Deep in the heart of Texas

The Houston Chronicle has the latest on the Heflin-Vo dispute, and it does not look pretty for our ousted Republican friend. Talmadge Heflin, you may remember, was the Texas House candidate who lost to Democratic contender Hubert Vo by 33 votes. Unpleased with his loss, Heflin asked the Texas State House to overturn the election results and give him his old seat back.

I'll let the Chronicle take it from there:

The most important man standing between him and what he wants is acting like a good Republican judge.

In lawsuits, Republican judges tend to favor the defense, and Heflin is very much the plaintiff in this case.

Rep. Will Hartnett has the credentials. He's a North Dallas Republican, a lawyer, the son of and nephew of lawyers, the brother of four lawyers and chairman of the House Judicial Affairs Committee. He was vice chairman for eight years.

(snip)

Hartnett, a mild-mannered, youthful politician who has not sought controversy in his 14 years in the House, showed considerable patience Thursday as he listened to lawyers for Heflin and Vo. He listened intently and kept a heroic smile on his face for most of the proceedings.

He signaled even before the hearing began that he intended to conduct it as more of a judicial than a political affair. He told several people he intended to chastise Heflin attorney Andy Taylor for repeated public allegations of voter fraud despite evidence that all or nearly all the illegal votes were due to honest errors.

I wanted to point out that last part to all those bloggers prone to shreiking fraud in Washington, Wisconsin, and anywhere else for that matter. There is a big difference between voter fraud and voter error. In cases where, say, a felon votes, it is possible that person does not realize he's not allowed to. Perhaps someone moves and votes at the wrong place. That's not fraud, but again, human error.

It's sad to say, but no election is perfect. And I'm ready to predict that no election ever will be. Fortunately, most elections are settled by a margin wide enough to overcome that error. In instances such as Florida in 2000 and Washington and Texas this year, we see the dirty cogs of our otherwise well functioning machine. And sadly, the partisan atmosphere leads many to cry foul rather than realizing there is a margin of human error on both sides.

Now let me get off my soapbox before the weight of my platitudes crushes it.

Anyway, it's not looking good for Heflin, and it's funny to see how smoothly this attempt to contest the election has gone despite the lack of bloggers pushing it into the mainstream. Perhaps those who call this the "new media" aren't as important as they thought.