Recount brigades are on the march.
January 10, 2008Hillery takes the New Hampshire Dem primary and many Obama supporters are crying foul. The usual suspects are brought up; Diebold voting machines, nefarious vote switching public servants, etc. Whatever the true reason for Obama’s loss, the screams of “recount” can be heard in the blogosphere.
I agree that any vote tally that falls within the state law designated auto-recount difference should happen immediately. That is, afterall, what the law is there for. If the count falls outside this percentage or number difference and there is no credible report of vote tampering . . . leave it alone!
I do understand the theory that if you recount enough you might get the results you want. However, that’s bad math and bad politics. Have the recount if it is needed and take the recount results as gospel. Done! Do not drag our “best in the world” electoral process through the mud by demanding repeated recounts. FL in 2000 was a nightmare and even though President Bush won each and every recount, Gore-ites still scream that he won. Give us a break from your insanity already!
Critical lesson #1 for all armchair politicos like myself: Don’t believe exit polls!!! Wait for the final tally.
Hey, at least this NH primary recount tussel isn’t really a battle-royale yet and it’s not between parties just candidates. I hope this primary is close for both parties until the end. Should be amusing.
From another middle aged MK (Trinidad and Brasil)– I think the media is largely to blame. In their rush to be the first with the prediction I don’t believe they are accurately interpret the information given. Last night Zagot (One of the larger pollsters) was on Jon Stewart’s A Daily Show and pointed out that alot of the data the media relied on to make their pre-exit poll predictions was a day old in a state that is largely independent. The media was predisposed to interpret any new data based on what they already believed to be true. (Did I mention I used to be a TV news producer?)
So many bloggers have the same bug the mainstream media does– they want to be the first to declare the winner.