The agony caused by 537 votes

With the November 7th election results in—and with the closeness of some of the races—now is a good time to reflect on the agony that 537 votes has caused. Yes, FIVE-HUNDRED-THIRTY-SEVEN--not 537 thousand, just plain 537. One race this week was reported to be too close to call when there was a difference of about seven thousand, with a few ballots left to count (the Webb-Allen Senate race in Virginia).

Yes, just 537 votes was the total by which George Bush was finally reckoned to have beaten Al Gore in Florida in the 2000 presidential race (after a delay of 36 days as hanging chads, punched holes, and other eccentricities of the Florida ballots were dealt with). By winning Florida’s 25 electoral votes, Bush’s edge was a mere 5 electoral votes (271 to 266).

Note: According to History of American Presidential Elections 1789-2001 (vol. XI), edited by Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., Fred L. Israel, and William P. Hanson, Chelsea House Publishers, Bush received 2,912,790 votes in Florida to Gore's 2,912,253—a difference of 537.

It is hard to imagine that just 537 alleged voters were responsible for all the misery that the election of George Bush has inflicted on our country, and on Iraq. Of course, we will never know what Al Gore’s performance as president might have been, but I can’t conceive of his having caused more damage than Bush has done. (Anyone interested in the reasons for my disparagement of Bush’s presidency can find them in my 5/20/06 posting “The Worst President in History?” under the paragraph headed My charges against Bush.)