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Tools needed for the exercise: sort, uniq –c (count duplicates), tr (translate characters), head, tail, > “output to a file”, < ”input from a file”, | “pipe”, and man pages. Given input text (see attached):Count words in a text and output the list of words in the file with freq counts algorithm: Tokenize (tr)Sort (sort)Count duplicates (uniq –c) After merging upper and lower case by downcasing everything (hint: Put in a second tr command), how common are different sequences of vowels (e.g., the sequences "ieu" or just "e" in "lieutenant")?
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KBR said Friday the global economic downturn so far has
had
little effect on its business but warned some projects on its books
could be in jeopardy if the headwinds persist into next year.
“With the economic outlook remaining uncertain, it is possible
that
customers may cancel or delay projects that are under way,” said
William
Utt, chief executive of the Houston-based engineering and
construction
giant and government contractor.
He did not predict how much of the company’s $15.3billion in
future
business commitments could be affected but downplayed the potential
of
any significant impact as “limited.”
The remarks came during a conference call to discuss KBR’s
third-quarter
financial results, which showed a 35percent improvement over the
same
period in 2007.
KBR, which was spun off from Halliburton Co. last year, posted
better
numbers and beat analyst expectations after a new acquisition
helped
boost sales and offset losses because of Hurricane Ike.
Net income rose to $85million, or 51 cents per share, from $63
million,
or 37 cents, in the July-September period of 2007. Income from
continuing operations totaled 44 cents per share, including
Hurricane
Ike-related costs of 4 to 5 cents a share.
Revenue climbed 39 percent to $3.02 billion from $2.18 billion,
on the
back of big gains in the company’s government and infrastructure
unit
and services division.
Investors liked what they saw, boosting KBR shares 77 cents to
$14.84 in
New York Stock Exchange trading.
In commenting on third-quarter earnings in recent days, oil and
gas
executives have made clear that the industry is entering a more
challenging era, given the extreme volatility in the credit,
financial
and commodity markets.
They have cut capital spending budgets for exploration next
year,
revisited generous stock buyback programs and tried to reassure
investors that their balance sheets are strong enough to endure the
current credit crisis.
Utt, like the others, said the long-term fundamentals of the
industry
remain strong.
He suggested KBR could even benefit from the fall of oil prices
into a
more sustainable range, which has helped lower the costs of raw
materials and other project costs. That could encourage customers
to
place more orders.
“Just based on the change in oil price only, we still are at a
point
where our customers are making an affirmative investment decision
for
projects,” Utt said, explaining that crude prices near $150 this
summer
likely spurred customers to delay investments until prices cooled.
Jeff Tillery, an industry analyst with Tudor Pickering Holt &
Co.
Securities in Houston, said if KBR sees projects canceled or
delayed, it
would be those in early engineering stages where final investment
decisions haven’t been made.
“The cost structure has changed so much that a number of these
projects
the customer is just going to have to go back and re-evaluate,” he
said.
But he doubts “big projects have much risk because there’s
already so
much capital that’s already been put into them.”
KBR’s biggest business is designing and building large-scale oil
and gas
projects, including refineries, offshore platforms and liquefied
natural
gas terminals.
It also takes major infrastructure projects in the U.S. and
abroad, from
repairing airfields in Iraq to building embassies in other
countries.
But it receives more attention for its exclusive
multibillion-dollar
contract with the Pentagon to provide non-military support to the
U.S.
Army in the Middle East.
Beginning next year, however, the work will be spread among
several
contractors, and KBR expects to receive roughly 40 percent of the
work
under the new contract, Utt said.
If the new U.S. president decides to pull out of Iraq sooner
than
expected, KBR could see a short-term increase in work to mobilize
people
and equipment before Iraq operations wind down, Utt said.
As part of a broader diversification effort since leaving
Halliburton in
April 2007, KBR has been trying to bulk up other divisions,
including
its domestic construction business.
In May, KBR announced a $550million deal to buy Birmingham,
Ala.-based
engineering and construction firm BE&K.
That deal closed in July and in the third quarter helped KBR
boost
revenues by 600percent at its services unit.
But KBR took a hit of 4 to 5 cents per share in the quarter
after
Hurricane Ike knocked out windows and damaged the company’s
downtown
Houston office building, resulting in lost billable work hours. KBR
also
had to shell out for repairs to operations in the Gulf of Mexico.
KBR said Friday the global economic downturn so far has
had
little effect on its business but warned some projects on its books
could be in jeopardy if the headwinds persist into next year.
“With the economic outlook remaining uncertain, it is possible
that
customers may cancel or delay projects that are under way,” said
William
Utt, chief executive of the Houston-based engineering and
construction
giant and government contractor.
He did not predict how much of the company’s $15.3billion in
future
business commitments could be affected but downplayed the potential
of
any significant impact as “limited.”
The remarks came during a conference call to discuss KBR’s
third-quarter
financial results, which showed a 35percent improvement over the
same
period in 2007.
KBR, which was spun off from Halliburton Co. last year, posted
better
numbers and beat analyst expectations after a new acquisition
helped
boost sales and offset losses because of Hurricane Ike.
Net income rose to $85million, or 51 cents per share, from $63
million,
or 37 cents, in the July-September period of 2007. Income from
continuing operations totaled 44 cents per share, including
Hurricane
Ike-related costs of 4 to 5 cents a share.
Revenue climbed 39 percent to $3.02 billion from $2.18 billion,
on the
back of big gains in the company’s government and infrastructure
unit
and services division.
Investors liked what they saw, boosting KBR shares 77 cents to
$14.84 in
New York Stock Exchange trading.
In commenting on third-quarter earnings in recent days, oil and
gas
executives have made clear that the industry is entering a more
challenging era, given the extreme volatility in the credit,
financial
and commodity markets.
They have cut capital spending budgets for exploration next
year,
revisited generous stock buyback programs and tried to reassure
investors that their balance sheets are strong enough to endure the
current credit crisis.
Utt, like the others, said the long-term fundamentals of the
industry
remain strong.
He suggested KBR could even benefit from the fall of oil prices
into a
more sustainable range, which has helped lower the costs of raw
materials and other project costs. That could encourage customers
to
place more orders.
“Just based on the change in oil price only, we still are at a
point
where our customers are making an affirmative investment decision
for
projects,” Utt said, explaining that crude prices near $150 this
summer
likely spurred customers to delay investments until prices cooled.
Jeff Tillery, an industry analyst with Tudor Pickering Holt &
Co.
Securities in Houston, said if KBR sees projects canceled or
delayed, it
would be those in early engineering stages where final investment
decisions haven’t been made.
“The cost structure has changed so much that a number of these
projects
the customer is just going to have to go back and re-evaluate,” he
said.
But he doubts “big projects have much risk because there’s
already so
much capital that’s already been put into them.”
KBR’s biggest business is designing and building large-scale oil
and gas
projects, including refineries, offshore platforms and liquefied
natural
gas terminals.
It also takes major infrastructure projects in the U.S. and
abroad, from
repairing airfields in Iraq to building embassies in other
countries.
But it receives more attention for its exclusive
multibillion-dollar
contract with the Pentagon to provide non-military support to the
U.S.
Army in the Middle East.
Beginning next year, however, the work will be spread among
several
contractors, and KBR expects to receive roughly 40 percent of the
work
under the new contract, Utt said.
If the new U.S. president decides to pull out of Iraq sooner
than
expected, KBR could see a short-term increase in work to mobilize
people
and equipment before Iraq operations wind down, Utt said.
As part of a broader diversification effort since leaving
Halliburton in
April 2007, KBR has been trying to bulk up other divisions,
including
its domestic construction business.
In May, KBR announced a $550million deal to buy Birmingham,
Ala.-based
engineering and construction firm BE&K.
That deal closed in July and in the third quarter helped KBR
boost
revenues by 600percent at its services unit.
But KBR took a hit of 4 to 5 cents per share in the quarter
after
Hurricane Ike knocked out windows and damaged the company’s
downtown
Houston office building, resulting in lost billable work hours. KBR
also
had to shell out for repairs to operations in the Gulf of Mexico.
Three states — Massachusetts, California and Connecticut — have
legalized same-sex marriage. And now, three states, California
among them, have proposals on their ballots this month to ban gay
marriage.
But given that the federal government views same-sex married
couples as perfect strangers, ineligible for the many federal
rights given to opposite-sex married couples, the question for gay
couples is this: Is it worth it to tie the knot?
For many couples, the answer is a resounding yes: The word
“married” itself instantly conveys something that civil unions
and domestic partnerships do not.
Yet purely from a financial perspective, it’s hard to come to
any sweeping conclusions. For couples living in states that offer
marriage or civil unions — which provide many of the same rights as
marriage — it definitely makes sense for them to be married if they
have children, according to financial planners and estate planning
lawyers. Those who make their relationship official may pay
significantly less in state estate taxes. They will also gain
important privileges, including hospital visitation rights and the
ability to make medical decisions for a partner in emergencies.
Still, the many rights that marriage confers vaporize the moment
couples step into a state that does not recognize their unions.
It is a tricky path to navigate, given the patchwork of state
laws and varying grades of benefits they provide. Besides the three
states that allow marriage — Connecticut made it legal in October —
New Jersey, New Hampshire and Vermont allow civil unions, which
generally approximate marriage. Oregon provides something similar,
but calls it domestic partnership. The District of Columbia,
Hawaii, Maine, Washington and other jurisdictions provide certain
rights under domestic partnership laws. The constant state of flux,
as illustrated by this year’s ballot, makes it all the more
complicated.
“It really depends on where you are standing,” said David
Buckel, marriage project director and senior counsel at Lambda
Legal in New York. “More than 40 states have passed statutes to
confirm that same-sex couples are not allowed to marry.”
There are also certain reasons not to marry. It could ruin your
chances of adopting a child from abroad, for example, because many
countries do not allow openly gay couples to adopt.
Many couples make the leap, even knowing their legal standing
will not be equal to that of opposite-sex couples. Jeff Friedman
and Andrew Zwerin, both 40 and residents of Rockville Centre, N.Y.,
decided to marry as soon as California legalized it in May. They
were wed in Palos Verdes Estates, Calif., on Oct. 12.
Their new status means they can qualify for lower car insurance
premiums because they are no longer considered “single males.”
And they hope their marriage will give them more legal standing if
their son, Joshua, 5, lands in the emergency room because of his
asthma. The last time he was admitted, the pediatric nurse told the
two dads that she needed to speak with the child’s mother.
But, Friedman said, they are well aware that their marriage
carries no weight when it comes to, say, filing their federal tax
return (though they can file a joint state tax return, which will
allow them to keep more of their earnings). And the marriage
certificate is flimsy when the couple leaves New York, which honors
same-sex marriages performed elsewhere. On family vacations, the
pair will continue to bring along a slightly torn manila folder,
stuffed with documentation — birth certificates, health care
proxies, powers of attorney and all of their son’s adoption records
— that proves they are a family.
“Our hope is that also providing a marriage license might help
provide additional documentation for proof of how we are all
related,” Friedman said. “I want to make sure my son is taken
care of if something were to happen to me.”
The list below outlines the benefits same-sex married couples
(and those with civil unions) generally receive, as well as what
they still need to be concerned about. These issues are not as
complicated for opposite-sex couples, because they receive many
more rights when they marry, regardless of where they live, and
those rights are broadly recognized.
MEDICAL POWER OF ATTORNEY
Married or not, all committed same-sex couples should consider a
power of attorney for health care or medical matters, which
appoints a person to make medical decisions for you when you cannot
do so. It is also known as a health care proxy, among other things,
depending on where you live. The document should include an
authorization under the Health Insurance Portability and
Accountability Act to provide access to medical records. You may
also include a hospital visitation directive to specify who can
visit you in the hospital.
Another important document is a living will, which specifies
which medical procedures may or may not be done. “It is an
important document for anyone, but more so for same-sex couples
because we could have family members come in and say, ‘No, I know
better and this person has absolutely no standing,”‘ said James
Tissot, a New York financial planner.
DURABLE POWER OF ATTORNEY
If one partner becomes incapacitated, a durable power of
attorney gives the other partner authority to handle financial and
legal affairs, like paying bills.
WILLS AND TRUSTS
Being married in a state that recognizes your union does not
guarantee that all your assets will go to your partner. (This goes
for heterosexual couples as well.) A will directs how your assets
will be distributed after you die and allows you to name a guardian
for your children. A revocable living trust, on the other hand, is
viewed as more difficult to contest than a will, and it avoids the
sometimes lengthy and expensive legal process to settle a deceased
person’s estate. With a revocable living trust, you basically put
all your assets in the trust, and the trustee you name distributes
them according to your directions after you die.
“People just assume they don’t need to have legal documents
drafted if they are in a civil union or a marriage, and that is an
entirely wrong assumption,” said Debra Neiman, a financial planner
in Arlington, Mass.
RETIREMENT
Since same-sex married couples are not eligible for Social
Security survivor benefits, they may need to save more or make
special arrangements — like purchasing life insurance — to be sure
the survivor has enough financial resources if one partner should
die. For instance, if one partner is a stay-at-home parent, that
partner will not qualify for the wage-earning spouse’s higher
Social Security benefits if the wage earner dies first, said Peter
Berkery, author of two books on financial planning for same-sex
couples.
PROPERTY OWNERSHIP
Same-sex couples, married or not, need to take extra care when
titling their property, especially their homes. Heterosexual
married couples can transfer real estate and personal property to
each other with no gift taxes and no estate taxes until the second
spouse dies. Same-sex married couples and those with equivalent
rights living in states that recognize them have this benefit only
on the state level. But property passing to a same-sex spouse is
still subject to federal estate taxes upon the first spouse’s
death. In 2008, federal estate taxes apply for assets valued at
more than $2 million. Adding a same-sex spouse to the title of your
home may also have tax implications because it would be considered
a gift.
INSURANCE
Same-sex couples, married or not, should consider what types of
insurance they need to make up for benefits that go only to
straight married couples. Life insurance can be used to compensate
for certain retirement benefits or to cover federal estate taxes.
Disability insurance may also be a wise purchase. Normally,
married people qualify for some Social Security benefits if their
spouses become disabled, especially if their children are young.
But same-sex spouses do not qualify. Likewise, long-term-care
insurance should be considered, typically at around age 50, because
it is unclear how same-sex spouses will be treated by Medicaid, a
federal program administered by the state, Neiman said.
SECOND-PARENT ADOPTION
Your marital status does not matter here. If only one spouse is
the birth parent, it is best to conduct a second-parent adoption.
That will allow both parents to make decisions about the child and
will ensure custody in the event that one parent dies, as well as
parental rights should the couple split. Adoption will also give
the child access to health insurance and Social Security disability
or survivor benefits from either parent.
If you live in a state where you cannot get a second-parent
adoption, your next-best option is to create a co-parenting, shared
custody or guardianship agreement, according to Lambda Legal.
GIFTS
Same-sex spouses are subject to federal gift taxes for items
that add up to more than $12,000 annually. But partners, married or
not, can directly pay for medical or education expenses for one
another without consequences. Rick Kraft, a Boston estate-planning
lawyer who works with same-sex couples, recommends a joint account,
as long as it is used for regular household expenses and not
extravagant gifts. Technically, if one partner makes a big deposit
in a shared account and the other makes a big withdrawal, it is a
taxable gift. “It’s a sticky area, and there is no definitive
guidance out there about how to apply this in the day-to-day
operation of a household,” he said.
Given the tangle of terminology and rights, it is best to sit
down with a financial planner, and perhaps an estate planning
lawyer, to work through your individual situation. Unless the
federal government recognizes same-sex marriage, the complexities
will continue. “It’s like seeing someone out in the water drowning
and saying, ‘I will give them a lifesaver, but I won’t let them on
the boat,”‘ said P. Louise Halloran, a vice president in wealth
management at Smith Barney in Connecticut, who has several same-sex
couples as clients.
David Pratt, a transfer student to American
University here, was ready to settle for almost anything after a
month-long housing search. So, when he visited a row house in the
Georgetown neighborhood, he overlooked the peeling paint, the
splintered floorboards, the shattered windows and the washing
machine that drained onto the floor.
“I didn’t notice all those things,” Pratt said. “I was just
happy to have found the place.”
In August, when Pratt and his housemates moved in, the previous
tenants were gone, and the 140-year-old house’s problems were
glaring. Disenchanted, Pratt, 22, began looking for help.
A quick Internet search found thisshouldbeillegal.com, a Web
site set up in August by city housing officials as part of a
campaign for students and others looking to rent legal and safe
housing.
The city set up accounts on free Web sites, including Facebook,
Twitter and WordPress, with links to housing codes, an inspection
checklist used by the city, and a searchable database of landlords’
business licenses. Renters can also use the sites anonymously to
report violations or to request inspections.
“Too often, students are the target of off-campus landlords
trying to make a quick buck at your expense,” Linda Argo, the
director of the program, said in a videotaped introduction to the
Web site. “So we want to put the power in your hands.”
More than 9,000 users have visited, and a third of them have
used the database, said Michael Rupert, the city official who works
with the student housing campaign.
Rupert, who lists his cell phone number and e-mail address on
the Web site, said he had taken more than 200 inspection requests
from students, at least 50 of which led to investigations.
Many students are unaware of their rights as renters. Relying on
first impressions of housing or descriptions from online listings,
they can be easy prey for unscrupulous landlords.
Argo said the city wanted a new tool to ease students’ concerns
about retaliation and even eviction for reporting illegal rentals
or unsafe properties. Officials said the program could help deal
with problems like those that led to the 2004 death of Daniel
Rigby, a 21-year-old Georgetown University senior.
Rigby died of smoke inhalation, trapped inside his burning
basement apartment blocks from campus. Investigators said metal
bars welded over windows and a furnace blocking a rear exit
prevented him from escaping the fire, which they said was ignited
by a candle or cigarette.
Campus Firewatch, an online publication that tracks student fire
fatalities through news reports, said that 108 of 129
campus-related fire deaths since 2000 occurred in off-campus
housing.
After Rigby’s death, fire officials said students turned them
away as they went door-to-door inspecting houses and installing
smoke detectors.
“The traditional methods of outreach were not reaching enough
students because there was too much hesitation about contacting
government,” Argo said. “There were too many unknowns.”
Across the country, colleges and universities have tried with
varying degrees of success to mediate landlord-tenant
relationships. Many provide rental listings, inform students of
their rights as renters and refer students to the proper
authorities to settle housing disputes. Few colleges provide legal
representation for students who have problems with off-campus
housing, although several give legal advice.
“A lot of people listen, but a lot of people don’t,” said
Esther Pratt, coordinator of the University of Illinois Student
Tenant Union, which spends more than $20,000 a year to advertise
its services on campus.
Since Rigby’s death, Georgetown University officials have
organized an annual safety day featuring housing authorities and
the Fire Department. Julie Battaile, a university spokeswoman, said
the university welcomed the city’s new approach.
“The biggest thing is that students didn’t know there was such
a thing as a housing inspection that they could get,” Battaile
said. “They want to know that kind of information.”
When Pratt, the American University senior, and his roommates
got no response to their complaints from the property manager, a
private company called the Student Housing Association, Pratt
called Rupert.
Within two days, an inspector checked the house, and a week
later, the landlord was cited for 17 violations. The city also
opened investigations of the owner of the house, Lewis D. Brown,
who did not have a license to rent the property, and the property
management company.
Brown, the Student Housing Association and its parent company,
Metropolitan Housing, did not respond to repeated calls for
comment.
Pratt said that a month after he contacted the city, the
property manager had completed several repairs, including the
windows and washing machine, and was working on others.
“I’m looking forward to settling this,” he said.
Some newspaper editors are wringing their hands over Garry
Trudeau’s decision to pen several Doonesbury strips for next week
depicting Barack Obama as the winner of the election.
But for the politically pugnacious cartoonist, banking on an
Obama win a week in advance had zero downside.
“I never considered NOT writing about the election, but to
avoid lameness, I had to predicate it on an outcome,” Trudeau
wrote in an e-mail to the St. Petersburg Times.
“If Obama wins, I’m in the flow and commenting on a genuine
phenomenon. If I’m wrong, there’ll be such a global uproar that a
goofy call in a comic strip isn’t going to be much noticed.”
But Trudeau may be overly modest. Already, the Chicago Tribune
has decided to take the Nov. 5 strip off its regular comics pages,
which will be printed before the election results are known .
Some newspapers worry that if Sen. John McCain wins, they’ll be
stuck with at least four strips that read like an ongoing “Dewey
Defeats Truman” headline touting a victory that didn’t happen and
ticking off some readers.
“If Obama is elected president in (Doonesbury’s) world,” said
Tim Bannon, editor of the Chicago Tribune’s daily features section,
“will he stay president for the next four years?”
Possibly, according to Trudeau, who said it would be a “great
idea” to keep Obama president in Doonesbury even if he loses.
At the St. Petersburg Times, features editor Mike Wilson said
the newspaper will run Trudeau’s strips as he wrote them.
“If he’s right, the people who like him still like him, and the
people who hate him still hate him,” Wilson wrote in an e-mail.
“If he’s wrong, everybody gets a ‘Dewey Defeats Truman’ keepsake,
and the people who hate him are happier than ever. It’s a no-lose
situation.”
Here are Trudeau’s responses to questions from the Times:
What inspired you to write this strip, knowing you might be
wrong?
Fivethirtyeight.com, which is probably the most respected of the
poll analysts, has the likelihood of a McCain victory at 3.7
percent. That was risk assessment I could live with.
What do you think of editors who are deciding not to run the
strip?
I think more of them. It means they’re reading their own comics.
What would it say about American voters if you are wrong?
Obama would graciously say that the voters have spoken. Someone
like Bill Maher would call them idiots. I’d split the difference
and say the idiots have spoken.
Eric Deggans can be reached at degganssptimes or (727)
893-8521.
Life has become a little easier for some customers of the
Reserve Fund, the money market fund company whose shareholders have
waited more than six weeks for their money. But it has become
harder for the fund company’s regulators.
After freezing withdrawals from most of its money funds in the
wake of a panicky run on Sept. 15, the Reserve Fund mailed out
checks on Friday to shareholders of its giant Primary Fund,
returning half their original stake and promising substantial
future payments as more portfolio assets are sold.
Before the fund can send out the last of those future checks,
however, its regulators at the Securities and Exchange Commission
have to choose sides in a backstage battle between two groups of
Primary Fund investors — one of which includes an investment arm of
the Chinese government.
That choice will determine how big those final checks will be
and how big a loss shareholders will ultimately incur, at least
until the courts work through the growing docket of lawsuits facing
the fund and its managers.
On one side of the SEC fight are the lawyers for shareholders
who submitted redemption orders after the fund “broke the buck”
on Sept. 16, reporting a per-share value below a dollar — 97 cents,
to be exact. That team is urging that all shareholders who
submitted redemption orders anytime during or after the week of
Sept. 15 share equally in the liquidation proceeds.
The other legal team represents investors who applied to
withdraw their money on Monday, Sept. 15, when the fund was still
posting a price of a dollar a share, but who did not actually get
paid before redemptions were suspended.
Among those “Monday shareholders” is the Stable Investment
Corp., a subsidiary of the state-sponsored China Investment Corp.,
which has more than $5 billion frozen in the fund.
The corporation “has communicated with the SEC through our
legal counsel, highlighting the fund’s promise of full repayment,”
it said in a recent statement. “We reiterated our points to the
SEC with regards to the full recovery of CIC’s investment.”
Lawyers for the opposing side say they are concerned about the
political pressure that China, one of the nation’s major creditors
and trading partners, is putting on the commission — although the
large institutional clients they represent are generally not shy
about “reiterating” their points to regulators either.
“Generally, we do not comment on whether or not we’ve been
contacted by outside parties,” said John Heine, a spokesman for
the SEC, on Friday. Nor would he indicate when the commission would
make its decision, although lawyers on both sides said a decision
could come as early as next week.
Some Reserve Fund customers who have been unable to tap
much-needed cash for more than a month are getting some of their
money back, even if it is 50 cents on the dollar.
Peggy Lucero, a fund investor in Bethesda, Md., said she was too
angry about the handling of the crisis, both by the fund management
and by government regulators, to take much pleasure in the news.
A check for half her life savings “is not exactly causing me to
jump jubilantly around the cold room in my house,” she said.
“When one’s checking account is frozen for weeks on end, one is a
bit paranoid about turning the heat up.”
But another investor, Michael Rosenbaum, an independent
television producer in Manhattan, said he took “some solace” from
the distribution, after weeks of uncertainty. “It certainly seems
like a great step forward,” he said.
The checks mailed on Friday totaled $26 billion. An adviser to
the fund said Friday that it expected to make “substantial
additional distributions” when its remaining $25 billion in assets
were liquidated.
But 17 other Reserve money funds remain frozen, including its
large US Government fund, and the company has not indicated when
those shareholders might expect their money.
WEST PALM BEACH The favorite son returned to the troubled home
on Friday.
Albert Arnold Gore Jr. came back to Palm Beach County and the
bitter memory of butterfly ballots and hanging chads that helped
doom his presidential bid in 2000.
“Sooooo, where were we? It’s been a long eight years,” Gore
told a crowd at a convention center about a mile from the former
elections office where the confusing ballot was conceived.
His wife, Tipper, at his side and a Barack Obama banner
stretched across the stage, Gore engaged in a subtle game of
what-if: What if he had won and not George W. Bush?
“The economy started going downhill when the policies were
changed and it started on Jan. 20, 2001. I know, I was the first
one laid off,” he said. “But seriously, right now we are in the
final days of this historic election. Don’t let anyone take your
vote away from you or talk you into throwing it away.
“Take it from me, elections matter. Every vote matters.”
The former vice president was making his first appearance for
Obama in Florida, with stops in West Palm Beach and Pompano Beach.
Before modest but enthusiastic crowds, he issued an urgent plea for
voters to head to the polls before Tuesday. The crowd paid homage
in return.
“You’re our president,” a man shouted at Broward College in
Pompano Beach. Gore smiled, but kept on making the case for the new
Democratic star.
Gore praised Republican Gov. Charlie Crist’s “leadership and
statesmanship” for issuing an executive order adding four more
hours a day to early voting. He denounced Sen. John McCain as a
Bush clone, telling an afternoon audience in Broward County that
McCain has overwhelmingly supported the president’s policies.
But as much as Gore dutifully played the role of surrogate, the
stain of 2000 permeated the day.
“We know it was the curse of the butterfly ballot that brought
the chaos to the world. It started here and it must end here,”
West Palm Beach Mayor Louis Frankel said before Gore took the
stage.
The ballot was confusing to many Palm Beach County voters
because it listed the names of presidential candidates on opposing
pages, apparently leading many in the heavily Democratic county to
mistakenly select right-wing, third-party candidate Pat Buchanan
instead of Gore.
It was one of a string of mishaps that transfixed the country
indeed, the world as a recount ensued, only to be stopped by the
