Democrats Continue to Fight 2000 Campaign in Florida

Florida Democrats gathered in Boston for their party's National Convention are still trying to win the 2000 election.

Sunshine State delegates who talked to the Online NewsHour were quick to recount allegations of systematic disenfranchisement of thousands of Democratic voters and the bloody post-election recount battle.

And their frustration and resentment is further fueled by what some call the bitter irony of living under state and federal governments headed by their archenemies, George and Jeb Bush.

More recent controversies concerning lost 2002 electronic voting records and an error-ridden purge aimed at removing convicted felons from the state's database of eligible voters, have only added to the suspicion that voting problems are part of a GOP plan to steal elections in the state this fall.

At the Florida delegation's breakfasts Tuesday and Wednesday there was less talk of John Kerry, than of the past.

Asked what John Kerry needs to do to win Florida, U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown replied, "I have a hard time with that question, because Al Gore won the last time."

Brown called for independent monitors in order to avoid a repeat of the 2000 election debacle and said civil rights groups may have to sue the state to solve problems like the flawed felon list.

"Whether you are a Democrat or Republican, you should want a fair election," Brown said. "You should have an election that you can certify it was a fair election."

The open anger against President and Governor Bush evident during convention events has contrasted sharply with the generally positive tone national Democratic leaders hoped the convention would project.

"We all know about George Bush's policies. We all know what a miserable failure he has been. We know that coming in here," Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe said Monday. "What people want to know from us now is what are you going to do? We don't want to just hear you complain. We want to know what are you going to do to make things better for us. That's what they want and that's what they are going to get this week -- positive, optimistic."

Most Florida Democrats, however, appeared not to get the message, blasting the president's policies and criticizing Florida's botched voter purge and other voting problems in their state.

Congressman Jim Davis began his remarks to the Florida delegation Tuesday by attacking the president's foreign policy, which he says has weakened America's position around the world. Davis then offered a litany of what he said are President Bush's broken promises and failed policies at home in the areas of the environment, healthcare, education, the economy.

Davis urged Floridians to vote for John Kerry who he said would reverse detrimental policies of President Bush. But Davis also said the Bush administration in Tallahassee is not committed to reforming the election system.

"Like you I am disgusted at the remarkable, casual, callous, contemptuous approach this administration in Florida has taken towards the election," Davis said. "They will not get away with it. We will work together to make sure every vote is counted."

Davis further said Jeb Bush's government had trampled the rights of voters in an effort to ensure GOP victories.

"We know, the state of Florida is increasingly realizing, that the last four years in the state of Florida have been about electing this president and governing with fear and retaliation, particularly with respect to the rights of the minority and the rights of average citizens," he said.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson, who spoke to the delegates on Tuesday, poked fun at his party's request to avoid harsh criticism of the president and the governor, claiming it had robbed him of one of his signature phrases.

"They don't want us to say a lot of stuff about the Bushes so when I speak tomorrow night I can't say 'stay out of the Bushes,' so I'm going to say 'stay out of the trees,' I hope y'all get the difference," Jackson said.

Jackson too hearkened back to the 2000 election blaming voting problems on misaligned machines in Palm Beach County, state troopers intimidating immigrant voters, lack of language support for non-English speaking voters, and faulty eligible voter roles. Jackson also accused state Republicans of pre-empting the electoral process.

"The legislature said even if Gore gets the votes we're going to give the electoral ballots - the electoral votes to Bush," Jackson said. "That stabbed democracy in the heart."

Liberal filmmaker Michael Moore, who visited the delegation Wednesday morning, said he is putting both Bushes on notice that he will be in Florida on Election Day with film crews and a team of lawyers.

"We are not going to dishonor those who gave their lives in the civil rights struggles by allowing these people to steal another election," Moore said to loud applause. "That is just not going to happen."

Moore pledged that he would personally ensure each Floridian's vote will be counted.

"The second anyone tries to prevent a voter from voting, we will go down to the courthouse we will get a judge immediately and we will stop it at that moment," Moore said. "Not a week later, not a month later, that hour, we will seek judicial relief immediately -- that day so they can vote before the polls close."

Rank and file Florida delegates also joined party leaders, elected officials, and guest speakers, in criticizing President and Governor Bush on their policies and Florida's election system woes.

E.G. "Red" Lackey of Ormond Beach, the oldest delegate at the Democratic convention, said the policies of the Bush brothers along with memories of the 2000 election have "fired up" Democrats this year.

"We had enough to win it before, as you probably know," Lackey said. "Between [former Fla. Secretary of State] Katharine Harris, Jeb Bush and the Supreme Court, they stole it from us."

As a senior citizen, Lackey said he is concerned about the president's approach to Medicare and prescription drugs. Lackey said the president's prescription drug program left Medicare unable to negotiate lower bulk rates for seniors and now the GOP is trying to keep seniors from buying drugs from Canada. He called the administration's prescription drug program a "$139 billion-a-year payoff to the pharmaceutical industry that had put so many millions in their campaign pots."

Lackey also said the war is a big issue energizing Florida Democrats.

"This war is a major issue," Lackey said. "It was uncalled for... but of course they're blaming somebody else for it, the misinformation."

For its part, the Florida GOP counters that the governor and president have done right by the state and that its citizens are reaping the benefits of their programs.

Florida Republican Party Chairman Carole Jean Jordan told the Online NewsHour that the president and the governor are popular among Florida voters and have worked to reform the state's voting system while implementing policies that have made residents more secure physically and economically.

Jordan said the governor has done "every possible thing that could be done" to fix the voting system, including investing millions of dollars in new machines and the that the Republican Secretary of State has met with leaders of both parties in the state to brief them on voting system improvements and to listen to their concerns.

However, the Florida Democrats in Boston this week dismiss the state's efforts and say they plan on taking their revenge on Nov. 2, 2004.

-- By Jason Manning, Online NewsHour