What you can do about the election NOW

TearsOfRage

New member
posted by Lazarus, on another board

Herewith is some practical advice on action that every citizen can take in the event that the Florida recount confirms the election of George Bush, but Al Gore fails to concede.

The recount will likely show Bush to be the winner once again, with only a few thousand overseas ballots to be counted. Those ballots will be overwhelmingly for Bush, a minimum of 60% and probably closer to 75%. If the count goes our way, we have won this election.

This is when something critical happens. Either Gore bows out gracefully or he doesn't, and I can almost guarantee he won't. These are people wedded to power who will only go down kicking and screaming. They will use every legal maneuver in the book to steal the election. (In 1960, when Richard Nixon had every right and reason to challenge the election results he didn't for the sake of the country. Expect no such noble behavior this time.)

HERE IS WHAT MUST BE DONE: if the vote count affirms Bush's election, we allow a short grace period to see the reaction of the Gore camp. If they have not graciously conceded after a few hours, we must bombard the news media and our public officials AT EVERY LEVEL with phone calls of outrage that demand Gore's concession. I mean literally millions of phone calls. We must jam their phone banks with calls. There are millions of us so it shouldn't be too difficult. (While you're at it, send e-mails to your local newspapers as well.)

If it becomes widely reported - and it will - that there is a groundswell demanding that Gore back down and not embarrass the country, it will be very difficult for Gore to withstand the pressure. He will have to relent.

Here are some places to start:
The White House:
telephone (202) 456-4114
FAX :( 202)456-2461
president@whitehouse.gov

The Vice President's Office:
telephone :( 202) 274-5000
FAX :( 202) 456-2883
vice.president@whitehouse.gov

Vice President's Senate Office:
telephone: (202) 224-2424

Senator Tom Daschle (Senate Democratic Leader): (202) 224-2321 Also: (202) 224-5556

Representative Dick Gephardt (House Democratic Leader): (202) 225-2671
Also: (202) 225--0100

Also, be sure to call your congressmen and both your senators. All these numbers are easily located on voter.com. You can also contact them through the U.S. Capitol Switchboard:

U.S. Capitol Switchboard (all Senators and Representatives): (202) 224-3121

Another office to call is that of Chicago's Mayor Richard M. Daley (the brother of Gore's campaign manager, Bill Daley): Telephone: (312) 744-3300 FAX: (312) 744-2324

If you've never made a call like this, there's no reason to be shy. They get opinion calls all the time and are set up to take them. In fact they like calls. It helps them tell which way the wind is blowing.

Some media contacts:
Boston Globe (617) 929-2000
Matthew V. Storin, Editor (617) 929-3049
e-mail: storin@globe.com

Boston Herald
Andrew Costello, Editor (617) 619-6400
acostello@bostonherald.com

Chicago Sun-Times:
(312) 321-3000
Michael Cooke, Editor in Chief
mcooke@suntimes.com

Chicago Tribune
(800) 874-2863
Howard A. Tyner, Editor
ChiEd@aol.com
Bruce Dold, Editorial Page Editor
bdold@tribune.com

Los Angeles Times
(213) 237-7935 (opinion department)
(213) 237-4511 and Fax: (213) 237-7679 (letters to the editor) (202)
293-4650 (Washington bureau) www.latimes.com (follow prompts to e-mail windows)

New York Post
(212) 930-8000
John Mancini, News
jmancini@nypost.com

New York Times
(212) 556-1234
Joseph Lelyveld, Executive Editor
Letters to the Editor
fax: (212) 556-3622
letters@nytimes.com

Philadelphia Inquirer
(215) 854-4500
Letters to the editor:
Inquirer.Letters@phillynews.com

USA Today
(703) 276-3400
Karen Jurgenson, Editor www.usatoday.com and follow feedback
prompts

Washington Post
(202) 334-6000
Fred Hiatt, Editorial Page Editor
hiattf@washpost.com

Time
e-mail: letters@time.com

ABC http://abc.go.com/abc/help/contact.html

CNN
(404) 827-1500

CBS
(212) 975-4321

MSNBC
e-mail: World@MSNBC.com

NBC
NBC-Nightly News:
Nightly@NBC.com

NBC Today Show:
Today@NBC.com

I'm hoping none of this will be necessary, but I fear otherwise. As Edmund Burke said, the price of freedom is eternal vigilance.


[This message has been edited by TearsOfRage (edited November 10, 2000).]
 
Thank for the additional numbers. I already have Santorum, Specter and Pitts programmed in my phone's speed dial :) Now I can add some more :)
 
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