In this context, Gore's Wednesday night gambit was about as good as either of these two guys can do. Gore received an immediate public relations boost for his proposal, and he at least sounded gracious, but there may have been less to this offer than met the eye. First of all, neither Gore, nor his army of Florida-based lawyers, have the authority to waive Florida election law, which would seem to preclude opening up the rest of the state to a hand recount. Second, Gore's promise to abide by the results of a hand recount is hardly much of a concession. But the ploy of calling for a revote is so patently unfair, so extralegal on its face, that the very request for it can only be viewed cynically.
Elections are snapshots in time and mandated by law to take place on a certain day.
And on the day in question, Pat Buchanan wasn't the only third-party candidate on the ballot siphoning off votes. Ralph Nader was there, too, trying to reach the 5 percent threshold for the Green Party. But the Democratic lawyers pushing this issue didn't exactly hide their agenda. Farmer kept a straight face throughout the hearing. These are hardly phrases calculated to instill public confidence in the process.