The dispute over Florida touches on first principles, as disputes between liberals and conservatives often do. The train of reasoning is roughly as follows. Most people not besotted by partisanship have reached the conclusion that the vote in Florida is a statistical tie. These variables, and the extent to which they influenced the vote, are essentially unmeasurable and hence unknowable. Here is where the first principles come in.
Life is messy.
It is often maddeningly so, as in the case of Florida. Over many centuries, people lucky enough to live in democracies have devised a method to draw some kind of certainty from life's irregularities. Through their representatives they write laws, and these laws become neutral, objective principles to which everyone can appeal. A law is intended to bring order out of chaos. When it turns out that the law is poorly suited to its purposes or otherwise deficient, then it can be changed.