Florida often is the butt of election jokes, and Indian River County unknowingly played a contributing role Tuesday when the Supervisor of Elections reported 5,189 more votes than were actually cast.

It doesn't exactly instill confidence in the system.

Not with the Nov. 4 presidential election looming.

Lest we forget Florida's role in the 2000 race for the White House. We were "The Decider" in the Electoral College — George W. Bush defeated Al Gore by 537 votes.

Tell me Tuesday's Texas-sized blunder isn't going to put us on the radar of '08 election watchdogs, be they partisan groups or the national media.

As we learned Thursday, votes in 40 of the 54 precincts were counted twice.

Fortunately for Kay Clem, who is bidding for a fourth term as supervisor of elections, all of Tuesday's winners stayed the same.

It was pure luck.

Barack Obama made it across the tightrope of the Democratic National Convention, gaining solid endorsements from Bill and Hillary Clinton and giving a rousing speech before some 80,000 supporters at Invesco Field in Denver. But now comes the time when the Republicans win elections.

Over the past four decades, Republicans have dominated the outcomes of presidential races by mixing negative campaigning in public with illicit dirty tricks behind the scenes, as I've recounted in my last two books, Secrecy & Privilege and Neck Deep.