“Two different news media consortiums reviewed Florida’s ballots [from the 2000 election]; both found that a full manual recount would have given the election to Mr. Gore. This was true despite a host of efforts by state and local officials to suppress likely Gore votes, most notably [Katherine] Harris’s “felon purge,” which disenfranchised large numbers of valid voters.

“But few Americans have heard these facts. Perhaps journalists have felt that it would be divisive to cast doubt on the Bush administration’s legitimacy…

“We aren’t going to rerun the last three elections. But what about the future? Our current political leaders would suffer greatly if either house of Congress changed hands in 2006, or if the presidency changed hands in 2008. The lids would come off all the simmering scandals, from the selling of the Iraq war to profiteering by politically connected companies. The Republicans will be strongly tempted to make sure that they win those elections by any means necessary. And everything we’ve seen suggests that they will give in to that temptation. ”

— Paul Krugman