In response to Keith Twombley’s letter Dec. 5, I would like to thank Keith for reminding me what started the Florida debacle. Keith ended his letter by stating, “Notice how the vote complaint is so un-noteworthy that complainers such as Barten have to keep changing the subject?”

Well, I would like to remind Keith that the recount coup started with the now-forgotten butterfly ballot. Remember the Gore campaign hiring the telemarketing firm to start pounding to the drumbeat of a confusing butterfly ballot? The butterfly ballot is to the recount process what Danzig is to World War II: the forgotten beginning.

If Gore supporters wish to continue their complaints, they should begin to look at their leaders. With all the political winds at their back, Gore and Lieberman failed to win. The nomination of Gore carried not a heavy burden but the momentum of the economy, no war, the incumbency and the vice presidency to a popular president. If you wish to complain about the stealing of an election by the Republican rioters in Miami-Dade, then you are missing the larger picture of a failed candidacy.

How could the will of the people be subverted? The easy answer is Gore and Lieberman could only muster support from 26 percent of eligible voters. The failures of the Gore campaign is to a Bush presidency what “A” is to the alphabet: the obvious beginning.

Gary Barten

Alumnus

Nekoosa, Wisc.