# How about a Statewide re-election, or throw out Florida? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [November 10, 2000, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-about-a-statewide-re-election-or-throw-out-florida/40716 "2000-11-10T22:43:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2000, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-about-a-statewide-re-election-or-throw-out-florida/40716/41 "2000-11-11T21:01:43Z")
No, the current president must be gone by then, but the Speaker of the House (Dennis Hastert) would become president until the March deadline. I think. One cool thing about this election - it’s acted as a great civics lesson for the American People, who will probably understand about 10 times more about how their own system works after this all shakes out than they did before. ---
**Author:** ![jab1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ee7513/32.png) [@jab1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jab1)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2000, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-about-a-statewide-re-election-or-throw-out-florida/40716/42 "2000-11-11T21:24:03Z")
It looks like you’re correct: [http://www.usconstitution.net/constfaq\_a4.html#Q64](http://www.usconstitution.net/constfaq_a4.html#Q64) ---
**Author:** ![nebuli](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/0ea827/32.png) [@nebuli](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nebuli)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2000, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-about-a-statewide-re-election-or-throw-out-florida/40716/43 "2000-11-12T02:50:30Z")
DSYoungEsq said: > [@](#): > > (in addition to one contested elector from Oregon; I forget why only one elector was contested from that state). Pointless trivia now, but a burning issue then- it was because one of the winning Oregon Republican electors was a postmaster, and federal officials are constitutionally barred from being electors. The Democratic governor declared that therefore the Democratic elector with the highest vote total replaced him. Meanwhile, the Republican elector in question resigned as postmaster, then resigned as elector, and the other Republican electors met and appointed their now-eligible original colleague to fill his own vacancy. Congress eventually accepted his vote. (source: Congressional Quarterly’s Guide to U.S. Elections; Second ed.; 1985; p. 262) ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2000, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-about-a-statewide-re-election-or-throw-out-florida/40716/44 "2000-11-13T19:22:10Z")
Thanks, **Nebuli**. 🙂 Another example of true political chicanery came in the selection of the 15th member of the Commission. The Senate and House were each to name five members, and the Supreme Court named four. By design, these were evenly split between Dems and Repubs. The fifteenth was supposed to be an independent, David Davis of Illionois, who, presumably, would have been the deciding vote. But, Illinois Republicans elected him to a vacant senate seat from that state and he thus refused his place on the Commission. The justices then chose Joseph Bradley, another SupCt justice who was a Republican, albeit a bit moderate in his opinions. The Commission split 8-7 on all its votes, and the Republicans won each time, thanks to the efforts of the Illinois Republicans to scotch the otherwise well-thought-out plans of the national parties. And politics grand? For an interesting read, see the EB on the subject. ---
**Author:** ![Gadarene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Gadarene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gadarene)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2000, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-about-a-statewide-re-election-or-throw-out-florida/40716/45 "2000-11-13T19:50:03Z")
To continue the hijack… For what it’s worth, C. Vann Woodward has made a fairly compelling argument that a compromise was reached in that Electoral Commission in 1877, whereby the Republican Hayes would be President, even though the electoral tally was hopelessly muddled and Tilden had won the popular vote. In exchange, the Southern Democrats and Whiggish Republicans would receive substantial federal subsidies of Southern railroads, as well as a promise of full withdrawal of federal troops from the South. Northern Republicans benefited from the subsidy as well, as their industries stood to profit. It’s how come Reconstruction ended when it did. The Republicans got the White House, and the Democrats got the South back. The compromise, Woodward says, came at the expense of Northern Democrats, Radical Republicans, and black freemen. As a point of interest, Woodward also claims that more people expected war as a result of the 1876 election than had done so in 1860-61. In fifteen states, forces of Democratic war veterans were prepared to march on Washington and demand the inauguration of Samuel Tilden. Two quotes from Woodward’s book, _Reunion and Reaction_, that summarize his take on the situation. (C. Vann Woodward, by the way, is perhaps the preeminent Southern historian of his time.) > [@](#): > > It preserved one part of the fruits of the Second American Revolution–the pragmatic and economic part–at the expense of the other part–the idealistic and humanitarian part. (p4) > [@](#): > > They needed all the money [Northern capitalists] could supply, and when it proved insufficient they wanted the Federal government to make up the deficiency. If state rights and _laissez faire_ meant the end to force bills, removal of Federal troops from Southern state capitals, and abandonment of intervention in state and local politics and race discriminations, the South was for them strong. On the other hand the South had no patience with state rights and _laissez faire_ if they implied abandonments of Federal subsidies, loans of credit, and internal improvements. Of these the South believed she had not had anything like her just share and she meant to have a lot more.(p64) Interesting stuff. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-about-a-statewide-re-election-or-throw-out-florida/40716.md?page=2)