I suggested this a week ago in my thread "A Modest Proposal". Too late now, it's Bush by a beer-fart.

RUNOFF

-- Lars (lars@indy.net), November 30, 2000

Answers

Thursday November 30, 4:26 pm Eastern Time

Ted Turner suggests runoff to decide US presidency

PHILADELPHIA, Nov 30 (Reuters) - CNN founder Ted Turner has a way to end the political wrangling in Florida -- declare the U.S. presidential election a tie and hold a national runoff between Republican George W. Bush and Democrat Al Gore.

``Let's face it. It's a statistical tie. That's what you'd call it if it was a sporting event,'' the television mogul said on Thursday in a speech to the World Affairs Council of Philadelphia.

``I think we should have a runoff. Neither one got a majority because of the votes for (Ralph) Nader and (Pat) Buchanan ... and I think we ought to amend the Constitution so this doesn't happen again. Then if we don't have a winner with a majority, we have another election a few days later.''

Gore was leading Bush by 49 percent to 48 percent in the national popular vote, followed by Green Party nominee Nader at 3 percent. But both Gore and Bush must win Florida's 25 electoral votes in order to gain the 270 Electoral College votes required for election.

The vice chairman of Time Warner Inc. (NYSE:TWX - news), renowned for his entertaining off-the-cuff remarks, was also open to other innovative ideas.

``Maybe we could have co-presidents. You be president this week, and I'll be president next week. It's a real hard job, and that might work pretty well because the president would get plenty of rest that way,'' joked Turner, a philanthropist whose fortune is estimated at over $9 billion.

``We don't pay him that much, anyway -- not nearly as much as he would make in a private business.''

Florida authorities have certified election results that would give the state's Electoral College votes and the presidency to Bush by a razor-thin margin of 537 ballots. Gore hopes to overturn those results by securing a court-ordered hand recount in selected counties.

-- Lars (lars@indy.net), November 30, 2000.

Lars, I believe Gore would demand a certifiable resmelling of that *beer-fart*.

-- dinosaur (dinosaur@williams-net.com), November 30, 2000.

Maybe I should have said "brain-fart".

-- Lars (lars@indy.net), November 30, 2000.

Someone could develop a fart-o-meter, specifically for elections. The results would be clear, the one measuring the most wins. No recounts possible, since once the fart passes, it's gone. Unless of course, we could find a way to capture the gases and continue to measure it's potency. Hmmmm, 100 million farts to count.

-- Maria (anon@ymous.com), December 01, 2000.