Democrats using 2000 Fla. fiasco as object lesson
Effort seeks to channel anger into motivation

By Peter S. Canellos, Globe Staff  |  July 21, 2004

MIAMI Miami-Dade Mayor Alex Penelas spent much of the past three years worrying about voting machines, a legacy of Florida's 2000 election. Then a more powerful force emanating from 2000 slapped him like a hurricane moving through Biscayne Bay: anger.

Penelas, who is running for the Democratic nomination to the US Senate, got tagged by Al Gore last month for not doing enough to help him in the 2000 presidential election a charge that played into Democratic frustrations.

Penelas soon found himself booed in his hometown, even while some other Democrats rallied to his defense.

''Folks are very upset," said Representative Kendrick Meek of Florida, Senator John F. Kerry's state campaign chairman, referring to the election battle generally. ''They've never reawakened from the nightmare of feeling that their vote never counted."

But for much of the 3 years since the US Supreme Court declared George W. Bush the winner in Florida, the fate of the election has been accepted. The challenges to President Bush's legitimacy that were anticipated by some justices never seemed to materialize. Newspaper-generated recounts indicated that Bush would have won under the vote-counting method proposed by Gore.

Now, with Bush's approval rating dipping below 50 percent, anger over 2000 and Democratic guilt over the sense that they allowed themselves to be outfought by Republicans are starting to animate the party.

The anti-Bush documentary ''Fahrenheit 9/11" begins with a long sequence of Gore nostalgia, declaring ''Was it all a dream?" and framing Bush's presidency as an illegal usurpation of power. Meanwhile, the fear that voting quirks might limit the participation of blacks, senior citizens, and other voting blocs is expressing itself in numerous local squabbles over voting technology.

Kerry advisers, speaking on condition of anonymity, say the presumptive Democratic nominee's presidential campaign will use the Bush v. Gore decision as a motivating tool to persuade African-Americans to vote in advance by absentee ballot. Otherwise, the Kerry campaign is divided over how strongly to stress the wounds of the previous campaign, especially at the convention next week in Boston.

''When Kerry says, 'Every vote counts, and we're going to count every vote,' that's a reference to 2000," campaign spokesman Michael Meehan said. ''We'll have lawyers in every state who know the law and will make sure every vote is counted."

The Florida recount, Meehan said, ''is something that's certainly part of the Democratic history." But, he added, ''our convention is going to be more about our plans for the future."

Still, with both major parties contending that the turnout of core constituencies could sway the election, every motivating tool could be crucial. Several senior Democrats said they would watch the convention closely to see how delegates react to speakers expressing outrage over 2000, to gauge whether to make an issue of how Bush attained the presidency.

'Most voters have moved on, but it still plays to the base, not only African-Americans but activists of all types," said Jim Jordan, Kerry's former campaign manager, who now works with independent groups seeking to rally Democrats. ''All you have to do is look at all the 'Redefeat Bush' bumper stickers to know it still has resonance."

As election season heats up, memories of 2000 are refreshed even without television ads or appeals from candidates. On Friday, reverberations from the Florida recount rocked the US House of Representatives, where some Democrats have asked the United Nations to monitor the US election the way the former president, Jimmy Carter, oversees elections in emerging democracies.

Representative Steve Buyer, Republican of Indiana, proposed barring any official from asking for UN observers, saying to do so would insult the ''integrity" of the United States. Representative Corrine Brown, a Democrat, shot back, ''I come from Florida, where you and others participated in what I call the United States coup d'etat. We need to make sure it doesn't happen again." The House voted along party lines to strike Brown's comments from the official record.

Brown's outburst was, in part, a reflection of the growing number of disputes over election issues among Floridians. Voters in several counties are upset that new touch-screen voting machines, similar to bank ATMs, do not produce a proper paper trail, making it difficult to check for mistakes or manipulations.

Other states that have moved to digital voting are wrestling with the issue, and Democrats have proposed a federal law requiring paper backups. On Friday, Nevada announced it would be the first state to require that each computerized voting machine be equipped with a printer.

Meanwhile, Governor Jeb Bush's administration in Florida agreed not to allow a list of about 48,000 convicted felons to be struck from voting rolls. The New York Times reported that the list included only 61 people identified as Hispanic, an anomaly that led to charges that the governor was excluding blacks, who tend to vote Democratic, but not Hispanics, who in Florida tend to align with pro-Bush Republicans.

Governor Bush, who chairs his brother's campaign in Florida, called the anomaly a quirk and pledged to avoid any perception of unfairness, while warning that political parties should not use voting issues to rally their supporters.

Meek noted that anger over 2000 already has served a rallying purpose. ''Democrats, goodness gracious, have never been organized in July. Usually, the office doesn't even open until August," he said. ''This year, the people of Florida are ready to vote right now."

But for some Democratic loyalists, the 2000 election should be more than an issue of ensuring every vote is counted; it should be a frame through which to examine all actions of the Bush administration.

Gore's blistering criticism of Penelas Gore called him ''treacherous" stemmed in part from a perception that Miami-Dade officials caved to Republican pressure; Penelas has defended his work on Gore's behalf and condemned GOP intimidation tactics.

Memories, however, are vivid and intense.

''Clearly, concerns about the 2000 election go on," said Danae Jones, a spokeswoman for Penelas. ''But Democrats need to win in November. That's what they need to worry about now."