Recount in N.H.
AP and other news sources are reporting that Representative Kucinich has requested a recount. Under N.H. rules, his campaign will have to pay the cost of the recount, except there's no way to calculate the indirect cost of a recount. Lots of people will invest lots for time for which they will receive no or below market rates compensation. The question is, why would he do it, the race wasn't even close for him?
Kucinich cited "serious and credible reports, allegations and rumors" about the integrity of Tuesday's election in his recount request. Really? Will he present the evidence?
Speculation has it that the Obama campaign is behind this. I hope we soon find out if that is, or is not, the case. It will be a big black eye for Obama if it turns out he is behind this and is using Kucinich as cover. On the other hand, he shouldn't be cast as the bad guy if it wasn't his, or his campaign's, doing. We need to know the truth behind Kucinich's request.
Bev Harris, writing about recounts on http://www.opednews.com, describes some of the issues involved in N.H. recounts. Most notably, she quotes Nancy Tobi, a N.H. election integrity advocate, who says the big problem is that we have no chain of custody control on the ballots once they have been cast. That is, we don't have a verifiable system of knowing who has had access to them.
This looks to me to be a campaign game and not a real effort to seek the truth. It smells like rotten fish to me.
