I cannot possibly put into words how disappointed, angry, and perplexed I am right now. The reported results coming out of Florida and Ohio simply make no sense to me. I cannot comprehend how we could have such a massive increase in turnout and not win the election. To paraphrase that little weasel Tucker Carlson: You don't wait in line for five hours to vote for more of the same. Who knows, maybe some people really would wait in line for more of the same. But my impression is that something just stinks here. As EarlG told me this morning: The result is either massively fraudulent or deeply disturbing.

Are we going to Ohio? As it became clear last night that this race was not over, I posted this Call To Arms. I talked to EarlG and Elad last night, and we all agreed that we have a moral responsibility to do whatever we can. If the Kerry campaign needs warm bodies to protest, stuff envelopes, make coffee, or generally raise hell, then we are going to go to Ohio and help do it. I hope lots of other Democrats join us. But before we go charging blindly into war, we need to figure out what the heck is going on. We are keeping our eyes on the TV and the Internet to find out what the Kerry campaign and folks in Ohio (and maybe Florida) have to say about the situation. If we think we can help in some way, then we're going to go.

What happened? I have no clue what happened. As I said above, I find the result to be extremely hard to believe. In my disappointment, I find myself drawn to a number of possible explanations, some of which raise legitimate questions that need to be answered, and others which may just be the result of wishful thinking. We've got an incredibly smart and motivated group of people here. We need to consider all of the possibilities. If any particular idea has potential, then we need to pursue it. I have already seen many very compelling theories put forth on this message board, and I'm sure we'll hear lots of other ideas coming from other bloggers. Hopefully some of them will pan out. But I would caution everyone to avoid jumping to any conclusions. As much as we don't want to believe it, it may turn out that--to put it bluntly--the other side got more votes.