04-28-2008, 11:48 PM
That's an oversimplified answer for why Gore got (slightly more) votes and Bush won the election I've seen in a while, but I've seen worse. It was Gore who took it to the courts and lost. A questionable decision in retrospect. And not the first mangled Presidential election. Or the last.
The Nixon Kennedy contest should probably have resulted in a Nixon victory, but Nixon, while privately bitter about it, refused to challenge the outcome, fearing it would damage the party, diminish the Office, and hurt his credibility in a potential future Presidential race. There was far less media scrutiny back then, the private lives of public figures were better concealed. Insiders knew how crooked the game was, but regular folks wouldn't find out until years later.
One interesting thing about this contest, the inner workings of the party machine is more exposed to public view than it normally is. In the old days, party bosses made deals and ran the process with less interest or involvement from the public. These days, more voters are participating in primaries and caucuses, but our understanding of the party mechanics, and the rules and regulations isn't any clearer, we're just as confused as ever.
I saw Howard Dean on Russert Sunday, still as arrogant and dishonest as ever, as partisan and myopic as any Party Chief from the old days. He's probably the perfect guy to crack the whip, or run the party into the ground, or both.
The Nixon Kennedy contest should probably have resulted in a Nixon victory, but Nixon, while privately bitter about it, refused to challenge the outcome, fearing it would damage the party, diminish the Office, and hurt his credibility in a potential future Presidential race. There was far less media scrutiny back then, the private lives of public figures were better concealed. Insiders knew how crooked the game was, but regular folks wouldn't find out until years later.
One interesting thing about this contest, the inner workings of the party machine is more exposed to public view than it normally is. In the old days, party bosses made deals and ran the process with less interest or involvement from the public. These days, more voters are participating in primaries and caucuses, but our understanding of the party mechanics, and the rules and regulations isn't any clearer, we're just as confused as ever.
I saw Howard Dean on Russert Sunday, still as arrogant and dishonest as ever, as partisan and myopic as any Party Chief from the old days. He's probably the perfect guy to crack the whip, or run the party into the ground, or both.