"We will fight for every vote."

The operative word here is "fight." John Edwards didn't say "count," he said, "fight."

I may be reading too much into this, but I suspect this means that Kerry intends not to wait for the provisional votes in Ohio to be counted, but to litigate and fight this election until the last man. I may be wrong.

But if that is the case, it will be scandalous. If John Kerry fights this election to the last man he will, like Al Gore, prove himself unfit for the office after the fact of the election.

Again, I hope this isn't the case--I think too highly of Kerry to believe he'd really go through with a scorched-earth ballot-by-ballot fight.

Update, 2:45 a.m.: Bill Kristol disagrees with me and thinks the operative Edwards words are "wait one more night." A totally plausible, and charitable, interpretation.

On Fox the very smart panel seems to be saying that Democrats aren't assaulting the legitimacy of the process the way they were during Election Day 2000. But the panel is cooped up in a studio and certainly not wasting their time surfing the web! MichaelMoore.com has been publishing allegations of voter fraud all day, and has been planting the seeds of illegitimacy. Over at Daily Kos, many of the comments have been similarly themed. There is ample sentiment in the Democratic party that no Bush victory could be legitimate. I fear that John Kerry is about to give in to this mania.