Kerry to avoid Florida pitfall

2004-03-09 07:50

Hollywood, Florida - John Kerry is determined not to lose Florida's 27 electoral votes in a swamp of recounts and recriminations, vowing to mount an early legal challenge in any district that might repeat the problems that bedeviled Democratic supporters in 2000.

"Not only do we want a record level of turnout to vote, we want to guarantee that every vote is counted," the presumptive Democratic nominee told about 500 people at a town hall meeting on Monday.

Kerry rarely mentions the legal battle over the 2000 election, but he did so repeatedly in the state that was the epicentre four years ago. Responding to a voter who asked, "What can you do to prevent them from stealing the election again?", Kerry, a lawyer and former Massachusetts prosecutor, said his campaign was assembling a legal team to examine districts that had problems.

Injunctions

"We're going to pre-check it, we're going to have the legal team in place ... We're going to take injunctions where necessary ahead of time. We'll pre-challenge if necessary," the four-term Massachusetts senator said.

The 2000 recount looms large in nearly any political discourse in Florida. George W Bush won the presidency by five electoral votes when a 5-4 Supreme Court decision ended a recount in the state.

Bush spent millions of dollars fighting Al Gore's effort to have votes recounted, a legal battle that lasted for 36 days. Bush won Florida's 25 electoral votes by a 537-vote margin.

- AP