But some proved useful. The problem was pulling those out from the heap of worthless clutter. That was five days after the Miami Herald reporter coauthored a piece that analyzed what the Florida count would have been if all voters had submitted error-free ballots. Gore, reported the Herald, could have won by 23,000 votes. Morgan's e-mail address accompanied the Web and print versions of the story, and in addition to that 957, he had already responded to about 200.
Angry people write far more often than people who are happy.
Normally the Herald's environmental reporter, Morgan was tapped for election coverage. About 50 of the messages in his inbox had nothing to do with the presidential election, and he says there were a good number that asked fair questions about the story. Lorente's local readers don't provide feedback very often, he says. Unless, that is, he writes about Cuba. For Rose and Morgan, the volume created hurdles.