They were the same type of folks who in August 1914 thought that British troops would return home from France by Christmas. What the election optimists missed is that both sides of this close conflict deeply believed that they had right on their side. That is the second lesson of Florida's long count. The prolonged grudge match between George W. Bush and AL Gore offers ample confirmation of the endurance of primal instincts in human affairs. Alas, nature's first maxim of survival is to avoid a fair fight when both sides run the risk of serious injury.
Nature therefore codes all animals to hold their ground when right, and to slink away when wrong.
That game plan works pretty well except when each side to a dispute thinks in moral terms and believes it is right. Then a battle royal ensues. The mutual sense of being wronged intensified the conflict, as did the fact that each side needed to make only the kinds of arguments most congruent with its legal philosophy. Democrats take an expansive view of language and harbor a yen for social justice, while Republicans gravitate toward plain-meaning interpretations and the rigorous application of formal rules. Truth is, this contest would have been over sooner if the litigating position of each side had required it to embrace the legal philosophy congenial to the other.