New Hampshire: First in the Nation?

My guess is there's a 60-70% chance that this is accurate, and Nader now has the money to get a recount in New Hampshire. This would be a great experiment in seeing how effective and accurate the Opti-Scan readers and tabulations were, as they go through the paper ballots. If there's a discrepancy between the original total and the recount, you better believe we're going to see a bunch of other states follow. If there's no such discrepancy -- well, I think Ohio is going to happen, but other than that, interest and attention to the potential funny business with the electronic voting machines and the scanners of Opti-Scan ballots is going to wane.

Update: According to the Nader/Camejo website, the Nader campaign is going forward with a hand recount in New Hampshire.

The recount will begin in areas where the vote favored President Bush in anomalous ways. Nader-Camejo has requested a hand recount of the vote in New Hampshire because of reports of votes favoring President Bush in towns that used the Diebold AccuVote optical scan machines. The Nader-Camejo campaign received more than 2,000 faxes from citizens concerned about the vote count who urged the campaign to request a hand recount in New Hampshire.

But wait -- Ralph speaks in this press release!

“A hand recount will either rule out the possibility of machine error or show a discrepancy in the Diebold machine and the actual vote – either way voters need to know,” said Nader. “Regardless of whether it changes the electoral outcome, the Democrats should join us in this effort and follow through on their repeated promises to make sure every vote is counted – in Ohio and other states.”

I'm getting a warm and fuzzy feeling -- I think it's because I'm reminded that this guy helped get us seatbelts in every car and push for cleaner elections before he became an egomaniacal demogogue. Hooray, Ralph! What do you say, Alanis -- this is pretty ironic, don't you think?