Fla target of "most serious election challenge in 20 years"

The 2006 mid-term elections wrapped over five months ago, but to paraphrase Monty Python, the saga of Florida's 13th Congressional District ain't dead yet.

At issue is last fall's contest between Vern Buchanan (R) and Christine Jennings (D), a race Buchanan won by 369 votes -- while touch-screen voting machine malfunctions swallowed over 18,000 votes in Sarasota County alone, which Jennings solidly won.

Tomorrow, in an extraordinary move, a special U.S. House task force will review the race. As the Sarasota Herald-Tribune notes, it's "the first time in a decade that such a panel has been formed. It is considered by some to be the most serious legislative election challenge in at least 20 years."

Despite the historic nature of Congress' move, nobody predicts the election will be overturned:

"There's zero chance of that happening at this point," said Larry Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia. "Vern Buchanan is not going to be ousted."

The Herald-Tribune also notes that "in almost every one of the 105 election disputes filed since the 1930s, the House has dismissed the cases based."

But even with the odds in their favor -- and even though Democrats appointed the non-confrontational Rep. Henry Gonzalez (D-TX) to head the task force -- Republicans aren't happy. The Herald-Tribune reports that all Republican reps have been given talking points by GOP leadership to boycott the review and condemn it as a Democratic ploy to bring "partisan political pressure" to bear on the issue.

Labels: 2006 Elections, Florida, Southern Politics