Hey, Florida, go register to vote already

The deadline to register to vote in Florida for the upcoming presidential election is next Monday, October 4.

If you haven’t, you need to. And it’s so easy to do – you can even register online.

The future of America depends on all of us registering, and voting, this year. If not for yourself, then for your loved ones. If not for them, then for me, dammit. But, please, vote.

I’m in training meetings all day (yippee), so no posting till late tonight. However, I think the many threads below, nearly all with fresh comment sandboxes for you to thrash around in, will keep you kiddies busy while I’m gone. Have fun, and Happy Debate Day.

More fun with transcripts: Edwards in Orlando

On September 21, John Kerry and John Edwards appeared at a packed TD Waterhouse Center in Orlando for a rally and celebration. I was there, and as noted previously here on Blast Off!, it was phenomenal.

Earlier that day, Sen. Edwards was interviewed on The Philips Phile, a highly popular left-leaning radio talk show on Real Radio 104.1 in Orlando. Listen to the audio (2 mb, 8:26 in length) for a revealing glimpse into Edwards’ views and feelings, from the lies of the Bush cabal to mountain climbing and the Rolling Stones.

Of course, since I guess I’m now known a little in the blogosphere for transcribing audio files, herewith, for those without Windows Media Player (or the patience to wait for download), the transcript of the Edwards interview, conducted by the Phile’s “Moira” (with apologies for audio skips – I filled in where possible, noted by brackets … also, Sen. Edwards’ comments are italicized for easy viewing).

MOIRA, HOST: Joining us on the line is Senator John Edwards, the vice presidential candidate for the Democratic Party, and we welcome him to the Philips Phile. Senator Edwards, thanks for being with us.

JOHN EDWARDS: Thank you. It’s an honor to be with you.

M: After the 2000 presidential election, it has become very clear why Florida – and now those infamous 537 votes – is so important to the presidential campaign. So

important, in fact, that both you and John Kerry are holding this rally in downtown Orlando later tonight. And we’ve been talking about it for the last couple of days.

Can you explain the importance of Florida to the campaign, specifically, the I-4 corridor?

JE: Well, the I-4 corridor is Ground Zero for who the next president of the United States is going to be. It’s just about that simple. We know how critical Florida is

… we all, as you pointed out, we saw what happened in 2000. So many of the issues Floridians face are similar to the issues that people face across America. You know, we have a huge [rise in] Medicare premiums, a huge rise in health care premiums, we’ve got over three million people in Florida who have no health care coverage … I mean, these are some of the things that John Kerry and I will talk about at the rally and the event we have tonight.

But I just – to be honest with you, we’re just excited about being in Orlando. I think it’s going to be a wonderful event tonight. I’m sure that we’ll have a great crowd there … but we want to see and feel the enthusiasm and the energy that we know exist in Orlando and in Florida for this campaign.

M: Well, I’m proud to say that I’m from a long line of Democrats, and I’ve made it very clear on this program that I despise the current administration because of their stand on social issues, economic, environmental issues, their historic budget deficit, their trampling [of] personal freedoms, the Patriot Act – the list could go on and on.

I am troubled, though, Senator, that many voters will choose you because they are anti-Bush, not necessarily pro-Kerry/Edwards. How do you respond to that observation, because we hear it every single day?

JE: Well, it’s logical, though, if you think about it, because the damage that George Bush has done – you just listed a lot of the problems – but, you know the practical problems: five million people losing their health coverage, four million people going into poverty, over one and a half million private sector jobs lost, family incomes going down over the last four years while the cost of virtually everything is going up …



You know, we have extraordinary men and women serving in Iraq and we’re proud of them (and Afghanistan), but Iraq is a mess. It’s a mess because of two men: George Bush and Dick Cheney. Matter of fact, I believe they’re the last two people in America to not see that – they still don’t believe they’ve made any mistakes there.

M: That’s right.

JE: The truth is, the truth is, it’s not unusual for people to focus, particularly when an administration has been as deadly for the country and had as many failures as this administration has had, for people to focus on what they’ve done and failed

to do.

It is important, though, and people will hear this tonight who come to this event … it’s important for people to hear also not just what they’ve done wrong but what we’re going to do better. We have a serious health care plan, which they have not had. We have a serious plan for Iraq, which John laid out yesterday in New York. We have a serious plan to deal with the jobs issue in America and here in Florida.

So, we want people to know what the alternative is, that there is a bright future out there in front of us, but in order for this – to take advantage of this future, we’re going to have to have John Kerry as president.

M: The GOP are masters at dirty politics, whether it was Willie Horton or the Swift Boat campaign or Cheney’s idiotic remarks that whoever’s elected will be dangerous, you know, the country will have another attack or, you know, the Dennis Hastert remark earlier this week or whatever. They are masters at this kind of thing, and they plant the seed and they run back and take cover and see what

sticks and whatever.

But in the last week, I have noticed an almost palpable change in your reaction and in John Kerry’s reaction to some of this negative nonsense. It’s been swift, it’s been firm, it’s been clear – you almost start to dish it out and hand it back a little better, so then maybe we can move on to some issues. I mean, Americans seem to want

that.

How do you respond? You try to rise above it, but can you ever really do that?

JE: No. We have – here’s the truth. When they tell lies about John Kerry, we’re going to call them what they are: lies. When they say things that are designed to scare the American people and deceive the American people, we’re going to say that. When they say things – when they say things about what’s happening in this country that are obviously not true, we’re going to say that.

Now, we’re going to – listen, at the end of the day, this is a fight for the future of America. That’s what’s at stake here. And what they have done over the last four years, we’re going to make sure that voters hold them responsible for. But we’re also going to make sure that people know there are better ideas, a better vision for this country, that we can get there with the right kind of leadership. And we’re going to be tough and we’re going to fight every day between now and the election.

M: Ralph Nader is on the ballot, no, wait, he’s off the ballot, now back on the ballot in Florida, and this seems to me it’s a blatant Republican control issue with, of course, Governor Bush and Secretary of State Glenda Hood, the Florida Supreme Court, they’re all Republicans making this decision. But it still has the potential to have a huge impact on your vote totals. What is the company line on Ralph Nader?

JE: Oh, we’re just reaching out to people who would consider voting for Ralph Nader. You know, the truth is, a lot of the causes that Ralph stands for – you know, fighting against corporate abuses, fighting for the environment – those are the same things that John Kerry and I have fought for our entire lives. And we want people to know where we stand.

You know, it’s why John made such a strong and passionate statement yesterday about what’s happening in Iraq. We want there to be really clear lines, clear choices, and we believe that if people hear that message, if people know what it is we will do for this country, whether it is stopping corporate abuses, whether it is protecting our environment, whether it’s what’s happening in Iraq – whatever the issue is, we believe if we get those messages through, that those voters will come to us.



JACK BRADSHAW, CO-HOST: Senator Edwards, it seems like a lot of the me– there’s never been more media than there has been during this election, and a lot of the focus is on what happened in the early ’70s. How frustrating is it to you, with so many important issues at stake, and how do you change that?

JE: Well, they’ve been telling lies about John, that’s what it is, and the way, the way you change it is you immediately respond, you respond strongly, you tell people the truth, and then you move back to what’s happening in their day-to-day lives. The truth is these guys cannot – they have no chance in this election if people look at what’s happened over the last four years. It’s just about that simple. They cannot be reelected.

Who in their right mind would hire somebody – re-hire somebody – who’s the first president in 75 years not to create jobs? Who [in their right mind would hire] somebody who’s done nothing about the health care crisis in this country, except make it worse? Who in their right mind would hire a president who’s proud of the

mistakes that he’s made in Iraq, and has made [SKIP] if he’s reelected? [SKIP]

this election, so long as we focus on what’s happening in America and where we

need to go.

M: A little pop quiz for you – there’s no right answer, all right? One-word answers are okay. It’s almost like that Bravo show, “Behind The Scenes With The Actors’ Studio,” or whatever it is …

JB: Inside the Actors’ Studio.

M: What’s in your CD player right now, Senator?

JE: Bruce Springsteen.



PHILE CAST: [Laughter.] You da man! You’re my hero now!

M: What’s your favorite sport to watch on TV?

JE: Basketball.



M: College basketball, or …?

JE: College basketball.

M: College basketball. What profession other than your own would you like to try?

JE: Oh, boy, that’s a good … [pause] Mountain climbing.

M: Really? What would you not like to try? What profession other than your own would you not want to do?

JE: I wouldn’t want to be an accountant.



M: All right. And, final question: Beatles, Elvis, or the Rolling Stones?

JE: [pause] The Rolling Stones.



M: Oh, there you go. All right, that is Senator John Edwards. We are happy to

have you here in Orlando. Tonight’s rally, doors open at 6:00, but you will be there with Senator Kerry at about 8:30, you will take the stage.

JE: We’re excited about being there and we want to invite people to come out. We want to see as many people as possible and all of us [SKIP] a terrific night.



M: We are glad to talk to you. Thanks very much.

JE: Great talking to you. Thanks.

Other than possibly losing some accountants’ votes, a fine showing indeed by the next Vice President of the United States. Important point that came out of this interview: people who vote for Bush are not in their right minds. I like it muchly.

Let’s hope Sen. Kerry is equally candid – and impressive – in Thursday night’s “debate.”

Even the British have noticed: Florida elections are craptacular

In Orlando, the Florida home of Disneyworld and a vital political battleground, the campaign for the November presidential election is getting sly, nasty and very, very personal. Normally, at this stage of the proceedings, Ezzie Thomas, a well-known character on the predominantly African-American west side of town, would be out chatting to the people, registering them to vote before the 4 October deadline and helping them with absentee ballots if they do not think they will have time to make it to the polls on election day. But the 73-year-old Mr Thomas, an affable ladies’ man, is staying out of public view for fear of exacerbating what is already a highly controversial – and highly political – criminal investigation of his election-related activities.

Gorge yourself on the rest of part one, from The Independent.

Then, when you’re done, try a dessert of great analysis of Theresa LePore and the touch-screen fiasco. An appetizer:

Palm Beach isn’t the only place in Florida where crazy things have happened. Officials up and down the state have behaved like drunks caught out on one bender too many. They have talked the talk of reform quite convincingly, and even lavished considerable expense on covering up their past lapses. But the bottom line is that the voting machines still don’t work, political corruption and underhand campaign tactics remain rampant, and too many black and lower-income voters face daunting, often insurmountable obstacles in exercising their voting rights.

In a state that promises to be every bit as pivotal as it was last time, this is deeply worrying. And Palm Beach County shows why. After the 2000 débâcle, an unrepentant Theresa LePore was told by the state of Florida that she and her fellow election supervisors would have to replace the punchcard machines that had exposed the state to such ridicule. She flew to California, where she was quickly seduced by an electronic touchscreen voting system used in Riverside County, just east of Los Angeles.

She was told that Riverside’s system had performed flawlessly in November 2000, even as she and her canvassing board had been hung up for weeks examining punchcards for dimpled, hanging or pregnant chads. But Riverside’s tabulation system had in fact suffered meltdown on election night, creating the first of many controversies about the reliability and accuracy of its Sequoia Pacific machines.

Blissfully unaware of this, LePore spent $14.4m (£8m) on her own Sequoia system and unveiled it for local elections in March 2002. It seems to have fallen at the first hurdle. A former mayor of Boca Raton, Emil Danciu, was flabbergasted to finish third in a race for a seat on Boca Raton city council. A poll shortly before the election had put him 17 points ahead of his nearest rival.

Supporters told his campaign office that when they tried to touch the screen to light up his name, the machine registered the name of an opponent. Danciu also found that 15 cartridges containing the vote totals from machines in his home precinct had disappeared on election night, delaying the result. It transpired that an election worker had taken them home, in violation of the most basicprocedures. Danciu’s lawyer, his daughter Charlotte, said some cartridges were then found to be empty, for reasons that have never been adequately explained.

Danciu sued for access to the Sequoia source code to see if it was flawed. He was told that the source code was considered a trade secret under Florida law, and that even LePore and her staff were not authorised to examine it, on pain of criminal prosecution. His suit was thrown out.

Two weeks later, something even stranger happened. In the town of Wellington, a run-off election for mayor was decided by just four votes – but 78 votes did not register on the machines at all. This meant – assuming for a moment that the machines were not lying – that 78 people had driven to the polls, not voted, and gone home again.

The scenario beggared belief, but it was touted, with a straight face, by LePore. Then and since, she has refused to acknowledge even the slightest flaw in the voting machines, and has resisted with all her might a growing clamour for a voter-verifiable paper trail as a back-up. “She’s defended the system almost to the point where it’s been ridiculous,” Charlotte Danciu said. “She treated us as though we were sore losers, andas though we were imbeciles. The tenor of what she told us was that if people were too dumb to vote on electronic machines, they shouldn’t be voting.”

Read it and weep … for democracy in Florida, that is.

UPDATE (12:49 am 9/30/04): Crap. I forgot to give credit where credit is due. My bad. Props to Politick for the idea for this post.

I’m getting verklempt

Those aren’t just power crews and tree trimmers you see on the highways into Florida.

Activists from both parties are descending on the Plywood State from all over the country, hoping that their influence can make the difference in this critical swing state.

I’m especially fond of one group in particular:

In New York, a group called “Operation Bubbe” plans to deploy 100 people into southeast Florida to turn out Jewish retirees for Kerry.

Operation Bubbe (Yiddish for grandmother) is made up of Jewish Democrats eager to help Kerry. They also have a little something to prove.

“A lot of people remember in 2000 (Jewish voters in South Florida) were made fun of and treated as if they were stupid for screwing up their ballots,” said Bubbe organizer Mick Moore. “So Florida had particular appeal to us.”

Bring it on.

Coming soon to a TV near you

The gloves are off as Florida’s candidates for the U.S. Senate, Betty Castor and Mel Martinez, prepare to launch new television ads.

Behind in the polls, Martinez is pulling out all the stops, emphasizing his ties to the miserable failure as a cabinet member and having Rudy Giuliani appear in one of the ads.

I certainly don’t want to call the race five weeks out, but it seems like too little, too late to me for ol’ Mel.

Blast Off! hits the road

This Friday, I’ll be departing on a trip that will take me first to Boston (Friday to Sunday) and then Chicago (Sunday to Tuesday). Although I know both cities fairly well (albeit Boston somewhat less so), suggestions on restaurants and must-do activities are welcome. My free time will be limited, but I will have some …

UPDATE (4:01 pm 9/29/04): Thanks to everyone for the suggestions re: Chicago. Now, how about Boston? That’s the place I know less well …

Ralph Reed on TDSWJS

Discussing the War on Turrur:

REED: “And now the most dangerous man in the world is in prison …”

STEWART (aside): “Kim Jong-Il?”

I heart Jon Stewart … (Ed. note: in the most manly possible way, of course.)

Hilarity break

Courtesy of WULAD, you must see the only remaining available band names in existence. Click for guffaws a-plenty.

I don’t know which is funnier: the post itself or the name of the blog. (Hint: WULAD is an acronym. Another hint: you will appreciate it more if you are, ahem, of a certain age.)

(Thanks to Wes of Walk In Brain.)

Jebbie takes on Jimmy

According to Jeb!, the “conspiracy theories” about fixed voting machines in Florida are “nonsense.” He even takes Jimmy Carter to task:

“There is this constant haranguing of nonsense, including President Carter – which is a surprise to me because I’ve admired his compassionate actions in his post-presidential period – and without talking to a single person, without getting any information, he joins up with the Moveon.org crowd,” Bush said.

MoveOn.org is a San Francisco-based liberal advocacy group started in 1998 that claims about 2 million online members. It has run ads against President Bush’s re-election effort and has also been part of the call for a paper record for touchscreen machines.

A spokeswoman for the organization said Tuesday that Carter isn’t working with the group.

You gotta hand it to Jeb!, giving his base some red meat by linking Carter to MoveOn.org. Of course, the courts don’t seem to agree with Jeb!, but since when have the facts mattered to anyone named Bush?

Vitamin C is for "compassion"

Debate prep, W style:

President Bush has scrapped his plans to campaign in St. Petersburg on Friday and will instead return to Florida Wednesday to survey hurricane damage in Polk County. On the eve of his first debate against John Kerry in Miami, the president is scheduled to be in Lake Wales Wednesday afternoon, taking a walking tour of orange groves. He will spend the night in Miami.

In a related story, Bush leads Kerry 49-44 in a recent poll of citrus fruit. The tangelos were undecided.