Final Vote Tallies for Florida 2000 are available at:

http://www.cbsnews.com/campaign2000results/state/state_fl.html

Workers World Party: 1,815

If you argue that Prolabor voters would vote Democratic if the option of the Workers World Party was not available, They not Nader Cost Gore the Election.

It is unlikely that anyone voting for the Workers World Party would ever vote Republican, so it is doubtful that any of these votes would have gone to Bush. As there are environmentalist Republicans and libertarian Republicans it is conceivable that at least some of the votes that went to each of these parties might have gone to George Bush had they not presented a viable alternative. This case is harder to make as you move down the list through the Socialist Workers Party whose 594 votes would have given Gore Florida as well.

Again I make my statment that Nader (in 2000) was only an alternative to Gore if you had a personal distrust or dislike of Gore as a Candidate, as such removal of Nader as a Candidate would not have helped Gore as much as many people think, although it might have helped James E. Harris. If your party is a real alternative to another party, you will take votes from them, if you are only an alternative to another Candidate, you are not likely to take votes from them.

Essentially, to Argue that Nader took votes from Gore is to say that Nader was right (as I contend we now can see) about Gore and that Gore was really no differnt than Bush. That was a minority opinion at the time held only by people who would not have voted for Gore anyway.

Hey here's a weird question...

Exactly what loose ends were left at the end of the show?

Let's take a look whose stories got resolved:

Phil Leotardo: Resolved with the Wheel of an SUV.

Christopher: Resolved by Tony's own hand.

Bobby Baccala: Resolved and he didn’t see it coming.

Janice: Is the grieving widow, but seems to have mended her relationship with her brother, and hasn’t given up on her own schemes.

Little Carmine: Still in the game, still working, still respected in the New York Mob.

AJ: Working his way up the Film Business Ladder, happy and content with a hot blonde on his arm.

Meadow: Finds here true calling, Mob Lawyer, it's even in the family business. She's even found true love, or a reasonable approximation there of.

Paulie: Gets a big Cash Cow promotion and recognition as Tony's new Right hand.

Sil: In Bed in a Coma, doesn't look good, but it looks like he's still loved.

Uncle Junior: Lost in his own mind in a state mental hospital.

Carmela: In love with Tony despite it all, with multiple properties in her name to make sure she can support herself if the unthinkable ever happens.

Tony: He's still the head of the Jersey Mob, The Feds are still on his tail, but he's shown himself to be the shrewdest nut on the hill. (Note Tony uses Prepaid Cells while in hiding, so he can give orders and get updates without being traced. Phil uses public payphones meaning all conversations are one-way and he's exposed. Likewise Tony uses the government's fear of terrorists to get info from the Feds on his real threat's where abouts and plans. Tony was always the guy with the edge on this one.)

The Cat: Has found a home, even if he drives Paulie nuts.

The Russian:...O.k. that's the one untied knot to keep us humble before God.

So aside from a high tension ending (which really is caused by your anticipating an obvious ending, and really is that why you watched the Sopranos?) what was left hanging?

Would Gore prevent 9/11? Probably not.

Would Gore press to route out terrorism? Probably.

Would Gore take the war to Iraq? Entirely possible given the nation's history with regard to that nation and the limited intelegence on the WMD issue, and the issues with regard to state sponsors of terrorism.

As I said, it is very very easy to find all the bad choices in hindsight, it is not so easy to do so in the thick of things.

What I do know is that when the issue was being debated, when his voice might have mattered, Al Gore was silent, which means he either endorsed the notion, or wanted to take the political wind before making a statment. Neither are options Gore's supporters would relish.

As to the Nader in Florida, let me ask you this.

You are a regular Democratic voter, you belive in the things the party stands for. You hear over and over again how close the race is, and yet you vote for Nader. Why? Is it perhaps because you honestly feel Gore is not who he appears to be? A vote for Nader was a vote against Gore. It didn't give Bush the election because Gore already gave it to him in Florida.