I get the sense that it's going to be a long time before we know who our next president will be.

And I think what the Democrats are trying to pull in Florida is a travesty.

If you think the Democrats are going to simply abide by the results of a recount, you're out of your mind.

Abiding by the results of the recount would be the honorable thing to do.

The state of Florida, by law, should recount every vote properly cast in Tuesday's election - absentee or otherwise.

They should take all steps necessary to ensure that the vote count is as accurate as humanly possible.

After that, they should certify the results and name the winner.

If Gore has more votes, Gore gets the 25 electoral votes he needs to win the presidency.

If Bush has more votes, Bush gets the 25 electoral votes he needs to win the presidency.

Then Gore, or Bush as the case may be, should congratulate his opponent and life should go on.

That, of course, is in a perfect world. In a world of honor. In a world of character.

That's not this world.

What more than likely will happen in our world is a bunch of legal challenges and lawsuits.

The Democrats in Palm Beach County are contending the ballot they used was flawed and confusing and "illegal."

They say that the ballot layout tended to lead people who wanted to vote for Gore to vote for Buchanan instead or to vote twice for president, disqualifying the ballot.

Some 23,000 ballots in that county were disqualified.

It seems to Democrats that only people who wanted to vote for Gore were confused.

Wouldn't it follow that people who wanted to vote for Bush also were confused?

I guess not.

These people are getting up petitions and filing lawsuits to have the election results from their county thrown out.

A judge already has filed an injunction keeping Palm Beach County from certifying any election results until after a Tuesday hearing. At the hearing, a group of Palm Beach County voters will make the case for getting to vote again based on the "illegal" ballot.

That's obscenely unfair. You can't vote already knowing the outcome.

If Palm Beach County, Fla., is allowed to vote again, it would be tantamount to allowing Palm Beach County to choose our next president.

That's insane.

All the people who voted for Nader or Buchanan could go in and vote for Gore or Bush instead. And they would.

And while it would be extraordinary for a judge to order a new election for Palm Beach County, it is not beyond the realm of probability.

Surely the Democrats down there can find a friendly judge to do their bidding.

To me, this ballot confusion stuff is nonsense.

Never mind that the ballot was designed by a Democrat and approved by a Republican and Democrat panel according to Florida election law.

Never mind that the ballot was properly advertised and displayed in advance according to Florida election law.

Never mind that thousands upon thousand of voters were not confused.

Never mind that if a voter was confused, all the voter had to do was ask a poll worker for help.

Never mind that about the same number of ballots were disqualified during the 1996 election.

I have looked at the ballot. You can, too, right here on this page.

See the little arrows and numbers. Hmm. Follow the arrow and punch. What you can't see is that the punch holes are clear. Underneath is the voting card, which has numbers corresponding to the numbers by the arrows.

I thought arrows were pretty cross-culturally, universally understood.

I guess I could see where you might get confused by this ballot - if you were raised by wolves.

If you are incapable of following an arrow to a numbered punch hole, you have bigger problems than voting.

I have a thought. Let's take all those people in Palm Beach County who voted for Buchanan - accidentally or otherwise - and put them in a special place ruled by Pat Buchanan. And then put a big fence around them.

Initially, I really liked the closeness of the election. It was exciting. It showed the importance of voting and how every vote really does count.

That's a good thing.

I saw the whole recount process as positive because it is giving our nation a very valuable civics lesson.

But if these candidates - Bush and Gore - or any of their supporters, drag this thing out and fight, kick, scratch and sue to get the desired outcome, it will harm the electoral process for years.

It will discourage people from voting.

That's a bad thing.

But unfortunately, that's probably exactly what will happen. Somehow I just don't see anyone conceding anything here. The stakes are too high.

More than likely, if Gore's people keep pushing in Florida, Bush's people will start looking for voting irregularities in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Washington, New Mexico, Wisconsin and anywhere else the election was close and favored Gore.

My guess is they could probably find "confused" voters and "illegal" ballots all over this country.

This could drag on, literally, for years. Is that what we want?

After the recount, the loser needs to step up like Richard Nixon in 1960. Say what you want about Nixon, he showed character after that election.

He lost by 100,000 votes nationwide. He knew he probably got beat by a bunch of dead people in Chicago. He could have litigated and probably prevailed. But what did he do? The honorable thing. He conceded. He let the country move forward.

That's what needs to happen after the Florida recount.

No lawsuits. No hand counts. No confused voters. No illegal ballots. No multiple recounts.

Somebody needs to let the country move on. [[In-content Ad]]