The "Will FORD Have a Job?" Thread

[FORD]

Originally posted by Lou
FORD, in all seriousness, how would electing the Republican candidate cause you to lose your job?

I didn't say it would. Matt did, and it's an exxageration.

Stress from massive right wing policy changes is far more likely. As I said, there hasn't been a Republican governor here in 20 years, and never one as extremist as Rossi. Fact is, nobody knows exactly what will happen. But with both houses of the Legislature in Democratic hands (thank God), Rossi might try to push as much of the radical right agenda through his cabinet as he can possibly get away with.

Exaggerations all aside, I appreciate the supportive statements from all, even the very unexpected ones. But don't expect to see me in the soup lines just yet

[ELVIS]

Maybe his "extremist" views might prove good for the beautiful state of Washington...

[John Ashcroft]

Notice anyone who doesn't lock-step with Ford in his ultra left ideology is labeled "extremist". To include members of his own party like Zell Miller and Joe Lieberman.

Well, I guess we just live in an "extremist" country nowadays. Better run to Canada ASAP, while there's still a chance!

[Nickdfresh]

Originally posted by ELVIS
Maybe his "extremist" views might prove good for the beautiful state of Washington...

Why? Do they want their economy ruined too?

[FORD]

Originally posted by ELVIS
Maybe his "extremist" views might prove good for the beautiful state of Washington...

No, the reason the state of Washington is still beautiful is because we don't have millionaire real-estate developers from California sitting in the Governor's mansion.

Until now, that is. possibly. Hopefully not.

[FORD]

Originally posted by John Ashcroft
Notice anyone who doesn't lock-step with Ford in his ultra left ideology is labeled "extremist". To include members of his own party like Zell Miller and Joe Lieberman.

Well, I guess we just live in an "extremist" country nowadays. Better run to Canada ASAP, while there's still a chance!

Guess you need to read the thread again. I said we used to have decent Republicans in this state. "used to" being the operative word.

[ELVIS]

Originally posted by FORD
No, the reason the state of Washington is still beautiful is because we don't have millionaire real-estate developers from California sitting in the Governor's mansion.

Until now, that is. possibly. Hopefully not.

So, your main agenda in your little world is real estate concerns ??

[Switch84]

Originally posted by FORD
No, the reason the state of Washington is still beautiful is because we don't have millionaire real-estate developers from California sitting in the Governor's mansion.

Until now, that is. possibly. Hopefully not.

:p How about Kenny G. for governor? He's your homeboy, and I LOOOVVVEEEEEEE his music!


BUWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAA!!!

[FORD]

If only Hendrix was still alive

We could always run Krist Novoselic or Eddie Vedder, i guess.

[Lou]

Originally posted by John Ashcroft
Notice anyone who doesn't lock-step with Ford in his ultra left ideology is labeled "extremist". To include members of his own party like Zell Miller and Joe Lieberman.

Well, I guess we just live in an "extremist" country nowadays. Better run to Canada ASAP, while there's still a chance!

C'mon, Zell Miller is NOT a Democrat. He was even asked by Larry King why he hasn't switched parties. His answer was, "Well you know, I've been in one 'house' my whole life, it's hard to go to another 'house'."

[freak]

Originally posted by Lou
C'mon, Zell Miller is NOT a Democrat. He was even asked by Larry King why he hasn't switched parties. His answer was, "Well you know, I've been in one 'house' my whole life, it's hard to go to another 'house'."

Actually, Zell's a reflection of what the party used to be before they veered so far to the left.

Back when they were a real political party that didn't pander to lunatics and minorities.

[Viking]

Would now be a good time to start an 'Official FORD Suicide Watch' thread? :D

[BigBadBrian]

Originally posted by Viking
Would now be a good time to start an 'Official FORD Suicide Watch' thread? :D

I thought that was needed when FOXNEWS declared Bush had won Ohio.

[Flash Bastard]

FORD wouldn't be any fun if he were employed, happy and not politically disenfranchised.

However I hope he gets a job real soon because he's supposed to come to visit me in Colorado where we'll go whoring and boozing. A guy that size drinks a lot of beer and would break a few hookers in half so we need all the cash we can get. Bribes and bail can be expensive. :D

[Guitar Shark]

Originally posted by FORD
I didn't say it would. Matt did, and it's an exxageration.

Actually I didn't say that it would, I think I said something about it being more likely, or possible.

In any case, Rossi has picked up an additional 25 votes since the electronic recount started:

http://www.king5.com/topstories/stories/NW_112304WABgovernor_election_recountJM.84e50ecc.html

Recount in governor's race continues despite legal challenge
224 more ballots discovered in Snohomish Co.

After all counties reported their tallies last week, Republican Dino Rossi led Democrat Christine O. Gregoire by 261 votes out of some 2.8 million ballots cast. State law requires a machine recount when the margin is less than 2,000 votes.

As of Tuesday morning, 24 counties had reported recount results, giving Rossi an extra 25 votes, although the state's most populous counties have not yet reported their re-count totals.

And, election workers in Snohomish County have discovered 224 ballots that were apparently overlooked.

The canvassing board is meeting today in Everett to decide whether to add the ballots to the re-count which is under way in the governor's race.

Auditor Bop Terwilliger says the ballots are from 33 precincts and appear to be either absentees that trickled in or provisional ballots that needed checking.

Meanwhile, Republicans who filed a lawsuit in an attempt to keep some ballots out of the recount of the governor's race must wait a week to make their arguments in court.

U.S. District Judge Ricardo S. Martinez scheduled a hearing for Nov. 30, two days before the state is set to certify results of the recount.

The state Republicans filed the lawsuit Saturday, arguing that ballots rejected by machines should be excluded from the recount because they have to be checked by hand -- a process that doesn't happen in counties that use punchcard ballots.

Election officials say the ballots in question, which machines couldn't read, are being tracked and could be subtracted if Martinez rules in Republicans' favor.

"Applying counting standards in selected counties different from those in others violates the equal protection and due process protections of the U.S. and Washington constitutions and ultimately will deny Washington voters their fundamental right to vote," the lawsuit stated.

On Sunday, a different federal judge denied a GOP move to stop heavily Democratic King County from hand-counting ballots that machines can't read.

Republicans had hoped the judge would rule hand-counting unconstitutional in all counties with optical scanners, state GOP Chairman Chris Vance said.

Most of Washington's 39 counties use optical scanners, 14 use punchcards and two use touch screens at the polls with optical scanners for absentee ballots, according to the secretary of state's office.

In their lawsuit, Republicans noted that Rossi carried 11 of the 14 punchcard counties while Gregoire won a heavy majority of the votes in King County, which uses optical scanners.

State Elections Director Nick Handy disputed the GOP's argument that the handling of "undervotes" -- ballots that don't register a vote in a particular race -- is substantially different with optical scanning from that of punchcards.

"The methodology is different, but the standard is the same," Handy said.

In each system, machines spit out undervote ballots and an election staffer checks to see if it's clear what the voter meant to do.

If the voter's intent is clear -- say, an oval was circled instead of filled in or punched out -- the election staffer fixes the ballot and sends it back through the machine. If it isn't clear, a canvassing board takes a closer and makes a final determination about the vote.

In most cases, undervotes aren't mistakes but indicate choices not to vote in a particular race.

In King County, 710 out of some 22,000 undervotes were expected to be added to the county's total, county elections spokeswoman Bobbie Egan said Monday night. That includes ballots with clear enough markings to be fixed and those on which a canvassing board could determine voters' intent.

Any votes Gregoire picks up from those ballots could be offset because the same recount process is happening elsewhere, including Republican-leaning counties where Rossi won handily.

The GOP lawsuit before Martinez asserted that ballots enhanced or duplicated after Election Day weren't being properly tracked and therefore could not be re-examined for accuracy. Election officials said that wasn't true.

Democrats decried the GOP's effort.

"Stop trying to throw away people's votes!" Paul Berendt, chairman of Washington State Democrats, said in a statement issued before a count-every-vote rally Monday at King County's recount headquarters. "Our position is very simple: Count every vote and live with the results."

"We are not going to let the Washington D.C. Republicans steal this election from Chris Gregoire," Berendt also told KING5 News.

In a news conference an hour later at the same spot, Republicans accused the county of corrupting the process by altering ballots.

"They are manually enhancing the ballots, and there's no way that one can go back and determine the intent of the ballot of that voter," said Diane Tebelius, a GOP lawyer.

Dean Logan, King County elections director, said ballots are enhanced only when doing so won't mask what the voter originally did. If that can't be done, he said, election workers fill out a separate ballot to duplicate the voter's markings so a machine can read them.

King County Elections Superintendent Bill Huennekens said the recount is being handled scrupulously, with observers from each party watching closely.

"In an election this close, each side has an interest in pressuring and advancing their issues and concerns, and we have a duty ... to conduct the recount according to law and our long-standing established policies and procedures," Huennekens said.

Republicans complained Sunday that Huennekens refused to send at least one ballot to a canvassing board for review, even though the bubble next to Rossi's name was clearly filled in, with only a small mark next to Gregoire's name. Huennekens said the mark actually was made in the Gregoire bubble, which made it an "overvote" that can't be counted toward either candidate's total.

A former Democratic precinct committee officer in Mason County, Huennekens scoffed at Republicans' suggestion that he was letting politics taint the process. "I'm not a PCO anymore and I conduct elections in a nonpartisan manner according to state law," he said.

Among other complaints, Republicans said a box of ballots that was supposed to be sealed was found unsealed and had 201 ballots -- two more than a receipt on the box said it should have had.

Logan said such discrepancies occur occasionally, and that in any such case, the box is set aside and counted again to make sure it has the right number of ballots.

Another problem Republicans pointed out: precincts where fewer ballots were on hand when the recount started than on Election Day.

At one point as the county prepared for the recount, it appeared 88 ballots were missing from one precinct, Vance said.

The ballots were later found in a bag, which Logan said a poll worker used on Election Night because the ballots wouldn't fit into the box.

"If they (the Republicans) feel it furthers their cause to take pot shots at our operations ... I want to stay beyond that," Logan said. "It's not about us. It's about the voters of King County and making sure every vote counts."

Ongoing suspense is perhaps the only sure thing in this election. After the machine recount is done, the state will certify the results of the election on Dec. 2.

After that, the candidates or the state parties can demand a hand recount or another machine recount. They would have to pay $420,000 for a machine recount or $700,000 for a hand recount, unless the recount changes the winner, in which case taxpayers get the tab.