http://www.palmbeachpost.com/politics/content/auto/epaper/editions/tuesday/news_04d4e4290587121e005c.html
Kerry promises vigilance
at polls
By
Brian E. Crowley, Palm Beach Post Political Editor
March
9, 2004
WEST
PALM BEACH -- John Kerry said Monday he is ready to go to court -- even before
the November election -- to ensure that he does not lose Florida's 27 electoral
votes because of ballot problems.
And
he directly accused Republicans of stealing the 2000 election for George W.
Bush in a contest that was finally settled by the U.S. Supreme Court, giving
the president a 537-vote victory.
"What
can you do to prevent them from stealing the election again?" Kerry asked
a crowd of hundreds at the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center in
Hollywood, his first stop in a three-city Florida campaign swing Monday.
"We're
going to pre-check it, we're going to have the legal team in place," said
Kerry, who expected to easily win today's Florida presidential primary.
"We're going to take injunctions where necessary ahead of time. We'll
pre-challenge if necessary."
From
Hollywood, the Massachusetts senator headed to West Palm Beach, where he spoke
to hundreds more supporters in front of the city library on Clematis Street. But
before getting to West Palm Beach, Kerry made an unscheduled stop at Poppies, a
suburban Delray Beach deli where he mingled with the lunch crowd. His third
scheduled stop was a night visit to the Ybor City
area of Tampa.
Palm
Beach County was the flash point in the 2000 election where the now infamous
"hanging chads" led to a 37-day legal
battle over the counting of Florida's votes. Vice President Al Gore argued that
thousands of votes for him were not counted. He also argued that the design of
Palm Beach County's ballot was confusing and led to some votes for Reform Party
candidate Pat Buchanan that were intended for Gore.
Two
years later, Floridians were embarrassed once again when there were serious
problems with voting in the Democratic primary for governor. In Broward and
Miami-Dade counties, polls opened late and closed too early, voters were sent
to the wrong precincts, and some electronic voting machines were unable to
record the vote. It took a week before Bill McBride was declared the winner
over Janet Reno. But recounts trimmed his lead from more than 8,000 votes to
just over 4,000.
With
that history and a strong distrust of Florida's GOP leadership, Democrats say
they will do more than keep a watchful eye on this election.
"I'm
often asked how it feels to run for the highest office in the land," Kerry
said. "I don't have a clue. I'm not running for secretary of state of
Florida."
Democratic
crowds roared at the reminder of former Secretary of State Katherine Harris, who
gave the initial order to stop the recounting of votes in 2000. Harris is now a
Sarasota-area Congresswoman.
"I
don't think we ought to have any vote cast in America that cannot be traced and
properly recounted," Kerry said. "I intend to ask this legal team to
do that, and we will identify those districts where people have had trouble
voting in the past."
Standing
in front of a "Florida is Kerry Country" banner with oranges
replacing the "o," Kerry was introduced to the crowd by West Palm
Beach Mayor Lois Frankel, U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler of Boca Raton and U.S. Sen.
Bill Nelson of Florida.
"In
Palm Beach County we take elections personally," Frankel said. "Four
years ago when we cast our votes, our votes were dismissed, which means we were
dismissed."
Wexler
was even more blunt, saying the president and his
brother, Gov. Jeb Bush, "stole the
election."
With
the Democratic presidential nomination all but locked -- longshot
candidates Al Sharpton of New York and Ohio
Congressman Dennis Kucinich are the only other active candidates of the nine
listed on today's ballot -- Kerry also concentrated his fire on the president.
He
called Bush "the great divider" who has taken care of the rich at the
expense of the poor and middle class, failed to provide prescription drugs for
seniors, went into Iraq without a plan for peace and has done little to help
Americans find jobs.
One
woman in Hollywood asked Kerry if he could "be mean enough to take on
Bush." As the crowd cheered the woman's question, Kerry said, "I
don't think you have to be mean. I think you have to be
tough and know how to fight."
Kerry,
however, probably cannot clinch the nomination even if he wins all of today's
four primaries. Florida, Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi are having primaries
today, for a total of 546 delegates, including Florida's 201.
According
to an Associated Press analysis of delegates, Kerry has an estimated 1,558
delegates. Even if he wins all 546 delegates today, he would have only 2,104,
just a few short of the 2,162 needed to officially become the Democratic
nominee.
Kerry
is likely to claim the nomination on March 16, when Illinois holds its primary
with 186 delegates at stake. Accordingly, he planned to head for Chicago today
after spending the night in Tampa.
brian_crowley@pbpost.com
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© 2004, The Palm Beach Post. All rights reserved.
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