Angry Debate, Voter Registration Up In Illinois State

By Rachelle Bowden in News on Oct 6, 2004 8:22PM

Boy oh boy is John Edwards pretty. Man oh(ld) man is Dick Cheney creepy. Last night's VP debate proved quite entertaining and pugnacious. Cheney pulled no punches labeling Edward's record, "not very distinguished" and mentioning, "Your hometown newspaper has taken to calling you 'Senator Gone.'"

The newspaper Cheney referred to isn't exactly Edward's hometown paper, but it's only 20 minutes away. Cheney said he's in the Senate most Tuesdays but hadn't met Edwards until last night. Evidently they've been in the same room at least twice and Tim Russert claims they shook hands backstage at his show earlier this year. Both sides claim victory, but a CBS poll of 178 uncommitted voters (A sample of only 178 people passes as representative nowadays?) gave Edwards the win by 10%.

Oh wait, maybe we should discuss something that matters. Throughout Illinois voter registration is up this year from 2000. All right! Let's hope everyone follows through and turns out as well. The reason for the increase could be attributed to more deputies, you know those people with clipboards that register people to vote, this year than 2000. Cook County David Orr also said memories of the 2000 election debacle are also a key motivator.

Memories of 2000 also plague the Kerry campaign. A fundraising e-mail message sent out Monday by campaign manager Mary Beth Cahill called for donations to fund a recount, should it be necessary, and make sure "The mistakes of the 2000 election will NEVER be repeated again." Thanks, Sam!