As a child, I remember that I was always fascinated by the now-famous photograph, so often seen in history books, of an exhausted yet jubilant Harry Truman holding above his head the Chicago Daily Tribune's November 3, 1948 morning issue headlined "Dewey Defeats Truman".
I used to look at that picture and wonder. I always wanted to know exactly what thoughts and emotions lay behind that smile. What was going through Truman's mind? What was Dewey thinking at the very same moment? And what was going throught the minds of millions of Americans at that point in time? It always seemed to me such an odd situation. What if?
Now that the aparrently relevant possibility of an "if" has been clearly re-established in American politics, "what happens now?" emerges as the more pressing question.
Will we soon see a similar picture of Al Gore with an early edition of the highly respected New York Post, trumpeting his defeat by Texas Governor George W. Bush. It is definately a possiblility. At the same time, though, there is just as much possibility that will not be the case.
Florida alone currently holds the key to the White House. It's highly coveted 25 electoral votes will either make or break Election 2000 for both Bush and Gore. The state's precincts, currently in the process of re-counting their ballots, is acting upon the reccomendation of Florida's State Department. Law holds within the state of Florida that, if the vote count is talleyed to a difference within one-half of one percent between competeing candidates, ballots must be re-assessed. According to several reliable news services, including the Associated Press and Reuters, as well as major television and radio networks, the vote count fell to an unprecedented margin- a mere one-thirtieth of one percent.
Election night was a tough time for news agencies. As millions of Americans sat, their eyes glued to the television screen, awaiting declaration of a victor, the heat rose on the networks to be the first to provide their audiences the awaited information. Fierce competition often led them to make judgement calls, sometimes before it was completely safe (as in Florida's case, whose votes were unofficially handed to Gore, then Bush, then retracted once more). CBS (Columbia Broadcasting System) lead anchorman Dan Rather's embarrassment and frustration became increasingly evident as he sat, speaking almost continuously, at the CBS News desk through the early and mid-morning hours.
With such a small margin, only a few thousand out of millions upon millions of votes cast, one thing becomes clear: every vote does make a difference. The idea that an individual can not or does not have an effect upon what happens in this nation is no longer an acceptable, by any standards, excuse for apathy towards anything that happens in the United States.
Lofty rhetoric aside, what does happen now? First, Florida will re-count it's votor ballots. Possibly election authorities will examine in depth the details behind some votor complaints of confusion at the polls and election precinct reports of "missing ballot boxes." The validity of such claims has yet to be determined. Possibly we will have to wait for ballots sent by Americans living abroad, postmarked by November 7, to be received and counted.
Whatever forthcoming results of the 2000 Presidential Elections may be, one thing is certain: the seeds of interest in national and international political process have been sown in a new generation of Americans. Though it may not always seem the case, every voice can somehow find a way to be heard. Every person does count.