Ol' Hillbilly Bobert: (1) Yes, the system is flawed. (2) All systems are flawed. (3) Voter identification by race (in suspect states) is required by federal civil-rights laws. (4) Voter identification by Social Security number is banned by federal privacy laws. (5) Yes, most other states purge people, in large numbers, from voter rolls. This is to prevent fraud, e.g. impersonation & graveyard voting, which when it does occur must also be organized by the Republicans, I'm shure. (6) Yes, urban African-Americans and some other minorities, in all states, are disproportionately impacted by voter-registry purges. This is *largely* (not entirely) because, as a collective group, for complex socioeconomic reasons, they are disproportionately more mobile, domicile-wise; and disproportionately disinclined to reply to official residence canvasses; and disproportionately more subject to disfranchising felony convictions; and so forth. Yes, there is Jim Crow discrimination. But No, it is not the whole story, by any means. (7) Yes, crappy voting equipment is disproportionately located in minority precincts in many states. Municipal economics are involved here; but still this IS discrimination & must be corrected. (8) I believe Uncle Al sent down one or two barristers & spent a couple bucks hisself, too. Hey, quite a bit was at stake, y'know? (9) Notwithstanding that he inherited (from the Mater's side, perhaps) a lot more brains than his brudder Dumbya (which, granted, ain't sayin' all that much), young Jeb ain't *nearly* smart enough to have figured out how to fix that election. Too easy an answer, Bobe. It just happened. Rare confluence of events. Sorry. (10) I don't ever-ever expect to convince ya. Yer a True Believer & Gawd bless yez sir. But actually, yer right: it *was* just "as rigged as it could be." Dang thing is: it *couldn't* be. Too complicated.

Yers fer O'Lieberman in '04,

--Pookert