Anyone hoping that the media consortium's recount of Florida's 2000 presidential ballots would bring clarity needed only to look at column right of the Drudge Report shortly after midnight Monday to learn that clarity continues to elude us.
BIG MEDIA FLORIDA DATABASE: GORE TOPPED BUSH IF ALL UNDER/OVER VOTES COUNTED; LEGAL STRATEGY DESTROYED CHANCES ...WSJ: In Election Review, Bush Wins Without Supreme Court Help ...
NY TIMES: Study of Disputed Florida Ballots Finds Justices Did Not Cast the Deciding ...
LA TIMES: Bush Wins, Gore Wins -- Depends on How Ballots Are Added Up...
PALM BEACH POST: Bush won recounts ... Gore had more votes ...
NEWSDAY: Bush-Gore Election Revisited ...
WASH POST: Study: Recounts Would Have Favored Bush ...
AP: Fla. Vote Study Shows Thin Margin ...
CNN: Florida recount study: Bush still wins ...
CHICAGO TRIBUNE: Ballots, rules, voter error led to 2000 election muddle, review shows ...
WHITE HOUSE SPOKESMAN ARI FLEISCHER: "There's no news here. It's over" ...
AL GORE: "As I said on Dec. 13th of last year, we are a nation of laws and the presidential election of 2000 is over. And of course, right now, our country faces a great challenge as we seek to successfully combat terrorism. I fully support President Bush's efforts to achieve that goal" ...
Andrew Sullivan dedicates two paragraphs to the recount on his site. The first is titled "Vindication for Bush." The next, "Vindication for Gore."
Instead of bringing closure, the media consortium report has simply given ammo to partisans of all stripes who all see what they want to see in the results. The consortium -- which included media heavyweights like the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, the Associated Press and CNN, among others -- concluded that if the Florida Supreme Court-ordered recount were allowed to continue, or if there were only recounts in the four counties that Gore first asked to be recounted, Bush would have hung on to a narrow lead. But under all other recount scenarios, especially those that might have counted overvotes, in which a voter marked more than one choice for president, Gore would have prevailed. In addition, the media report concluded, more Floridians went to the polls on Election Day intending to vote for Al Gore than George W. Bush.
Paul Lukasiak, Democrats.com: "Florida Recount Media Critique (1): Gore Wins, Media Lies (Yet Again)"
Lucianne.com "This morning's big news surely has the likes of Jeffrey Toobin and Joe Conason staying deep under the covers with their binkies and bears. It seems W actually did win in Florida according to the just released Mondo Survey To Stop The World put together by every newspaper in the country who didn't want to hear this news. The survey cost close to a million dollars. Igor could have told them this for nothing but a Gore fix-up with Erin Brockavitch (sic) and a case of Spam."
The Hotline: "We've got all 44 sets of results out of FL"
MediaWhores Online: "RECOUNT: GORE"
WorldNet Daily: Florida recount study: Bush still won. No indication Gore would gain enough if Court allowed tally to continue.
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