As I understand it, one of the reason for dodgy holesd is that the meachines are crap, and if you don't push the buttion pretty hard they don't cut through cleanly.

Incan't see whynthat would be more likely to affect Democrat voters than Republicans.....

As for selective picking of counties - it doesn't take any longer to do 67 counts than it does to do one. It wouldn't take any longer to count every vote in the United States in fact than it does to count one county, the same way that it doesn't take any longer to have a vote in one ward than it does for the whole country. And as spaw worked it out the numbers involved to getbitbdone in a reasonable time aren't that great

The only explanation I can see for the hoohah is that the candidate in front is shit-scared that a fair count of the vote would mean that he'd lose. Right now it so happens it's Bush, and in the process of trying to stop thge vote I think he has demonstrated that he's not fit to be elected dog-catcher.

Maybe if Gore was in front he'd act the same, and demonstrate that he is as much a crook and a cheat as his rival - but he hasn't been put in that position yet, so we don't know. Maybe if the vote turns to favour Gore after the overseas ones are taken into account we'll see Bush calling for recounts, and Gore can show if he's more honest in these matters than Bush.

Maybe he is. After all, it now appears clear that to top Bush, he wouldn't have to achieve a particularly high standard of honesty - and most people in my experience are in fact reasonably honest when it comes down to it. And that probably includes a fair number of politicians even. Well, some anyway, and maybe Gore's one of them. I hope he gets a chance to show. And if he isn't, sod him as well.