If Abbie Hoffman were still alive, he would be at his keyboard right now writing, "Steal This Vote." Fortunately, there are still a few competent researchers available today who will be able to chronicle the stealing of the 2000 presidential election by the Republicans.

From the beginning, those of us paying attention saw a Republican outfit "ChoicePoint" incorrectly disfranchise thousands of Florida voters. At the end, Antonin Scalia, the Supreme Court Justice who let it be known that if Democrats won the presidency - he'd quit the court, stopped the vote count so there was no time left to tabulate the uncounted votes. These votes were never counted and anyone familiar with a hole puncher or a card swiper surely can understand why.

One purpose of a political campaign is to give the voters an opportunity to see how a candidate acts and reacts to various situations. This election we had a further chance to see the Republicans' methodology of ignoring the facts and bullying their way to gain more and more power. How else can they still claim there is no global warming crisis, no danger from nuclear power plants and weapon development, no dramatic increase to human suffering due to NAFTA and WTO or their support of HMOs? They just demand we don't look as they do their dirty deeds.

As a Green, I had little hope for much positive change with Al Gore. Hopefully, with the stealing of this election, those who truly oppose the Republican agenda will be more willing to rally around genuine people concerned about reversing environmental degradation, decreasing military spending, expanding educational opportunities, ending sweat shops, creating a single payer health plan, and protecting voting rights. This past election not only did we have under-counted votes, but an under-examined candidate, Ralph Nader.

Russell Todd