The Clarion-Ledger Editorial, 4/9/8
Democrats across Mississippi will go to their graves believing that the 2000 presidential election was stolen from Democratic nominee Al Gore by Republican nominee George W. Bush and the U.S. Supreme Court in the most controversial and disputed presidential election in U.S. history.
After the court decision finally settled the election in Bush’s favor in an election in which Gore outpolled Bush by over 500,000 votes, independent Florida recounts conducted by The Miami Herald and USA Today determined that Bush would have won in all legally requested recount scenarios, but that a statewide recount under the most generous standards would have given Gore a narrow victory.
It’s ironic that in the down-to-the-wire race for the Democratic presidential nomination, some Democrats may be claiming that the 2008 presidential election was “stolen” from them by Democrats.
Specifically, there’s concern among Democrats about the so-called “super delegates” – the 796 Democratic Party elected officials and other party notables whose final allegiances are not determined by individual state party caucuses or primaries. The super delegates can choose to support the candidate of their choice regardless the outcome of the primaries or caucuses – and they may well possess the power to swing the nomination to either Illinois Sen. Barack Obama or New York Sen. Hillary Clinton.
