Can we all take a deep breath now?

Fraud! Theft! Outrage!

Hatmakers everywhere uncover shocking tin foil shortage!

And where's Kerry, anyway?!?

Well, John Kerry, or his legal team, anyway, is right where we'd expect - in Ohio making sure that they count every damn vote.

Lawyers with John Kerry's presidential campaign are gathering information from Ohio election boards about uncounted ballots and other unresolved issues from last week's election.

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The Kerry campaign has compiled a list of more than 30 questions for local election officials, asking about the number of absentee and provisional ballots, any reports of equipment malfunctions on election night, and any ballots that still listed third-party challenger Ralph Nader as a candidate. (Nader was removed from the ballot by Secretary of State Ken Blackwell.)

Now it's true - the Kerry team doesn't expect to find enough votes to overturn the result of the election. They do expect every eligible vote to be counted by the time the election is certified.

The election system in this country is broken. We need a universal, verifiable, accessible way to conduct national elections. That one doesn't exist is not John Kerry's fault, and John Kerry hasn't abandoned his voters.

Is there anyone out there that imagines they're more disappointed with the outcome of the election than Kerry himself? Is there anyone who thinks that Kerry wouldn't turn over heaven and earth if he thought there were enough votes buried out there to change the outcome of the election?

I'm disappointed, too. Angry, even.

But enough with the self-destructive attacks on our own ticket and our own party.

Enough.