Representative Barbara Cubin

Will the Wyoming harridan continue to serve in Congress? That outcome seems likely, although the race remains open, pending a recount. Take note of this paragraph from the Washington Post:

Rep. Barbara Cubin (R-Wyo.), who threatened to slap her wheelchair-bound Libertarian opponent after a debate late last month, is ahead of Democrat Gary Trauner by fewer than a thousand votes as canvassing continued. The Libertarian, Thomas Rankin, has garnered approximately 7,500 votes.

Did the Libertarian drain votes from Cubin or Trauner? One can argue that Libertarians usually do more harm to Republicans than to Democrats. But in this case, I think Cubin is the one who seeped most at the ballot box.

Which means she threatened to slap the guy who won the race for her.

The larger issue, of course, is this: Can these close races be recounted in an age of unverified electronic voting? The answer is no; Cubin may well end up in a seat she does not deserve. Brad Friedman's new piece in Computer World on the continuing dangers of electronic voting is a must-read. Next time you hear a numbskull spew nonsense about how the 2006 vote proved the "conspiracy theorists" wrong, force him to read what Brad has to say.