or one damaged by mental illness? Were the victims the innocents Wisconsin authorities describe them as, or did they harass and fire at Vang because of his race?

Holidays give us more free time to ponder the things we read about or see on the news. As the crime of the week, the killings in Wisconsin will be one of the topics many of us will give at least some thought to. Initially, I thought it would be a simple tale of a hunter gone awry. It isn't.

What's the art?

A Simonov 7.62 mm Carbine (SKS).

Law: Chief justice of SCOTUS is plum role

It is common for people who have not studied the history of the body to be rather dismissive of the role of Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. On the surface, the role does not confer any additional powers. Doubters will point out that the chief justice gets only one vote like the rest. But, the zetetic know better. As is the case with many administrative jobs, there are hidden attributes to being chief justice. The most apt term to summarize them is, I believe, 'agenda setting.' Now that the current chief justice, William Rehnquist, is likely dying of thyroid cancer, the question of who will assume the role next is the object of much speculation. Dahlia Lithwick, writing at Slate, has explained why who is chief justice matters.

The trick to understanding the chief justice's real role in shaping a court has to do with the myriad subtle ways in which any savvy administrator can effect vast policy changes. Having the authority to send around initial cases for discussion gives the chief justice tremendous power to shape the court's agenda, for instance, as does his power to introduce and offer the first vote at case conferences. Historically, some of the most powerful chief justices have exercised their influence by stifling dissent. In his first four years as chief justice, John Marshall (chief from 1801-1835) was so insistent that all opinions be unanimous that he simply authored all of them—save for those published per curiam (or unsigned)—himself. In those four years there was only one published dissent. As chief justice, William Howard Taft (1921-1930) espoused the same philosophy: Dissents fostered an appearance of uncertainty and were only a form of egotism anyhow, in his view. So over Taft's tenure, the high court issued unanimous opinions 84 percent of the time.

The big stealth power for any chief justice lies in his ability to assign written opinions whenever he votes with the majority in a case. If he votes with the minority, the most senior judge in the majority does the assigning. Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes (chief from 1930-1941) regarded his opinion-assignment power as "a special opportunity for leadership" and, as a consequence, his "most delicate task." It doesn't sound like a big deal, but consider Warren Burger, chief justice from 1969 to 1986. In The Brethren, Bob Woodward describes Burger's assignment strategy as having two components: shifting his vote after conference so as to retain the assignment power (even if it meant voting against his originally stated views) and then assigning only lame opinions to his enemies.

According to Woodward, Burger's strategy was to keep all the big criminal law, racial discrimination, and free-speech cases away from his ideological "enemies," as he called William Brennan, Thurgood Marshall, and William O. Douglas— as well as to author all the unanimous opinions himself. That way it looked as if his wisdom was indisputable and his leadership unparalleled. Burger also did a tremendous amount of politicking as chief—giving policy speeches and attending conferences, as well as shamelessly pressuring the other justices to vote with him for blatantly political reasons.

Lithwick notes that swing vote justices Sandra Day O'Connor and Anthony Kennedy will have had greater impact on case law emerging from the Supreme Court over the last decades. But, Rehnquist has also been influential. He has engaged in the usual agenda setting of activist chief justices. In addition, his reputation as a hidebound conservative has influenced the legal strategies of lawyers considering controversial issues everywhere. For example, advocates for extending the civil rights protections of the constitution to homosexuals have tried to wait out the sure to be hostile Rehnquist Court.

The chief justice of SCOTUS shapes a court. That court shapes society.

Reasonably related

The ailing Rehnquist had a troubling history before being appointed to the Supreme Court.

Politics: Candidates challenge Diebold

Two third-party candidates are performing a public service. Ralph Nader and David Cobb have sought recounts of ballots in the race for president. The recounts will test the accuracy of Diebold Election Systems, Inc. voting machines. By taking the initiative, the candidates for president bypass the issue of standing to challenge election results most citizens would face. They also get good publicity for themselves. But, nothing is perfect. I commend them for assuming the cloak of 'statesman.'

The Pioneer Press has briefs.

CONCORD, N.H. âÂ?Â? New Hampshire is about to become a test case for the accuracy of optical scan vote-counting machines because third-party presidential candidate Ralph Nader has asked for a recount. The request covers 11 of the state's 126 precincts that use Diebold Inc.'s Accuvote optical scanning machines to count paper ballots. Depending on the results, Nader's campaign could ask for recounts in other states, a spokesman said.

Green Party presidential candidate David Cobb has announced that his campaign has raised enough money to force Ohio to recount its presidential vote. The state allows candidates to demand recounts if they pay âÂ?Â? about $113,000 for a statewide recount. Cobb's campaign raised $150,000 in just four days. The money came entirely in online donations, his spokesman said, eclipsing Cobb's own fund raising for the entire election cycle.

There are two controversies swirling around electronic voting. The paperless voting machines provided by Diebold are said to produce opportunities for error and fraud. Since there is no hard copy proof of voters choices, they, at the very least, open the door to skepticism. In addition, the computers Diebold uses to record the votes from paper ballots are said to be hackable or easy to program to produce a given result intentionally. The foremost critic of Diebold, Bev Harris of Black Box Voting, believes the use of Microsoft software makes the machines vulnerable. According to her and other critics, altering even a single line of code can change the way votes are counted. She believes that Diebold, which has links to the Republican Party, may have used its machines to tamper with ballots.

Ironically, electronic voting machines were introduced as a reform. After the debacle of Election 2000, elections officials were wary of paper ballots, butterfly and otherwise. Touch-screen voting machines were thought to be more easily read and understood. But, by omitting any form of tangible confirmation, Diebold and its competitor, Election Systems & Software, Inc., have failed to make the voting process more trustworthy. The two recounts will be a check on accuracy, but questions about proof of individual votes and whether the software is hackable will remain.

Reasonably related

•Visit Black Box Voting online.

•Bob Fritrakis of Common Dreams offers a detailed account of concerns about Diebold voting machines in an article titled "Diebold, Electronic Voting and the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy."

Entertainment: Boston Legal celebrates privilege

As a longterm fan of The Practice, I awaited the debut of its spin-off, Boston Legal. eagerly. I expected to see James Spader develop his predictably unpredictable character, trial lawyer Alan Shore, more fully. But, after watching several episodes of David Kelley's latest legal vehicle, I am disappointed. There has not been much more development of Shore, but that is only one of the problems with the show. The Practice succeeded largely on angst-ridden hunk Dylan McDermott's skills as an actor. His character, angst-ridden hunk Bobby Donnell, was one of the most complex in a television drama ever. But, the ensemble cast was not far behind him. Steve Harris (Eugene Young) or Camryn Manheim (Ellenor Frutt) could carry an episode as well as the founding member of the small criminal law firm. Interesting things occurred whether Bobby was on-screen or not. Fans were transfixed by the lawyers' ability to make a way when all options seemed to be blocked by barriers. I believe Boston Legal is less than it could be because it lacks the strengths of its predecessor.

Lesley Smith, writing at Pop Matters, has zeroed in on much of what bothers me about Boston Legal.

Most egregiously, the show unrepentantly endorses and exploits traditional assumptions about lawyers: white privilege, boys are for business, girls are for sex, greed is good. The excesses go beyond the politically incorrect. Boston Legal is openly celebrates the privileges capitalism offers to a tiny minority, visible in their gleeful Olympian amorality in public, private, and professional life. By repackaging the morality of Enron, Halliburton, and widespread mutual fund mismanagement as frivolous eccentricity, the show valorizes the super-rich behaving super badly and getting away with it, over and over again.

Moreover, the tenor here is quite different from earlier "rich folk behaving badly" shows which made unlikely heroes out of J.R. Ewing and Alexis Carrington. Those characters directed their venom at each other, or fellow competitors for family and business wealth. In Boston Legal , the venom sprays downwards, at everyone who is not "like us." Clients (blatantly less privileged, women, African Americans, and Latinos) are merely the means to money and fame, or better, notoriety.

One of the first thing one notices about Boston Legal is that it is a white show. The diversity that one came to take for granted with The Practice has disappeared. The faces are as pale as those at the Republican convention. Vanilla is so much the flavor of the week, month and year that dark-haired Lake Bell (Sally Heep) stands out in the crowd. One could say that is reflective of a silk-stocking law firm. But, even the most exclusive law firm in a large city such as Boston would likely have a minority lawyer or two. More tellingly, in regard to both race and class, the people who make a law-firm go -- clerical staff, paralegals and investigators -- don't exist at Crane, Poole and Schmidt. Instead, the lawyers are shown doing their own research or interviewing clients themselves. A new associate might do that, but partners would not. Kelley has made a double faux pas by engaging in a failure of realism and missing an opportunity to avoid the cookie cutter sameness of the cast. In addition, he chose to ignore all of the talented non-white actors available when casting the show.

Smith observes that women don't fare much better than the minorities and the insufficiently schooled in this legal drama as celebration of prosperity. The 'sleep your way to success' motif is played so often it appears to be the only one there is. Females may be present, but they are not really partners -- except in bed. In addition, all three of the women given recurring screen time are attracted to Alan Shore, which is unlikely. One suspects it is a way for them to 'earn' some attention. The effect is to make their interchangeability all the more apparent.

The reviewer's parting words on this unsettling television drama are insightful.

Those involved in the show describe it as "light" and "funny," as if it were just a frothy entertainment. And several reviewers celebrate its "loopiness," "fruitiness," and "La-La Land" wackiness. Nothing, however, can hide the fact that, despite its idiosyncrasies, Boston Legal is all too accurate in its portrayal of our cultural moment, in which the gaps between richer and poorer grow ever larger and social and political empathy grows ever more anemic. It's a cultural moment for which David E. Kelley seems to have discovered a particular affinity, both in the later seasons of Ally McBeal and here again in Boston Legal. Looking back, it appears that L.A. Law will eventually stand as his finest work. On that show, he showed sympathy for human fallibility and the frailty of aspiration. He also remembered that language could mean something more than the momentary reaction it produced, that "story" could accumulate into something other than a collection of vignettes, however witty or outrageous they may be.

In the coming four years, I expect to see concerns about social justice increasingly trivialized. The kind of people who say that either there are no hungry folks in America, or that they deserve their fate, will be heard more loudly than ever, while the voices of those who are concerned about the more than 11 million households without sufficient food are ignored. A proposal to burden the low-income and middle-class even more by repealing the federal income tax and imposing a regressive national sales tax may go forward with the blessings of the Bush administration. Embryonic stem cell research will continue to be shelved as the national leadership pays homage to the anti-abortion movement. Women's wages will continue to shrink. Homosexuals, newly aware of where they stand with much of the population, will hesitate to assert themselves. I fear the suffering will be accompanied by a laugh track.

In an episode of Boston Legal, lawyer Lori Colson (Monica Potter), purchases a handbag that costs several hundred dollars from a sales clerk at a ritzy boutique. Her way of celebrating a legal victory is to go buy something frivolous and expensive. The sales woman recognizes the name on Lori's credit card. She is the young rape victim whose case has been scrubbed due to the machinations of Crane, Schmidt and Poole. The lawyer looks unhappy when she leaves the boutique. But, that doesn't change anything. The lawyer is 'supposed to be' a winner. The clerk is 'supposed to be' a loser. So, things are way the way they are 'supposed to be.' Smith is right. Boston Legal reflects the world we live in now, without questioning the assumptions built in.

Politics: Washington gov's race still undecided

I've been following the showdown for the governorship of Washington. The latest twist is a lawsuit by disgruntled Republicans. Democrats won the right to contact provisional voters by phone last week. Provisional ballots often haven't been signed, or the person may need to update residency information. If there is a problem and the voter is not heard from, his ballot is ignored. The GOP is perturbed because Democrats can make their votes count by correcting the problems.

KGW-TV has been covering the conflict.

A judge ruled Tuesday that King County should continue counting provisional ballots, despite protests from Republicans.

Superior Court Judge Dean Lum refused to grant a temporary restraining order against the state's largest county, a stronghold of support for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Christine Gregoire.

The ruling affects less than 1,000 ballots, but the governor's race is so close that those ballots could make a huge difference. On Tuesday afternoon, Republican Dino Rossi led Gregoire by 236 votes, out of 2.8 million ballots cast.

But, that's not all. A recount in a populous county is expected to increase the number of votes for Gregoire. The Seattle Post Intelligencer has the details.

MONTESANO, Wash. -- Grays Harbor County will have to re-count all of its ballots because of a problem with a computer reporting system, The Daily World of Aberdeen reported Tuesday.

County Auditor Vern Spatz said the re-count will likely add to Democrat Christine Gregoire's total votes for governor.

Statewide, at last count, Gregoire was 158 votes ahead of Republican Dino Rossi, out of 2.8 million ballots cast. The deadline for counties to finish tallying ballots is Wednesday.

"We do not have to rescan them, we could just rerun the report, but we don't want to have anybody have any doubts about this election," Spatz said. "We're going to take the time and effort to rescan every ballot in our office and generate new totals. It takes away any question."

Rossi's earlier lead of between 2000-3000 votes evaporated soon after vote counting resumed after the Veterans Day holiday. Some sources now say Gregoire is ahead. With hundreds more votes to count, it is unclear which candidate will prevail. The law requires the state to certify a winner tomorrow. I am not going to try to guess the outcome.

What's the art?

A temporary site where voters could submit their ballots in Pierce County, Washington. Most Washingtonians vote by mail.

Blogospherics: Blogs failed Election 101

Frank Barnako, media critic at CBSMarketwatch, has done his autopsy of bloggers and the election. Barnako viewed Election Day coverage, weighing the impact of bloggers and traditional media. He compared the pre-election claims of bloggers to what post-election data revealed. The results are not impressive.

WASHINGTON (CBS.MW) -- No one reads blogs.

Oops! I did it again. Better get under my desk before the e-mail flames arrive.

But when the most popular political blog draws less than 270,000 visitors on Election Day, you've got to ask, "What's the point?" (More traffic reports below.)

"How dare you say such a thing?" "What about the 4 million blogs Technorati is tracking?" "What about the fact that 11 months ago RSS was a geek secret and now it's a bolt-on to My Yahoo?" "What about the 100 million page impressions a month Blogads.com says it delivers?"

All that may be true. It's just that after the presidential election, it appears to me that the only readers of blogs ... are bloggers! They are a good group. Educated and engaged. But they're also like mice in a rotating cage: running in place, bumping into the same old people.

Despite all the anti-Bush screeds on Web logs, the frequent priming of wordy bonfires with Bush's National Guard duty records, the rush to judgment about missing explosives in Iraq ... it just didn't matter. All those opinions. All that Internet buzz. So little impact. Could it be not even bloggers trust what they read on blogs?

. . .Bottom line: Political blogging is like Ralph Nader. Nobody pays attention.

Barnako is more right than not. I've often lamented the echo chamber nature of the blogosphere. Much too often political blogging consists of a trip to Atrios or Daily Kos, if you're allegedly liberal, followed by a more or less verbatim regurgitation of whatever he is saying that day. (And, don't forget the banner. I think it is supposed to read 'reality based' now. Heck. My blog has been reality based all along. And, no one had to tell me to make it that way.) A conservative blogger? Same regimen, only the big bloggers leading the sheep around by the nose are the InstaPundit and Little Green Footballs. I can't think of any reason such behavior would result in insights into the minds of the electorate. If anything, it is guaranteed to reinforce what the bloggers participating already believe and get those who haven't conformed to do so. Blogs are -- when not stagnating at least -- evolving. So, before the election of 2008 rolls around, it is possible they may come to play some meaningful role in disseminating useful information to a more than miniscule share of the electorate. But, for now, voters either don't know or don't care what bloggers have to say.

Read the rest of Barnako's column at CBSMarketwatch. (Membership required. Say no to email or the site will overwhelm your mailbox.)

Reasonably related

Visit Barnako's weblog here.

Politics: Mormon Democrat may lead

One of the so-far-untold stories of the election is that Mormon Senator Harry Reid will almost certainly assume leadership of the Democratic Party in the United States Senate. Senator Tom Daschle appears to be going down in South Dakota, thus providing an opening for Reid. Of course, the Democrats are a minority in the Senate , but they are far from irrelevant. I assume this makes Reid the most powerful Mormon politician in the United States. (Will he be the most powerful Mormon politician ever?) Ironic, in light of the recent dominance of the Republican Party among Mormons, that our most powerful politician is a Democrat.

Reid (pictured), the former chairman of the Nevada Gaming Commission, is one of five Mormons in the Senate. He won reelection handily, with 61 percent of the vote. He announced his candidacy for the leadership vacancy Nov. 3. CNN reports.

LAS VEGAS, Nevada (CNN) -- In the wake of Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle's election defeat Tuesday, Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada said Wednesday that he has enough support among his colleagues to become the next Democratic leader.

"I have more than 30 votes," said Reid, the Senate's minority whip, at a news conference in Las Vegas, just hours after Daschle conceded his race in South Dakota.

Reid will apparently not face any opposition for the leader's post, after an expected challenge by Sen. Christopher Dodd of Connecticut failed to gain traction.

The Church of Latter Day Saints, a rare American religion, has a history of extreme conservatism. It was one of the last religious bodies to abandon biblical justification for racial discrimination -- in 1978. Women still play limited roles in the Mormon church and lifestyle.

Reid differs from other Democrats mainly in his opposition to abortion. He says his stance does not hamper his ability to work with Democrats effectively. His popularity in the party supports that contention.

Reid has voted for various limitations on abortions, including the controversial ban on late term abortions.

~ Voted YES on criminal penalty for harming unborn fetus during other crime. (Mar 2004)

~ Voted YES on banning partial birth abortions except for maternal life. (Mar 2003)

~ Voted YES on maintaining ban on Military Base Abortions. (Jun 2000)

~ Voted YES on banning partial birth abortions. (Oct 1999)

~ Voted YES on disallowing overseas military abortions. (May 1999)

An exception is embryonic stem cell research. Reid is one of a small group of senators, including some Republicans, who have unsuccessfully urged George W. Bush to expand embryonic stem cell research as recently as June.

Reid's positions on other issues are more typical of his party's. Read about them at On the Issues.

News: Got governor?

It is supposed to be over. The elections took place a week and a day ago. But, in the Pacific Northwest uncertainty lingers. Yesterday's headline at the Seattle Times read "King County absentees push Gregoire's lead to 8,700 votes." It appeared the Democratic candidate might shed light on the motif for the inauguration. Today's headline for The Mercury News said "Republican Pulls Ahead in Wash. Gov. Race." Now it appears that Dino Rossi may be ordering cocktail napkins featuring elephants. And, so it has gone since Tuesday. Each time a candidate seemed to have momentum, a new round of vote counting changed that perception.

Yesterday, Christine Gregoire was bolstered by an encouraging count of absentee ballots from urban King County, the Times reports.

OLYMPIA — The absentee-vote trend in King County bounced back in Democrat Christine Gregoire's favor yesterday, helping her extend her lead in the seesaw race for governor.

Gregoire, the state's three-term attorney general, now holds an 8,700-vote edge over Republican former state Sen. Dino Rossi.

She is likely to prevail in King County, where she established yesterday's lead, and about a half-dozen other metropolitan counties. The long-term Washington attorney general has a high degree of name recognition and is considered popular among that constituency. But, the absentee ballots from more rural areas, where the Republicans are more competitive, could end her hopes.

Republican candidates who did well nationally can credit George W. Bush's coattails and the surprising surge of opposition to gay marriage, expressed by voting for constitutional amendments in 11 states. Neither was able to sweep the GOP's candidate into the governor's mansion in Washington. Today, Rossi had something to smile about, a 2,000-3,000 vote lead over Gregoire.

The Mercury has the story.

OLYMPIA, Wash. - Republican Dino Rossi has pulled ahead of Democrat Christine Gregoire in the Washington governor's race, and he boldly announced a transition team to prepare for his possible ascent to power.

The contest ended in a virtual dead heat on Election Day and has remained tight ever since as officials tally hundreds of thousands of mail ballots. Most Washington state residents cast ballots through the mail.

However, naming a transition team does seem a bit presumptuous. Rossi, a wealthy investor, may end up making a transition to whatever he plans to do if he is not governor. Even the complete count of absentee ballots may not be conclusive. Some observers expect the election to turn on provisional ballots -- those voted by persons who encountered problems at the polling place. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer agrees.

Both sides said the election apparently will be settled by the 80,000 or so voters who used provisional ballots, including about 30,000 in Democrat Christine Gregoire's stronghold, King County.

For the second day in a row, Rossi, the former state Senate budget chairman, maintained a slim advantage over Gregoire, the state attorney general, even as some of her best counties reported.

Rossi began the day with a pad of about 3,000 votes. As votes were announced by counties where he has led, Rossi pulled ahead with each new report, at one point leading by 7,259 votes.

Nationally, the contest will decide if there will be 22 governors who are Democrats or 29 who are Republicans.

You can stay abreast of the horse race at www.vote.wa.gov.

Health: Embryonic stem cell research gets shot in arm

Looking for a bright spot in regard to Nov. 2? There are a few. One of them is a reason for renewed hope in regard to persons with disabilities. The research path that many researchers see as promising in curing or at least treating ailments such as Parkinson's disease, Altzheimer's and spinal cord injury, embryonic stem cell research, took a giant step forward a week ago. How is that, since George W. Bush, who opposes research on embryonic stem cells, was elected president? California has decided to make an end run around Bush's executive order banning most Americans from using embryonic stem cells in their research. Proposition 71 was approved by nearly 60 percent of the voters.

The Boston Globe reports.

WASHINGTON -- In a campaign that played out like a red state/blue state version of the Hatfields and the McCoys, the issue of embryonic stem-cell research was one of many nails poured into the blue-state blunderbuss and fired across the Mason-Dixon line.

It may have been the only one that hit its target. The biggest McCoy of all, California, voted to authorize spending up to $3 billion over 10 years on stem-cell research -- a plan intended as a direct assault on President Bush's strict limits on embryonic stem-cell research and, by extension, on the politics of religious values that underlay the Bush campaign.

. . .The California stem-cell referendum was extraordinary in many respects. It put a state government in the business of medical research, taking on a job that normally falls to the federal government and private sector. And while many state referendums seem more symbolic than real -- a chance for citizens to cast a meaningless protest vote -- this one delivered big money. The $3 billion is, by some measures, more than John F. Kerry promised in his plan to ramp up stem-cell research.

Bush refused to support embryonic stem cell research in 2001. His executive order bars American scientists receiving government funds from using the cells in their work. There is a tiny caveat allowing a score of preexisting ESC lines to be used. However, that is woefully insufficient. Nor will adult stem cells substitute for ESCs. They are limited in use because they are specialized in regard to the kinds of organs they are compatible with. Embryonic stem cells, on the other hand, are undifferentiated. Theoretically, any part of the body can be treated using them.

Bush's opposition is, of course, rooted in his support from the anti-abortion movement. Pro-life advocates contend that life begins at conception. So, the fetuses from which embryonic cells are initially taken are people from their perspective. Actually, the barely developed embryos are left-overs from in vitro fertilization that would be discarded as medical waste. Without government funding, American research into uses of embryonic stem cells has crept along at a snail's pace. The innovation in California means that incubators for ESC research will exist in at least one state.

A pro-life advocate is incensed that Proposition 71 is now the law.

Human embryonic stem cell research is always immoral and unethical, said Judie Brown, president of the American Life League in Stafford, Va.

"With the passage of this deadly initiative, California is poised to become the world's largest killing place," Brown said. "We urge all Californians who respect the dignity of every human being's life to speak out against and begin immediate steps to overturn this measure, which endorses the wholesale killing of the youngest members of the human family."

Actress and activist Dana Reeve, who lost her husband, actor Christopher Reeve, (pictured) to complications from spinal cord injury recently, disagrees. She believes embryonic stem cell research offers hope for ameliorating the problems of people with SCI and other debilitating diseases. Soon after her bereavement, Ms. Reeve joined Kerry on the campaign trail to accentuate his support for ESC research.

Reeve's widow, Dana, said her family has been grieving privately since her husband died Oct. 10. "My inclination would be to remain private for a good long while," she said. "But I came here today in support of John Kerry because this is so important. This is what Chris wanted."

Reeve had lived as a paraplegic since a riding accident in 1995. He had become an advocate for medical research and believed studying embryonic stem cells might unlock lifesaving cures and treatments, Dana Reeve said.

"His heart was full of hope, and he imagined living in a world where politics would never get in the way of hope," she said.

The passage of the pro-ESC measure in California has implications beyond science. The approval of research on embryonic stem cells casts the issue of what it means to be pro-life in new terms. The Right, as exemplified by Bush, believes the 'lives' in need of protection are those of embryos. The more moderate, including some Republicans, are expanding the meaning of being pro-life to include saving or improving the lives of those afflicted by incurable diseases and injuries. With the anti-abortion movement likely to try to extend its triumph in the election to include new restrictions on abortion, the expansion of what people think about when they hear the term 'pro-life' could be significant. It opens the door to a more intelligent and nuanced discussion of quality of life as a component of being pro-life.

Reasonably related

Learn more about stem cells at PBS.

Law: Bryant accuser wanted goodies

It is the kind of thing you hope isn't true. Would a young woman, even one who may be shallow, really accuse a celebrity of rape because she wanted to buy breast implants? Records of an interview of a witness in a notorious criminal case released recently make one wonder. A friend of the accuser in the Kobe Bryant rape case told a defense attorney the woman had a shopping list.

The Associated Press has the story.

DENVER (AP) - A month after a hotel worker accused NBA star Kobe Bryant of rape, she allegedly told a friend that she was considering suing him in civil court and planned to use any money she won for breast implants, a koala bear and opening a recording studio.

The details came in testimony from Sean Holloway, who knew the then-19-year-old woman from the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley, according to court documents released Friday.

During a closed hearing March 2, defense attorney Hal Haddon asked Holloway about a conversation with the woman near the end of July 2003, about a month after the alleged assault. The hearing was to determine whether information about the woman's sexual activities could be used in court against her.

Haddon asked whether the woman had mentioned the possibility of a civil lawsuit.

``She said that after the case was over it was something that she was most likely going to do,'' Holloway said.

He testified the woman, an aspiring singer, wanted to use any award money to open a recording studio and to pay for breast augmentation surgery for herself and a friend. He also said she would buy a koala bear for another friend who liked the animals.

If the accuser believed the legal system works that way, she was sadly mistaken. There are numerous barriers between claiming to be the victim of a crime and collecting money as a result. The complainant has to convince the police and the district attorney there are grounds for charges. A court has to agree that there is sufficient evidence for the case to go forward. Various rules of evidence must be followed when introducing evidence at trial, some of them not beneficial to the accuser. A jury has to be convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that a crime occurred.

Even after groundwork for a civil case has been laid, the whole shebang can fall apart before the plaintiff can collect a hefty check. It helps a great deal if the accused is convicted. But, that is not a guarantee of a verdict granting the accuser significant damages in a civil suit that follows. A jury can believe the criminal case disposed of the matter, or that the plaintiff did not suffer sufficient harm to justify awarding high damages. Without a conviction, the road becomes rougher. The accuser must establish the injury occurred and the accused is responsible without the record from the criminal case to rely on. Being perceived as a loser can impact how jurors treat the accuser in the civil case. Though the burden of proof is less stringent -- by a preponderance of the evidence -- jurors may be more skeptical of injuries that allegedly occurred during a crime than they would be under other circumstances. A more typical scenario, for example one involving an accident, provides objective evidence to be judged. A civil case based on allegations of an assault or rape will turn mainly on the credibility of the persons involved.

It isn't possible to know whether Bryant's accuser reached the conclusion she could make a lot of money from the alleged assault on her own, or, was misled by older people who should have known better. Either way, the situation points to a failing of education in our society. I believe teenagers and adults should have at least a basic understanding of how the criminal and civil justice systems work. Such knowledge would have prevented this young woman doing what might be lasting harm to her own reputation.

Politics: Disdain for gays decisive

I've said opposition to full citizenship for homosexuals is becoming the new component of the GOP 's Southern Strategy several times this year. As I observed the machinations of the Southern based Christian Right and the Bush administration, it seemed increasingly clear that there is a current of contempt toward gays that is as easily tapped as racism. In February, I posted an entry titled, "Gay unions the issue for Christian Right."

Christian conservatives have decided to rally around opposition to gay marriage as their focus issue for the campaign season. Having their candidate win the White House, with the help of the U.S. Supreme Court, turned out to be a mixed bag. Since, far Right Christian organizations have had difficulty attracting attention and raising money with the direct mail campaigns they rely on. One issue they've used to galvanize their public is continuing agitation to erode the constitutional safeguards against establishment of religion. Another, disapproval of gays marrying, has now emerged as prime.

. . .The most significant change in American political scene during the last decades was the emergence of the GOP's Southern Strategy. It encouraged the exodus of working and middle-class white Americans from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party. That in turn, resulted in conservative dominance of federal politics. The GOP has also increased its share of governorships and other state offices. If the Christian Right has its way, the opposition to gay unions will bolster the gains made by the Southern strategy. But, will Bush stick? The answer to that question may determine whether gay rights will be the dominant domestic political issue in this decade, as opposition to civil rights legislation was during the the 1960s.

It is not that contempt for people of color, particularly African-Americans, is no longer a significant characteristic among a sizable proportion of the American electorate. It still is. And, the Republicans can count on a Solid South mainly because of continuing opposition to integration, affirmative action and other aspects of no longer 'keeping them in their place.' But, the reliance on racism of the GOP has become the norm. A generation has been reared to spout the vacuous slogans of opposition to civil rights for nonwhite Americans on demand. Neo-Confederates, including Sen. Trent Lott, Attorney General John Ashcroft and Alabama Gov. Bob Riley, hold powerful positions of political leadership. It was time for the next stage.

Opposition to expanding the rights of homosexuals by including them in laws against employment, housing and health care discrimination, decriminalizing homosexual sexual acts, and allowing them to marry, provided an opportunity for the GOP to reenergize its base and expand its ranks.

The New York Times says that opposition to gay unions may have been the determining factor in George W. Bush's narrow victory.

COLUMBUS, Ohio, Nov. 3 - Proposed state constitutional amendments banning same-sex marriage increased the turnout of socially conservative voters in many of the 11 states where the measures appeared on the ballot on Tuesday, political analysts say, providing crucial assistance to Republican candidates including President Bush in Ohio and Senator Jim Bunning in Kentucky.

The amendments, which define marriage as between only a man and a woman, passed overwhelmingly in all 11 states, clearly receiving support from Democrats and independents as well as Republicans. Only in Oregon and Michigan did the amendment receive less than 60 percent of the vote.

But the ballot measures also appear to have acted like magnets for thousands of socially conservative voters in rural and suburban communities who might not otherwise have voted, even in this heated campaign, political analysts said. And in tight races, those voters - who historically have leaned heavily Republican - may have tipped the balance.

. . ."I'd be naïve if I didn't say it helped," said Robert T. Bennett, chairman of the Ohio Republican Party. "And it helped most in what we refer to as the Bible Belt area of southeastern and southwestern Ohio, where we had the largest percentage increase in support for the president."

Missouri and Louisiana had already acted. (The Louisiana amendment was invalidated by a state court.) Among the states approving amendments against gay marriage Tuesday were Kentucky, Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi and Oklahoma. The few remaining will likely make the move in 2005, bolstering statutes that already ban gay marriage, in some cases. They are creating a new kind of Solid South, one that has proven itself just as opposed to political and social equality for homosexuals as it is to equal treatment of racial minorities.

Reasonably related

For a list describing the legal situations of all fifty states in regard to gay marriage, visit Stateline.org.

Politics: Meet the Max Tax

Not long ago, I read up on the history of the idea of a national sales tax. The topic is of interest because the Bush administration is said to be plotting to impose such a measure if it achieves a second term. The Club for Growth and other Right Wing groups pursue the idea of a national sales tax because it would favor the wealthy. A form of flat tax, a national sales tax would mean all persons making a given purchase pay the same amount of tax. But, since the poor and middle-class have less income to begin with, the brunt of the tax would fall on them. An example. Jack the venture capitalist must pay a 30 percent sales tax on gas. So must Jane the supermarket clerk. However, because her wages are low, the tax takes away much more of her income than it does his. One of my concerns in reading about the national sales tax was that citizens would not understand that most of them would lose more income to taxes under it. Instead, they might focus on the rhetoric of the Right, which emphasizes there would no longer be an income tax. A political race in Georgia has raised the topic in a way that cuts through such obfuscation. A Democratic challenger to a Republican representative has brought the topic to the forefront. He says the Republican helped sponsor Rep. John Linder's, (R-Ga.) House Resolution 25 (2003), which is a proposal for a national sales tax. The contender has decided to call the it the Max Tax.

The Augusta Chroniclereports.

The 12th Congressional District race between incumbent Republican Max Burns and Democrat John Barrow has boiled down to a war of words. Angry words at that.

Angry words over negative campaign ads and Mr. Barrow's turning Mr. Burns' support for a national sales tax into a catch phrase, the "Max Tax," have Mr. Burns crying foul.

. . .Mr. Burns said the sales tax will increase the number of Americans paying taxes from 110 million to 250 million and force illegal immigrants and those in the underground economy to pay taxes.

Mr. Barrow contends it will shift the tax burden from big business and the wealthiest to the lowest-earning 80 percent of Americans.

Barrow, a Harvard Law School graduate, is right. The hidden economy would not more than double the number of people paying taxes even if it could be tapped by a national sales tax. The rhetoric about illegal immigrants has more to do with xenophobia than reality. They already pay most taxes.

I was reminded in a recent discussion at a large group blog that there are lunkhead working-class people out there. Tell them they will not have to deal with the IRS anymore, and they might favor whatever is being offered in its stead. Never mind that they would be working against their own best interests. So, it is important that the problem with a national sales tax be made clear. Burns is angry partly because his first name, 'Max' is attached to Max Tax. But, I like the term. It describes what most people would be paying under a national sales taxation plan -- maximum tax. I hope the name Max Tax sticks and goes national.

Reasonably related

• This just in. Barrow has been projected as the winner of the House seat.

Politics: My ballot and me

I am a late voter. Though I had intended to vote early, I decided to wait, curious to see if there would be an October Surprise. As you may know, everyone in Oregon votes by mail. More than half of the ballots had been returned to the offices of the Director of Elections by Friday. Though I can't imagine an October surprise that would have led me to vote for failed incumbent George W. Bush, there was the possibility of influence in regard to other candidates and issues. We did get surprised at the end of October. Osama bin Laden, the person most responsible for the terrorist attacks of 9/11, appeared by video to remind us he is healthy, wealthy, and, in his own way, wise. The Bush administration was crossing its collective fingers that bin Laden would remain out of sight, out of mind until the election is over. He reminded us who is yanking whose chain. I am curious to see what effect bin Laden's appearance, dismissive of any claim he has been pushed to the sidelines, will have on the electorate. Will the easily frightened rally behind Bush because of his tough rhetoric, despite his failure to capture the tenacious terrorist for three years? Will the fence sitters decide an unproven president is preferable to one we know the weaknesses of all too well?

Our ballot is a simple one. A double-sided thick paper rectangle, about eight inches wide and 15 inches long. One fills in circles next to candidates' names in pencil or pen. Compared to ballots in some other states, it is downright old-fashioned. We complete the ballot, drop it in the mail or in a special election drop box, and we're done. The innovation is in being the only state where much of the controversy and inconvenience of voting is avoided. Perhaps that is why Oregon usually has voter turnout of more than 70 percent.

My choices for national candidates were easily made until I reached the U.S. Representative for the First Congressional District. I believe Sens. John Kerry and John Edwards will capably lead the country. Sen. Ron Wyden has proven himself to be effective. Mitch Greenlick, representative for the Thirty-Third Congressional District, may not be memorable, but has done nothing to merit dismissal.

The episode the Republican candidate may be able to ride into Congress occurred when Wu was a college student, way back in 1976.

That summer, the 21-year-old Wu was brought to the campus police annex after his ex-girlfriend said he tried to force her to have sex, according to Raoul K. Niemeyer, then a patrol commander who questioned him.

Wu had scratches on his face and neck, and his T-shirt was stretched out of shape, Niemeyer said.

Protected by a dean who thought it more significant that he was a good student than that he was also, apparently, a sex offender, Wu was never disciplined or charged with a crime. He refused to discuss the episode until after the Oregonian pulished its investigation last month.

I take abuse of women and children seriously. I also detest sneaky people who do wrong and get it away with for years. I could not vote for Wu.

Neither could I vote for either of the other two candidates. The Republican is Goli Ameri, a wealthy Iranian immigrant with views that would have made Marie-Antoinette blush. Dean Wolf is running on behalf of the Constitution Party, which supports a second secession from the Union by the South and white supremacy.

I left that three inches of ballot space unmarked.

A few of our state measures may interest you. Measure 33 would expand the right to medical marijuana to allow the growth and possession of more of the drug. The current medical marijuana guidelines are lax. About half of all medical marijuana cards have been issued on approval of an elderly physician who never actually meets most patients. There seems to be a nexus between participation in the program and involvement in crime. No. Measure 36 would change the state constitution to make marriage a union between a man and a woman. No. Measure 37 is one of ill-conceived libertarian efforts that make you snicker.

Governments must pay owners, or forgo enforcement, when certain land use restrictions reduce property value.

Translation: It would require the government to either compensate property owners for land-use restrictions that reduce property values or waive regulations. If it were to pass and be enforced, Measure 37 might bankrupt municipalities. Absolutely not.

If you are looking for stories about exciting events as the election approaches, I recommend visiting bloggers in Ohio or Florida. Here, conservative talk show hosts are urging their followers to submit their ballots late so the dastardly Democrats can't intercept them and tamper. But, even the chief of the Republican Party, Kevin Mannix, says that is stupid. He urges Bush supporters to vote as soon as possible, not waiting until Election Day. Matthew Lowe, an overly zealous lawyer who is a Republican, has threatened legal action if new voters are allowed to vote in liberal Multnomah County. He claims they (but, for some reason, not new voters in conservative areas) have not presented adequate identification. Election officials are unmoved. The GOP has disavowed the threat. A state where people vote by mail, and early, is not susceptible to most dirty tricks. The excitement of Oregon voters will be that of the nation -- seeing how this cliffhanger turns out.

What's the art?

A woman turns in her ballot in Portland.