With Kerry trailing Bush in the all-important state of Florida (the CNN/USA Today/Gallup Poll last week had Bush up 49% to 46%) former President Jimmy Carter launched a pre-emptive attack on the credibility of the state's election returns.
In an op-ed published in the Washington Post, Carter charged that "some basic international requirements for a fair election are missing in Florida," that Secretary of State Glenda Hood has "the same strong bias" as fellow Republican and predecessor Katherine Harris, and that a "repetition of the problems of 2000 now seems likely." Republican Gov. Jeb Bush fired back: "There's this constant haranguing of nonsense, including by President Carter, which is a huge surprise to me because I have admired his compassionate actions in his post-presidency. Without talking to a single person, without getting any information, he joins up with the MoveOn.org crowd, and I cannot tell you how disappointed I am."
