WATERTOWN, N.Y.
Ah, Election Day at last! In 24 hours, you'll be reading
my Wednesday article about what happened in the crucial
upstate New York special congressional election. And tomorrow
morning, God willing, I'll be taking a shower, packing my bags,
checking out of a hotel in Saranac Lake, N.Y., and heading back
home to try to recover from the insanity of it all.
Meanwhile, people way above my pay-grade will be on TV telling
you What It Really Means.
Nice work, if you can get it.
Michelle Malkin is one
of the few people you're likely to see on TV tonight who actually
knows what it means. No, she hasn't been up here making the
high-speed run along Highway 3 from Watertown to Plattsburgh, but
she's followed this battle closely since her Oct. 16 column
identifying Dede Scozzafava as an "ACORN-Friendly,
Big Labor-Backing, Tax-and-Spend Radical in GOP Clothing."
Yeah, that one left a mark, didn't it? Last night, Malkin warned
readers to
be ready to watch Democrats and their media allies downplay
an expected "conservative surge" in this off-off-year
election.
OK, I can cope with that. Let the pundits and commentators
argue about What It Really Means. Who cares about mere
opinions? What I genuinely dread, however, is the
possibility of vote-fraud shenanigans. Last night, I heard
Hoffman spokesman Rob Ryan repeat his warnings about the
danger of ballot-box mischief. And now
ACORN whistleblower Anita Montcrief is worried, too.
God help us. I remember Election Night 2000, when I was on
the national desk at The Washington Times. We waited for
the results from Florida. And waited, and waited, and waited.
Finally, at 3 a.m., editor-in-chief Wes Pruden approved a
fourth-edition front page with the headline, "TOO CLOSE TO CALL."
It stayed too close to call for five weeks.
Could such a thing happen again in NY23? I certainly
hope not, but as crazy as this campaign has been -- the Republican
candidate quitting on the Saturday before Election Day and,
on Sunday,
endorsing the Democrat -- it's impossible to say it's
impossible.
Intercessory prayer, anyone?
topics:
Doug Hoffman
