We put up a hell of fight, but in the end, people were simply unwilling to change the course of the nation at this time. Consider the fact that Republicans held the House and picked up seats in the Senate.
This is the first presidential election since 9/11 and the Rethugs were able to convince people that he was doing the right things to keep us safe. We all know this isn't true. We know that he didn't fund first responders, we know that Iraq has increased terrorism, we know that he hasn't made any improvments to homeland securty, we know that he is putting our civil liberties on the line, we know, we know, we know. But we weren't able to convince enough people.
I'm unhappy about it too, but unless the numbers for Ohio take a serious turn toward Kerry, a protracted court battle will harm us and won't change a thing. In the end, Bush is going to win Ohio.
Did Diebold rig the election? Maybe, but I doubt we'll ever know for sure. I'm not sure where we go from here, but I do know that we did what we could. Is this the end of the Democratic Party? Maybe. America has seen some dark times in the past, and with a bit of luck, we'll see this through and come out better on the other end. The future is very uncertain. Republicans are already talking about pushing all of their wedge issues through Congress - drilling in ANWR, appointing conservative justices, tort reform, etc, etc, etc. All we can do is try to stop them from succeeding. Republicans won a major victory this election - all over America.
The Democratic Party has been in a free fall for some time, and despite our best efforts, we have fallen even further. We'll have to find out why. If it's because we're out of touch with social conservatives, then I can't see any way to reconcile it and remain true to our values. Therefore, all we can do is ride out the storm and hope it doesn't destroy everything we've ever held dear. Only time will tell. We'll just have to do what we can.