Carson protesters add voices against recounts

Horns honked as passersby shouted cheers and even a few jeers at a small group of protesters who assembled Saturday afternoon outside the Capitol in Carson City.

Gardnerville resident Kim Graham who proudly waved his American flag called Vice President Al Gore's demands for recounts of the Nov. 7 election in Florida "a bloodless coup."

"We want to stand up and be counted. We just can't sit back and let it happen."

Graham, who this year voted for George W. Bush was voting for only his fourth president.

Graham said he didn't vote until he was 28 years old.

"My thinking's changed a lot since then," he said. "I thought my vote wasn't important. This election's definitely changed my mind on that."

Carrying signs that read "Certify Bush, Sore loser Gore go home" and "Give it up Gore, this is America," about 20 protesters lined the block along Carson Street in front of the Capitol gladly waving and smiling to motorists who tooted in support of the protest that was conducted in conjunction with others across the U.S.

Linda Lichtenberg and her husband, Jim, are in town from Sacramento visiting her father Rod Davis.

"We heard on a Sacramento radio station they were going to have this rally in Sacramento," Linda Lichtenberg said. "They are expecting 100,000. We thought we'd do our part here. I don't think it matters who is going to be president. It just needs to be fair. It's gone beyond fair. I'm a registered Democrat, but I try to vote for the best person. I think Bush is it this time. I'm going to be a Republican."

Gean and Gordon Robinson of Carson City also joined the protest. They, like most others along the street, did not come as part of an organized group or club, but because they were of a single mind -GO Bush!

"This is a travesty," said Gean Robinson. "We had to stand up and say this is wrong. This is not what America's all about. I've talked to a ton of people who complain, complain and complain, but they won't get up every four years to go vote. There are people who have died for this right, and people in other parts of the world willing to die for this chance. In America we just take it for granted."

Gean and her husband who arrived right at 1 p.m. for the protest said the response by those driving by was great.

"Our numbers may be small, but the response is awesome," she said. "There have only been one or two people who've told us to go get jobs. We have jobs, that's why we're out here on Saturday."