People have recently been talking about how the GOP will have a civil war on its hands if Kerry wins. I believe this to be true, as you can already see a divide between faith-based Republicans and reality-based conservatives within the party.
But I have yet to see one writer address another part of this equation. What will happen to the GOP (and the dems) if Kerry wins, but the victory is unsuccessfully challenged by Rove, Bush, and other hard liners?
(more below fold)
Picture a close but clear Kerry victory - a 5-10 EV margin over Bush. Now, from reading DKos, we know that Republicans are planning to challenge swing state results no matter what. I happen to think that this will fail because a) the supreme court will not want to further tarnish its reputation and b) GOP voter suppression stories will surface, making the GOP look like very angry sore-losers.
So what happens to the GOP then? They will have lost the election, been exposed as vote-stomper-outers, and will have mounted a shameful challenge against a legitimate winner.
After all this, one can only hope that the media will start to expose the lies of the Bush administration (now that they don't have to cower in fear), and that more Richard Clarke-types will come forward with horror stories.
In sum, the Republican party will be looking very, very bad.
So what does this mean for the GOP? What does it mean for American democracy? What does it mean for the Dems?
Any thoughts?