This most interesting thread, regardless of which side the writers have taken, represents a level of incisive analysis that, unfortunately, was rarely utilized during the '04 Presidential campaign by the traditional media and the politicians themselves. If the grave circumstances facing America, and the train wreck of an Administration running the country, had been better understood, arguably, the volume of votes against Bush would've been too voluminous for voter suppression or fraud in a few precincts to alter the results. That doesn't condone voter manipulation; it's undeniably reprehensible. But as long as we're looking back, let's look at the big picture.

In the past few years the only numbers discussed more rigorously by Americans have been 666, which, oddly enough, are as mysterious as Ohio's exit poll data (unless you believe they represent Nero), and 9/11 - figures that, despite any voter fraud or suppression, gave Bush a fighting chance to win the popular vote. Sadly, Kerry's "I voted for the war before I was against it" schtick and his "Reporting for duty" salutation at the Convention didn't distinguish him from the opposition to sufficiently move enough people to vote. Blackwell was an obstacle but lethargy was a much bigger problem. And throw in general disinterest while you're at it.

Unfortunately, America's attenuated attention span, outside of a small minority of uniquely curious individuals, isn't customarily prepared to handle the burdens of comparative statistics, margin-of-error rates, and the significance of local-to-national results that are necessary to unearth the truth. Reading these letters has given me a headache the size of Ohio. Indeed, understanding how a rise in the prime rate affects mortgage rates is often an insurmountable challenge for many, much less figuring out the workings of the Friedmanesque strain of monetarism that rules the process.

So too is election technology. How many people do you know who can aptly explain the meaning of an algorithm or clearly show how binary computation works? Then you've got software issues. Unix versus Microsoft? Touch screen or script? All this to consider in a land that still has difficulty comprehending the fact that Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with 9/11. What chances do more complex issues like Diebold equipment have of being widely understood or discussed? On the nightly news the Ohio situation was reduced to about a 4-minute segment, before attention shifted to other matters.

Regrettably, this issue seen from a mainstream point of view - voter manipulation, systematic cheating, cynical politicians pursuing ideological beliefs - isn't likely to stir a revolution that prompts remedial action. After all, What happened to the McCain/Feingold bill for campaign finance reform? Isn't that a phenomenon that's as outrageous as voter manipulation? Yet the citizens didn't galvanize. And they aren't likely to for this issue either. Because each piece of negative evidence prompts reactive apathy and lost faith that underscores a sense of dread few people in this society are willing to profoundly examine. That doesn't mean investigative efforts shouldn't be conducted, or that reporters and commentators should modify their message accordingly. RFK presented an issue worth further exploration. But his effort is likewise going to turn a certain percentage of voters off. Does that number exceed the number of individuals turned away from the Ohio polls? Who knows?

These complicated times require extensive, thoughtful solutions in a society accustomed to quick-fixes and plenty of escapism. You can fix all the voting machines in America, but until that problem is solved the people at large will remain susceptible to the kind of unreflective simplicities that inspired most Americans to vote (legitimately) for Bush. If the Democrats figure out how to overcome that pattern, the volume of inspired followers will far outweigh the manipulation of a few thousand votes. Good luck.

To step back from the pro and con comments for a moment:

All of this argument and explanation on both sides -- all of it at least that is done in good faith -- represents an effort to "divine" from circumstantial evidence [beyond that provided by the official "certified" mostly computer-generated (and thus invisible) vote-count] the actual, true results of the vote cast, or intended to be cast, for president by the "governed" in Ohio (and elsewhere) on federal election day, 2004.

Many of those true results in Ohio actually exist in the form of paper optical scan ballots and can therefore still be documented as incontrovertible EVIDENCE of the vote cast if they can ever be counted by hand. The outrage and (premeditated) travesty we face is that a year and a half after these votes were cast, that proof and evidence of the will of the voters in a very controversial election has been withheld from the people who cast those votes and from any independent monitors by corrupt election authorities (of both political parties) in Ohio. Instead these paper ballots have been kept carefully hidden from public view [though never yet hand-counted by any person] under lock and key behind closed doors where, indeed, democracy dies.

Thanks to RFK, Jr. and to the research of so many others, we are beginning to focus in on one particular region of Ohio where red flags are flying, begging us for a second, and much closer look. And that region's counties still retain, by law, the paper optical scan ballot evidence showing the intent of the voter for everyone to see, should we ever be able to get a look at them, and to finally hand-count them for ourselves. These twelve or so southwestern Ohio counties, including the home of the infamous, convicted and thoroughly corrupt "Noes," need to be our target. Paul Hackett may have suffered at the expense of some of these same counties in his race against Ms. Schmidt (where "humid ballots" in that contest allegedly held up final vote-count returns).

Gaining access to these paper ballots, I submit, should be the focus of an all-out effort by folks in Ohio and elsewhere this summer -- because these are the last remaining months before that paper evidence can be, and will be, destroyed this fall. Those counties are counting the days until they can remove the only evidence of what went down in Ohio's southwest corner in 2004 (and therefore the potential evidence of what actually went down with regard to the nation's vote for president). We MUST NOT let these authorities succeed in thwarting our will again. Evidence seekers: Head straight for southwest Ohio now, PLEASE.