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March 02, 2005

Michael Barone swims with the Sharks

National coverage of the Washington State Goobernatorial contest has been sparse of late, but at least when there is coverage the Republican echo chamber is consistently lacking the correct factual information. There's something to be said for consistency, I guess.

From rightwing columnist Michael Barone:

On Nov. 10, the count showed Republican Dino Rossi up by 3,492 votes. Two days later, Democrats in heavily Democratic King County, which casts about one-third of the state's votes, started turning in affidavits to qualify provisional votes -- something which hadn't been done in more Republican counties. Then, the King County auditor's office starting finding new ballots that had been misplaced -- 10,000 on Nov. 16, 1,779 on various days between Nov. 23 and Dec 18.

Actually, ballots were found in counties all over Washington State after the election and later counted as a part of the recounts. These included counties that went heavily for Rossi. Barone is clearly taking his cues from Sharkansky.

10,000 misplaced ballots? Uh...no. King County initially underestimated the number of ballots they had left to count. That's it.

More from Barone:

Gregoire has been inaugurated as governor. But an examination of King County records shows about 1,800 more ballots cast than names of voters who asked for them. Republicans have brought a lawsuit asking that the election result be set aside and a new election held.

Barone admits Gregiore is Governor! That's actually better than the Washington GOP sad sacks have been able to muster. But Barone falls into the red herring trap of bookeeping variances, consistent with his Washington State bretheren.

Then the wheels fall of:

A selective recount, of the sort Gore sought in Florida, has made Gregoire governor, at least temporarily. But it has cast a pall of illegitimacy over her far greater than that cast over George W. Bush by the Florida result.

Huh? Every county in the State of Washington recounted the ballots each time. The only thing selective about this issue is the dishonest and misleading coverage by the rightwing echo chamber.

Barone's column might be funny if it weren't so sadly misguided. Election reform around the US is vital to keep our system accountable and valid in the eyes of the American people. Barone's indulgence in tired GOP rhetoric and his focus on election issues that don't actually exist sends the message that Republicans really don't give a damn about real election reform.

Real election problems exist. Unfortunately Republicans are too worried about winning to fix a system that's breaking down under the weight of so many real problems.

Posted by Carla at March 2, 2005 09:49 AM