Coincidences? You decide

 1. Is it a coincidence that the only state in which this election crisis happened is the
 one governed by Bush's brother?

 2. Is it a coincidence that the exit polls called the election correctly everywhere in the
 country -- except for Florida?

 3. Is it a coincidence that shortly after Florida was called for Gore, Bush made an
 urgent call to his brother the governor, and shortly thereafter the call for Gore was
 recalled by all networks?

 4. Is it a coincidence that soon thereafter the election was incorrectly called for Bush
 by his own cousin at Fox (creating the lasting myth that Bush won)?

 5. Is it a coincidence that all pre-election polls had Gore leading in Florida the night
 of Nov. 6 -- a lead that mysteriously evaporated by next day?

 6. Is it a coincidence that the votes lost by Gore in various "irregularities" in Florida
 could well account for just that missing lead?

 7. Is it a coincidence that pre-election polls (e.g. Zogby/Reuters) correctly called all
 states except for Florida?

 8. Is it a coincidence that conservative counties used high-accuracy Optical Scan
 systems while heavily Democratic counties used antiquated punch-cards?

 9. Is it a coincidence that the Miami-Dade Canvassing Board decided to abruptly
 stop the hand count after mobs of Republicans paid for by Bush and other GOP
 campaigns stormed their building?

 10. Is it a coincidence that prior to certifying the election, the Florida Secretary of
 State chose to toss out hand-counts in Democratic counties (Miami-Dade, Palm
 Beach, Nassau) but accepted 418 hand-counted votes for Bush from heavily
 Republican counties (Franklin, Hamilton, Taylor, Washington, Lafayette and
 Seminole)?

 11. Is it a coincidence that the aforementioned Secretary of State is a Bush family
 friend, delegate, and campaign activist?

 12. Is it a coincidence that with her deciding which votes count and which do not,
 Bush managed to hold onto just enough of a lead for her to certify the election?

 13. Is it a coincidence that the official willing to sign legislation to appoint a
 Republican slate of electors and overrule the will of the people is  Bush's brother?

 14. Is it a coincidence that prior to the election -- when Bush was leading in the polls
 -- the national "liberal" media was awash in stories of a possible popular-electoral
 vote split, but largely ignored this historic occurrence after Gore, not Bush, won the
 popular vote?

 15. And is it a coincidence that the anointed Republican standard-bearer, a
 candidate not fit to be dog catcher, just happens to be the son of a former President
 and head of the CIA?