Shawn wrote: "12. Look for some sort of GOP action to be raised about the networks declaring Gore the winner in FL *BEFORE THE POLLS CLOSED IN A HEAVILY REPUBLICAN PART OF THE STATE*. i.e. remember the Florida panhandle is in the Central time zone." This was one argument that I thought the Republicans had a major cause for complaint. It was indeed irresonsible for the media to announce a winner before the polls closed. Then I watched the McLaughlin Group tonight, and I learned exactly when the networks announced Florida had gone to Gore: 7:49 PM, _eleven minutes_ before the polls closed. Now you mean to tell me that there were Republican voters in the panhandle who were going to run out and vote in the last ten minutes (less than that if you factor in transportation)...BUT they happened to have the TV on and saw, "Hey, Gore won the state...guess I won't go out and vote!"? Perhaps a couple dozen may have felt this way, but eleven minutes is a very small window. I had been under the impression that Florida was announced for Gore around 7:30 (for some reason, that was the way I remembered it), which would make a much greater difference. The media should not have announced any Florida result before 8, but I doubt 11 minutes, plus factoring in time it takes to get to a polling place, would have added a significant number of votes for George W. Bush. -Adam
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