the never ending election. 17 january , 2001 by johnmichael patrick monty monteith

I am writing this as Dubya is about ready to take the helm as leader of the world. (And they say American's are egotistical. Ha!) Depending on which you focus on, you could be excited or extremely disappointed. Excited when you consider the fact that George and Co will stop the Department of Justice from beating up Microsoft, and has policies in our future that will likely do better at keeping the Wall Street brokers from needing to use up their remaining yuppie food stamps. Disappointed when we discover time again that George is perhaps the most unequipped person to take that office, and is almost guaranteed to be the laughing stock of the world we believe we lead. Yet, whether you are ecstatic or suicidal about the situation, I thought I might let you in on a little secret: The election is not over.

While the former Governor of Texas is assuredly going to move into the White House, the amount of time he will spend in the new residence is very much in question. While it is highly unlikely that he will leave before his four years are up, there is a slim chance it might happen. Perhaps not much more slim than Dumbya getting an additional four years.

I know, I know. You think I have been smoking a bit too much of Clinton's secret stash. But, let me present a picture for you:

At this very moment a non-partisan committee of journalists are hand counting all of the ballots in the State of Florida. In this count they are being careful to specifically state whether the vote was clearly for a candidate, or whether it is one of the all-too-familiar dingle-dangle-chad-ballots. So when the final vote is tallied, we will know once and for all who won the election no matter which way you want to count them.

So, if they count the ballots and they find that no matter how you count them that Bush-Baby won, than his presidency is sealed, and everyone is happy. Or, at least, everyone is content that the winner of the election took office.

Taking another angle, lets say what happens is what most everyone predicts: George won the standard count and Gore won if you count dimpled chads. Not much changes there.. Democrats feel ripped off, and Republicans feel like they intelligently ran out the clock. The outcome is a certain second four-year Bush, perhaps not even getting the nomination by his own party in 2004.

Yet, despite what Republicans are saying in public, deep down the real reason they want those ballots burned is for a much scarier outcome. What happens if after all the votes are counted that Al Bore won outright - dimpled chads or no? I do not think any of us know for certain, but Republicans and Democrats alike suspect the same thing. There will be marches to D.C. calling for Bush's removal from office. There will be hearings to find out how it is that a candidate was elected by the People of Florida and another candidate got the electoral college. There will be non-stop news coverage and polls of an increasingly upset country. Were this unlikely scenario to come true, the Bush family would be forced to consider moving.

It is clear to everyone that Bush is not a man that likes to lose, and no matter what the results of the ballot counting that he will fight to the last possible moment. Even if the entire country were against him, he would still try his hand at changing popular opinion and fight to keep the job. Of course, if the country turns against him, no matter the Texas charm, he will not survive.

Now, obviously this dire prediction is highly unlikely, it is still plausible. What is more surprising than possibilities that will probably never happen is the fact that in many ways the election is still going on. We are still waiting for the votes to be counted. We are still waiting to have the final debate and determination of who actually won on 8 November. Yes, George Junior might have taken the seat his father held for a short while, but for better or worse, we still wait to find out who our President truly will be.