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Jewish World Review Oct. 31, 2000 / 2 Mar-Cheshvan, 5761

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The big lie: Every vote counts


http://www.jewishworldreview.com -- THE BIG LIE of the 2000 fight for the presidency is that "every vote counts."

Mine hasn't counted in years. If every voter in my giant suburban county wrote in the name of Hannibal Lecter, or even less likely, voted for George W. Bush, Maryland would still go for Al Gore. Let's face it, the state went Democrat even when its governor — you remember Spiro Agnew — was on the Republican ticket.

All those years I lived in Washington D.C., my vote mattered for even less. Put the name of Marion "Mayor for Life" Barry on the ballot, and I'd still not bet on the GOP in this wall-to-wall Democratic capital.

This sense of electoral worthlessness in presidential elections is now a national reality.

"My vote doesn't count," you hear people say from Brooklyn to the San Francisco Bay, "I live in ..."

New York? Gov. George Pataki was in Scranton, Pa., last week drumming up votes for Bush. Why should he stay at home? With a 5-to-3 registration edge in New York state, the Democrats have it locked.

California? With a 7-point lead in the L.A. Times poll, the Gore team has refused to waste TV ad money in a political market it believes is secure.

Texas? George W. Bush owns it.

Three-fourths of the states are in the same category: judged "safe" by one party, hopeless by the other. Heard of any downtown rallies in Boston lately? In Salt Lake City? Waiting for those newspaper pictures of Bush or Gore barnstorming through New Haven or Cheyenne? Forget about it.

No. This election is limited to the "battleground states." If you live in Oregon, Washington, Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, Michigan, Illinois, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Arkansas, West Virginia or Florida, this campaign's for you.

But if you live in the other three-fourths of the states, don't count on a lot of excitement this last week before election. Bush and Gore are focusing all their travel time and TV ads on the swing voters in the swing states.

People ask why so many Americans are so unexcited about this presidential election. This is why. Nobody is asking them to get excited.

If you're a liberal, pro-choice Democrat from Santa Monica, Gore has already got you tagged and bagged. If you're a southern conservative from Jackson, Miss., don't wait on the porch for George W. to come passing by.

No. Al and W. are taking the same shuttle these days, up and down the Florida-to-Flint corridor, asking the same fickle voters to finally hear the wedding bells.

Meanwhile, the great mass of us just wait around for the phone to ring with plenty of time to read those editorials blasting us for being so indifferent and apathetic.

So here's what I think: People say that the electoral college threatens to kill our democracy this November by giving us a president who places second in the popular vote.

I say the death knell has already begun. "My vote doesn't count," we sing, "I live in ..."

As long as we choose our president by this system of winner-take-all in each state, expect this anthem to rise. The more balkanized the country gets, the closer the two major parties grow in strength, the more worthless our individual votes will become.

This accounts for the safe, centrist, predictable, pandering voice of this entire campaign.

With three-fourths of the electorate being taken for granted by one party, given up for granted by the other, every sound you hear between now and Nov. 7 will be aimed at the retirees of Florida or the auto workers of Michigan.

Not very invigorating, is it?



JWR contributor Chris Matthews is the author of Hardball. and hosts a CNBC show of the same name. Send your comments to him by clicking here.

Up

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