Election Countdown

[vista]

At this stage we seem to have a few threads on the go. How about one to detail the election countdown coverage and thoughts.

Be the voting machines or voter challenges, tomorrow will be a mess. Perhaps I'll stay home and watch it - entertainment at it's finest. A script worthy of an Oscar.

Election Day Terror Drills

A plan may be afoot to induce a national terror threat on Election Day to lower voter turnout and steal the election for Bush once again, but this time in a different manner.At least three states have WMD/Terrorism Incident drills scheduled for Tuesday, November 2, 2004 – Election Day.

http://www.legitgov.org/essay_kane_fema_terror_drill_102904.html

This link has link to various articles including some posted here.

Terrorism and the Election: California is the Target!

No postponement, just bedlam at the polls and a low turnout on the west coast is Bush's plan for 'victory'

Additionally, there have been reports www.prisonplanet.com that CERT – Citizen Emergency Response Team – will be holding a “disaster simulation” nationwide on Election Day, November 2, 2004.

Senator Dayton recently announced he was closing his DC office due to intelligence reports of possible terrorism in DC He stated he would not advise anyone to go to the Capitol between now and the election.

Arizona is running a WMD/Terrorism Incident exercise on Election Day. UPI picked this up on their wire and the Washington Times ran the story immediately after Nico Haupt broke the story.

Ballot Boxing -- Last month, U.S. Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski decided to try one of Maryland's new voting machines in Takoma Park. It was a brand-new Diebold AccuVote-TS. The state of Maryland has just spent $55 million for the ATM-like electronic voting devices to be used in the upcoming presidential election.

The AccuVote, acting just as a demonstration, offered two choices: "yes" and "no." Sen. Mikulski pressed "no." The machine registered "yes."

And now over to the anchor desk.

 

[peapod]

When I was halloween tripping last night, I ran into an old friend, she has duel citizenship. She was born in america, but has lived in canada for the the past twenty years. She requested a absentee voting ballot. She has only done this once before, when the father ran for president. She received three ballots in the mail.

 

[Haggis McBagpipe]

My husband and daughter both have dual citizenship, both voted, but both only received the proper number (one) of ballots in the mail. On the other hand, the Democrats (where they had both requested the ballot) did send follow-up 'national' ballots (one each) to use, but only if the other hadn't been received.

Vista, re the terrorist scenario on election day, I wonder if such a plan would backfire on Bush. I strongly suspect that the type of voter who would stay away from polling booths on election day because of a government-announced possible terrorist threat would be the kind of person who is inclined to believe such threats are real and not politically-motivated, and to be afraid enough to stay away... ie, primarily the Bush-lovin' voter.

 

[Andem]

*fingers crossed* I'm hoping Bush really screws up somewhere, says something wrong or makes a joke which offends a group! Hopefully break the race.

 

[Haggis McBagpipe]

I feel more and more hopeful that Kerry is going to kick Bush's ass tomorrow. It would be nice if he did literally as well as figuratively, but hey, I'll take what I can get.

Who is watching the election returns tomorrow? To what degree will you be glued to the news? For me it is a given, my whole world now revolves around tomorrow. I am going to have such serious withdrawal on Wednesday.

 

[Reverend Blair]

I'm always glued to the TV for these things.

My predictions?

I'm afraid of race riots in Ohio and Florida because of Republican shenanigans at the polls. Things are like a tinder box right now and the only spark needed is some rich smartass in a suit challenging the wrong voter in the wrong way. If that happens, Bush will win the election because people in precincts where the rioting takes place won't be able to vote.

George Bush needs to carry both Florida and Ohio to win.
Kerry can win just by taking Ohio.

We won't the results before the end o the week, possibly the end of the year.

If George Bush wins European and Asian nations are going to take steps to sanction the United States and will actively oppose any further military action in the Middle East.

If George Bush wins there are going to be attempts to impeach him and whether he wins or loses both he and his Vice President will be in serious legal trouble by the end of 2006.

No matter who wins, Tony Blair is going to try to distance himself even further from the Bush White House. Cheri Blair, a human rights lawyer, has been in the US giving speeches critical of Bush's policies.

 

[Diamond Sun]

Haggis, I'm planning to watch the elections on TV. I'm seriously concerned about Bush winning again, and it's almost scary to think about watching it happen.

 

[Rick van Opbergen]

I think the chance that European and Asian nations will sanction the United States is near 0%. Come on, we live in the age of globalisation, that must be an answer enough. Meanwhile, I'm keeping my fingers crossed too - I fear another four years of Bush will make worldpolitics even more of a mess. But that's old news by now.

 

[Andem]

Rick is on the money. We're in a world of globalisation, so chances of the EU imposing sanctions on the United States would be justified but would definately not happen.

Asian nations, I'm not sure about. They are also benefitting in a large part to American globalisation and China's economy, while somewhat independent from the US economy, would fair much better if there were no sanctions against each other.

 

[Rick van Opbergen]

Indeed, that's what I meant, maybe I was not very clear, but the EU and a lot of other nations are depending for a part of the US, and sanctions can cause such a blow to these nations that it would be sort of ... selfdestructing.

 

[vista]

There will months of ligation. The conservative press will be unrelenting on the democrats. The issues raised will be from the sublime to the ridicurous.

The divide will be the equivalent of a civil war without weapons (of mass distruction).

In the end, the democrats will be told to roll over and they will.

Pretty much a repeat of 2000 just the battle will last much longer and be much costlier in terms of money, trust and world respect (does the US have any?)

It has been said, the US was the world's first great democracy - we are witnessing the demise of this democracy and the emergence of a fascist regime to take us through the end of the age of oil.

It ain't gonna' be a party.

 

[Andem]

Selfdestructing is probably a good choice of words. Though I hope in the soon future, the EU will start to diversify their dependencies. The United States also relies somewhat on the EU for some things. Look at how much of the auto consumer market in the states is owned by European companies.

 

[Rick van Opbergen]

Well, don't forget not all what comes from the US is bad, and that on the other hand, the EU too (as well as other Western countries) make their hands dirty in the struggle for natural resources, including oil.

 

[Haggis McBagpipe]

Well, in the world of predictions for tomorrow, I am sticking with this one: There will be an unexpected sweep by Kerry, he will win with enough of a landslide that leaves no doubt as to the winner. I think this will happen because I am guessing a huge number of people are planning to vote their conscience, but are keeping quiet about their choice because of the hostile conservative climate.

A momentum has been growing for Kerry, one so sudden and unexpected that nobody has had time to put a negative spin on it. And by god now they're out of time.

 

[Rick van Opbergen]

Read this morning in the newspaper that they conducted a poll among 1000 young Dutch people (18 - 31); they asked them "who would you vote for if you could vote for the US elections?" ... 89% would vote for Kerry, and 11% for Bush (Nader did not seem to be an option for anyone) ... there was also another question: who would you personally like to see as US president? ... And the winner was ... Hillary Clinton! She got 40% of all votes. After that came Arnold Schwarzenegger (10%), followed by Michael Moore (9%) ... funny ... oh, and some months ago, they also asked young Dutch people whom they found most threatening for world peace ... Bush was considered the greatest threat for worldpeace, closely followed by Israel and Muslim fundamentalism ... and meanwhile, Bush still thinks we are one of his allies :mrgreen:

 

[Reverend Blair]

There is a difference between placing sanctions on and taking steps to sanction...perhaps I should have chosen my words differently.

Bush is looking for a war with Iran and Syria. He will be seriously opposed by Europe should he go ahead with that.

Bush has massively mishandled Korea and could easily get into a shooting match with them. China will not tolerate that, neither will most of the EU or Asia.

Bush is on a collision course with China over Taiwan.

Meanwhile China and the EU are cozying up. There is much speculation about NATO becoming obsolete once the EU has a working unified force. The US economy is in major trouble.

Economic sanctions aren't out of the question, of course. I doubt they'll happen anytime soon, but they are a possibility. What I was really thinking about when I said "sanction the US" was more along the lines of just cutting the US out of the loop on new trade deals, opposing them every step of the way in multilateral forums, and speaking out strongly and loudly against them in almost all matters of international diplomacy.

If the large countries in the EU tell the smaller countries and hopefuls not to aid Bush in his wars they won't, for instance. Another instance would be loans being called in. Or encouraging OPEC to switch to the Euro. Or out-maneuvering the US on aid for trade deals in the developing world.

The US is really in no shape to fight back against such measures. Its over-extended militarily and financially. It has alienated virtually every traditional ally it had. The only card the US really has left to play is the size of its economy, and that economy is dependent on the very nations it has been alienating.

 

[vista]

It's.............................. show time!

A UNITED States court today gave the go-ahead for voters to be challenged at polling stations in the key state of Ohio amid Republican claims of potential widespread electoral fraud.

A federal appeals court cleared the way for "voter challengers" to attend polling stations in a move which could pave the way for a legal challenge to the result of today’s election.

oh boy...

 

[vista]

The Colorado results are in:

With all precincts reporting, Bush wins Colorado, 41-34 percent, paper reports – except election hasn’t started yet!
The Raw Story | November 2 2004

President Bush has scored a resounding victory in Colorado, winning the popular vote 41 to 34 percent over Massachusetts senator John Kerry – at least according to the Rocky Mountain News, which posted the ‘final’ election results sometime Monday afternoon, RAW STORY discovered.

The News called the election for Bush. But several minutes later, with fewer precincts reporting, Kerry was up 41-40 percent. The image is reproduced below. The paper previously had endorsed Bush for reelection.

Trouble is, election day is Tuesday. The latest poll, by Zogby, has Bush edging Kerry 48-47 percent.

RAW STORY believes that the paper is testing their online reporting system, though most papers do so internally, without calling the race in public view before the election actually occurs.

The paper also called the national Senate race. Democratic senate hopeful and state Attorney General Ken Salazar lost, by eight percent, to beer mogul Pete Coors, who trounced him with 48 percent of the vote.

Curiously, Salazar is leading in both current polls, with a 52-44 percent lead over Coors in Zogby’s poll, and a 49-47 percent lead in the latest SurveyUSA poll.

The site previously could be accessed here but has since been taken down. Page views are shown below.

The News is owned by E.W. Scripps, a media conglomerate. The News is their largest paper.

http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/november2004/021104bushwins.htm

Complete with result tabulations - perhaps someone could post the jpegs

 

[Rick van Opbergen]

Funny to see that in Florida, the government has even ASKED for international observers to monitor the elections, in what is often portrayed as the greatest democracy in the world.

 

[peapod]

On the cbc documentary on bush last night, they said he did not even have a passport before he became president. So how would he know anything about international politics and cultures. Also that he and his father are the only two sitting presidents in american history to have so many ties to big business. Many having to do with defense.