With the full support of the corporate media, the Bush campaign has launched a drive to depict the American people as weary of Al Gore’s "impractical" hope of winning the White House. The orchestrated message is "Bush is the winner. Get used to it."

But saner voices point out that the issue is not Gore. The issue is the right of all voters to have their votes counted – that the battle in Florida is a fundamental struggle for democracy. The undisputed fact is that Gore won the popular vote nationally. If all the discarded ballots – including those in lost ballot boxes and those with dimpled chads – were counted, Gore might well win Florida as well. That is why the Bush campaign has sent an army of lawyers and a goon squad to Florida to block a legal recount.

On the other hand, the AFL-CIO, NAACP, People for the American Way, the National Organization for Women, religious leaders and progressive lawmakers are now mobilizing their members. They are urging people to turn out for meetings, rallies and picketlines. Demonstrations, letters to the editor, visits and messages to lawmakers are urgently needed. The demand is the same: "Count every vote!"