We are a Republic and not a Democracy. The electoral college is the vehicle through which the president is elected.
As far as a crooked set up you would have to acknowledge that it was pretty crooked of Gore to want to only recount the democratic votes. Had Gore insisted to begin with to recount the entire state it would have been ok but then again he didn’t because it was not to his advantage.
Ironically Clinton is trying to circumvent the protocols the democrats set up to elect its nominee by using the same tactics and rhetoric that Gore used against Bush which was to claim that the popular vote should matter and not the delegate vote.
