The following write-up is based on impressions from UK TV reports, study of the
American Automobile Association Atlas of the USA (
1996 edition) and hearsay.
West
Palm Beach is the landward part of
Palm Beach County,
Florida. (The other bit,
Palm Beach and
Palm Beach Shores, appears to be inhabited by three or so
millionaires.) At the moment, this town, population 67 000 or thereabouts, is in the midst of controversy. 19 000 of those citizens, allegedly mostly
black or
Jewish seem mysteriously to have spoiled their ballot papers. This is unfortunate, because they almost all say they wanted to vote for
Al Gore, rather than
Pat Buchanan. Even Buchanan admits this. The local ballot paper is an absolute
dog.
George W. Bush had been calling
Gore names for wanting to call the lawyers in on this, but now Gore has claimed his entitlement to a manual recount,
Bush has called in
his lawyers. Apparently, in the state of Florida, the right time to complain about bad
ballots is before the
polls open. It's sheer coincidence that Florida is run by Bush's brother
Jeb Bush.