It was a nail-biter, wasn't it?
In fact, there was so much suspense involved that we have to wait a few more days to see who the winner is.
With all this is in mind, it is definite Florida will be the deciding state concerning the electoral votes in determining whether Bush or Gore will be our next President.
I thought it would be over by now, but it isn't, and frankly, I am tired of it. I'm tired of the speeches, all the hoopla and anything that deals with having to determine who the next Chief Executive Officer of the United States will be.
It's easy to see that if Nader had not run, Gore would probably be celebrating right now. But it was so close this thing could come down to a few hundred votes.
Have nothing to fear, I've got a solution -- let's use the Nielsen ratings to decide who our next president is.
It's hip. It's new age. It's real world. It's just about every show known to man in one. Best of all, it's simple.
We hook up both the Gore and Bush headquarters with web cameras, like Big Brother. Each will have his own channel, that will run 24/7. Of course, they will have to create their own format, bring in their own guests and create enough publicity to keep the nation tuned into them constantly.
And, of course, there are some mandates within the whole realm of this beautiful scheme. The competition will last 13 days (the same as the number of episodes in a television season). Each candidate MUST include their vice-presidential running mate (If they chose the guy, they might as well stick it out with them). Once inside the headquarters there is no coming out unless they relinquish their bid.
Over the 13-day period each candidate's performance will be monitored like the Nielsen ratings. The candidate with the highest percentage of programming watched for that day will receive privileges ranging from taking a bath to eating a home cooked meal provided by families of the candidates.
It's a great way for the public to see what the candidates are really like. We get to see them eat (maybe?), sleep, argue and try to entertain the American public as much as they possibly can. Even the greatest actor can only play the part for so long. Everyone has to vent at some point and time and tell how they really fell about the issues. And when they do, we'll be able to see every minute of it.
Of course, there should be no tie whatsoever -- there should be a conclusive winner -- provided the candidates and their VPs haven't killed one another.
You may think this sounds a little rough and harsh, maybe even crazy. However, this is nothing compared to four years of being in the public eye. Besides, if we had done it this way in the first place, the voter's wouldn't have had to spend between $130-180 million to find out what could have found out in a much shorter and easier way.
