COLUMBIANA CO. Speaker: Learn from Fla. election

Democrats say the presidential election was stolen, the GOP party official said.
By NORMAN LEIGH
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
SALEM -- The executive director of Ohio's Republican Party urged area supporters to maintain the fighting spirit the party kindled in contesting the close presidential race in Florida.
"We can take a lot of things from Florida and learn from them," Christopher Alan McNulty told about 100 people attending the Columbiana County Republican Party's Early Bird Dinner, an annual fund-raiser.
McNulty joined other Ohio GOP operatives who traveled to Florida to participate in recount efforts after George W. Bush's narrow win over Al Gore in November.
McNulty spent more than a month in the Sunshine State, including the epicenter of the historic, contested election, Broward and Dade counties.
He also was in the thick of the some of the fractious infighting among Republican and Democratic party loyalists.
"It wasn't a pleasant experience," McNulty said of his time in Florida.
But he credited the battle with sparking "a reawakening of the fighting spirit of the Republican Party."
"We get pushed around" by the Democrats too often, McNulty said, referring to at least some of them as thugs.
"It was a fight, but it was a good fight," McNulty said of party workers' efforts in organizing and training volunteers to scrutinize the recount efforts in spite of partisan opposition from Democratic election officials.
Accusation: He accused Democrats of targeting Florida as a place to challenge a close presidential vote because Florida election laws are easily manipulated.
"They had a plan" to make the recount come out their way, McNulty said of Democrats. But the efforts of Republican party loyalists helped foil that scheme.
McNulty cautioned the audience that the battle undertaken in Florida hasn't ended.
"We need to maintain that fighting spirit," he said.
Despite news reports this week that an analysis of the Florida vote still showed Bush winning, Democrats have taken up a mantra "that this election was stolen," McNulty said.
"That is a powerful message they are sending to their constituents," he added.
Republicans must combat it by staying focused and well-organized.
"We need to improve the way we take our message to the people. We have to lay down our small differences as Republicans," he said. "We can't forget those lessons because it will make us a better party in the end."