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.