Act 4: Campaign '04
(Continued)

Using Bruce Springsteen's "No Surrender" as his campaign theme song, John Kerry fired up the Democrats with a vow to make sure every vote was counted, and all voter fraud would be investigated. Bill Clinton, recuperating from quadruple bypass surgery, even joined him in the final days of the campaign, in an effort to get out the vote...including a stop in Albuquerque, despite the fact that the high altitude was a challenge to anyone, particularly someone recuperating from such a surgical procedure.

Their efforts paid off: Voters turned out in unprecedented numbers, waiting for five or six hours or more, just to cast their votes. Volunteers nationwide stationed themselves at the polls to report any hint of voter fraud...and sure enough, reports of suspicious problems with the electronic "black box" voting machines came out of Ohio and Florida--two states Bush needed to win. Diebold, the voting machine company, had promised to "deliver Ohio" to Bush...'nuff said?

So there was no winner declared that night, for the provisional ballots needed to be counted as well. To the shock and dismay of Democratic voters, though, John Kerry gave a concession speech the very next day...despite John Edwards' plea to wait until every legal avenue had been explored, to ensure that every vote had been counted. Kerry's stated reason? That there weren't enough provisional ballots to provide him with a win, anyway.

To hell with the fact that thousands of votes could very likely have been devoured by rigged machines. To hell with the fact that these votes might have made a difference to local candidates and local issues. All that mattered to John Kerry was whether HE was the winner.

Thus Kerry -- despite his "No Surrender" vow -- continued his tradition of caving in to the slightest opposition. According to Arizona governor Janet Napolitano, he could have won Arizona's 10 electoral votes with more effort and more TV ads, but he gave up on the state too quickly. When the Swift Boat Vets started their smear campaign, Kerry waited far too long to fight back, giving people the impression that he wasn't a fighter. He proved that impression horribly correct, when he caved in and conceded to Bush, before the votes were all counted and the charges of fraud investigated.

Many bitter voters called into radio programs on Air America, in tears -- not because of the Bush win, but the Kerry betrayal. Many other voters have vowed they'll never vote again, after having spent so much time and effort to wait for hours at the polls, only to have their votes ignored.

This part of my musical is therefore dedicated to this betrayal...with a prayer that some future Democratic candidate will be able to heal the wounds and restore the people's faith in the voting process and their candidates....