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Sunday, Dec. 22
The Indiana Daily Student

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Battle for presidency drives partisanship

Americans grow weary of election aftermath

As election day has stretched out to election season, the process has begun to resemble a World Series in infinite overtime. Each candidate has stepped up to the plate, backed by a team of lawyers. \nToday will mark an upset in the series of legal face-offs, when the Republican-dominated Florida Legislature huddles in Tallahassee, Fla. for a special session. There members will begin the controversial process of choosing presidential electors, and are expected to tip the balance of electoral votes to Republican candidate George W. Bush.\nTuesday, in adjacent courtrooms in Tallahassee, Democrats challenged two batches of absentee ballots allegedly tainted by Republicans, who filled in missing identification numbers. Democratic candidate Al Gore's team will continue to appeal to the Florida Supreme Court to overturn Florida's presidential results -- an argument denied by a trial judge earlier this week. \nIn a Dec. 2-4 Gallup poll, 63 percent of Americans said they've had enough. \nOne problem is an increase in partisanship. The candidates have been dwelling in election purgatory, and both appear willing to bargain with the devil for the highest office in the land. At least that's how it looks from each end of the increasingly polarized political spectrum. \nPartisanship goes back to the beginning of American democracy. When the Constitution was written, conventional wisdom was to err on the side of caution. The framers were also rich white men, who didn't trust the masses to guide the country, said Leroy Rieselbach, professor emeritus of political science. \n"They put the checks and balances in place to prevent speedy innovation," Rieselbach said. \nThe division between the parties is as old as the government, but it has been steadily increasing. The radical right legislators who dominated the 1995 senate had a hand in it. Infidelity in the Oval Office sparked national party debate, further fueled by impeachment hearings. \n"The activity of late will likely increase that sense of division," Rieselbach said.\nHow will the increased partisanship play out during the next presidency? Rieselbach said there are two schools of thought on the matter. The first scenario paints a picture of the president greasing over the gridlock and embracing compromise. Rieselbach said he sees this as the likely result, because the next president will need something to show when he campaigns for re-election. \nThe other scenario is that feelings will be so inflamed there will be a meltdown in cooperation. Naysayers claim the less the new government gets done, the worse the partisan split will become. \nPolitical science professor Gerald Wright said he sees the potential delay in legislation as a problem that will complicate matters far beyond Capitol Hill. \nSome legislation will hit Americans in the pocketbook. In the cases of Social Security and Medicare, the longer changes are delayed, the more drastic the outcomes will be, Wright said. \n"The longer we wait, the more revenue they'll have to raise, increasing taxes, and the more benefits they'll have to cut," Wright said.\nElyce Rotella, associate professor of economics, said she doesn't see long-term economic effects from the lingering presidential question. But Rotella pointed out that in turbulent times people tend to leave money in the sock. \n"It's giving the stock market the jitters," Rotella said. "Uncertainty is always difficult for the economy."\nCompared to Watergate or the Iran Contra scandal, "Indecision 2000" is merely a blip on the screen of American political history, Rieselbach said. If there is any longstanding result, it will likely be an improvement in voting technology.\n"'Chad' may turn out to have an 'obs' for obsolete next to it in the dictionary in 50 years," Rieselbach said of the controversial punchcard components. \nAnd like all political upsets, the events of the last month are ripe for satire. On the world stage, America has once again performed a comedy. \n"In the light of your failure to elect a president of the U.S.A. and thus to govern yourselves, we hereby give notice of the revocation of your independence, effective today," one e-mail forward said. "Her Sovereign Majesty Queen Elizabeth II will resume monarchical duties over all states, commonwealths and other territories (except Utah, which she does not fancy)."\nOr maybe it's a matter of heads versus tails. \n"It's like flipping a coin that lands on its side," Wright said. "What do you do? Just flip it over and go on from there"

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