concession stand

a long time ago i thought it would be really funny to run for a political office, lose, and then not concede, ever.

i wanted to found a party called the poor sportsmanship party to do this with.

you know, as a joke.

the whole idea seemed a lot less funny after bush v. gore and i kind of gave up on it.

yesterday in the vermont gubernatorial election, the incumbent peter shumlin was handed an incredibly slim margin of "victory" over the republican challenger, scott milne.

i'm happy about that. i don't like governor shumlin and i believe he deserved a slapping. i wouldn't have wanted a republican governor, though, so a race that close is a very fine way for the people to say "we don't like you, governor shumlin, but you'll do until there is a better alternative."

scott milne spent most of the campaign complaining that things were unfairly stacked against him.

last night the vote was too close to count for most of the evening. milne declined to concede until the votes were counted.

fair enough.

then he was 2500 votes behind with only two precincts yet to report. mathematically it wouldn't have been possible for those two precincts to deliver 2500 votes even if each person in the precincts (nevermind registered voters, let alone people who actually showed up to vote) had voted for him.

but he felt he owed it to his supporters and the people of vermont not to concede until every last vote was counted.

they've been counted now.

milne still has not conceded.

now, see, in the state of vermont, if no candidate receives 50% + 1 of the votes, the election is decided by the legislature.

so even if  milne who " wants to be sure he understands all the facts and the process" asks for a recount, and even if somehow he makes up those 2500 votes on a recount, neither of those candidates will have received that magic 50% + 1.

the race will still be decided by the legislature.

the heavily democratic legislature.

granted, the legislature is not obliged to vote for the candidate who got the most votes, but in the 22 times since the state of vermont has existed that the legislature has been called upon to decide a race, they usually have.

and really, if you're the heavily democratic state legislature, why on earth would you throw the election to the second place republican candidate?

so really, scott?

it's time to pull up your big boy pants.