Isn't this Great!  This election, like no other in our lifetimes, has captured not only the attention, but the interest of the American people -- which is the best thing that has happened to our democracy in many, many years...  It's the talk of the country:  call-in shows are over-whelmed, business have warned employees against monitoring the results over the Internet because they are clogging up corporate intranets, and the Internet has slowed to a crawl because it unable to handle all the traffic...

But now, rather than continuing to confuse what's "good for the country" with what's "good for their party," all the politicians should stop talking about  what's "legal" and just do what's right; and if they can't figure out what's right, we'll tell them:  get a bipartisan team of Republicans and Democrats in a room and re-count as many votes it takes to reasonably answer the question who won.  This isn't like going to the moon or curing cancer, and if it cost some money to do it expeditiously, its money very well spent, indeed much better spent than most of the items in the current budget (which may have already spent most of any "surplus").... Just get on with it, then we'll get over it, and move on (and pray the politicians will do the same)!!!!

And of course a few on both sides may have no intention of trying to unite the country but rather prefer to start campaigning for the next election by appealing to their core voters so they can raise even more money for the next election which is "less than 24 months away" ....
"Some $3 billion was spent on presidential and congressional campaigns this year, another $1 billion on state races.  Folks, if we don't find a way to discipline political spending and end the ceaseless money-grubbing by politicians, you can kiss your republic goodbye.  Our legislators no longer represent us.  This candidate represents the nursing-home operators, that one the maritime interests.  This one the trial lawyers, that one the corporate bar.  This one the energy industries, that one the telecom companies.  The only thing missing from our representatives to distinguish them from other retail items is the bar code."  Tom Teepen, Cox News Service 11/10/00

But The REAL PROBLEM ISN'T THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE, or voting irregularities, or even the money, BUT RATHER THE 2-PARTY PRIMARY SYSTEM... McCain, whose inspiring biography and strong convictions appealed to Democrats and independents as well as Republicans, would have won in a landslide... But the Republican (and to some extent Democratic) establishment "did whatever they needed to do to crush him" because he threatened them on 2 crucial issues:  campaign finance reform and wasteful spending.  So the REAL Problem with the Y2K Election was the "irregularities" that happened during the primary in many states -- including New York where he had to fight a stacked system to even get on the ballot, and  Ohio where newspapers intimidated potential Democratic voters from crossing over to vote for McCain by saying they could be challenged and charged with a felony if they didn't "ascribe to the tenets of the Republican Party," and then early on election day McCain favored precincts in Cleveland ran out of ballots, and by the time they printed more ballots, and loaded them on an airplane which flew to Cleveland, and then sat on an airport runway, the polls were ready to close.... (No recount needed there!)  Thus the Real Problem is that if not the Brightest and Best, at least the most inspiring and honest candidates -- who would eliminate pork and reform how elections are financed -- are not nominated...
"The guy we like we don't trust.  The guy we trust we don't like."  Mike Petrohoy, Monitor Week, 11/2/00

And finally, after the NRA called this election "the most important for our rights since the Civil War," after spending over $15 million and providing thousands of campaign volunteers, the results were a crushing disappointment.... while they claim they made the difference in getting Bush elected [and will demand a pay-back], the initiatives in Colorado and Oregon to close the gun show background check loophole was a bitter loss.... and demonstrated again that while they can effectively manipulate legislatures, when given the chance, the public simply doesn't support their agendas.. [Hobie 2000 Postnote: Unfortunately the presidential election was so close that the NRA could rightly claim to have made the difference in Arkansas, West Virginia, and Tennessee... with predictable results....]
But just as important, this close election also revealed a flaw in their basic premise:  The Founding Fathers had no model of democracy for the masses except the republics of ancient Athens and Rome, and as classically educated men, they knew all too well how the public could be swayed by a demagogue who appealed to their emotions.  So they not only interposed the Electoral College above the public, they fully expected the electors in each region would elect their own candidate, with the House of Representatives ultimately choosing the new leader.  Now with mass education and an active mass media to keep is informed, the barrier between the popular vote is not needed or indeed acceptable.  But the KEY is this Electoral College background goes against the NRA's argument that the Founding Fathers intended the Second Amendment to give an unlimited, individual right to "bear arms..." for if the Founding Fathers didn't trust common masses with a ballot, why would they trust them with a gun?   But of course what it vividly illustrates is that the Electoral College, like the Second Amendment, and the Third Amendment's prohibition against quartering of troops in private homes during peacetime, and restricting the vote to older white males, all come from another time and have no relevance to today's realities...