The Boston Phoenix out yesterday carries a dispatch by Seth Gitell that includes the following anecdote about the 2000 Democratic primary in New Hampshire.

“Gore operatives had access to exit polls showing the vice president being defeated by Bradley. They also learned that while Democratic voters were voting in large numbers for Gore, independents, many of them upscale suburban voters, were voting for Bradley’s sophisticated brand of liberalism.”This they knew by early afternoon. Their solution? “The Gore team organized a caravan to clog highway I-93 with traffic so as to discourage potential Bradley voters from getting to the polls.” Mr. Gitell’s report notes that the traffic jam is “spoken of with awe by operatives who worked for the campaign.”

And the ploy worked. Mr. Gore won the primary, successfully fending off Bill Bradley’s attack from the left. Mr. Gitell told us that he heard at least three former Gore operatives make reference to the primary-day traffic jam — “and an intentional component of it.”

This story reminds us of a moment later in the 2000 campaign. On January 11, 2001, Governor Jeb Bush of Florida was brought before the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, chaired by Mary Frances Berry, to answer allegations that Florida’s vote was rigged to exclude minorities, in part by the alleged erection of police roadblocks meant to intimidate black voters.

Liberal black leaders accused the Bush campaign of a racist attempt to deny black voters access to polls. Kweisi Mfume of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People charged that “Black, Latino, and Hatian, and Jewish voters” had been disenfranchised by “a multitude of non-uniform election practices.” “Nowhere can it be said we practice liberty and justice for all. We need only to look at Florida,” said Mr. Mfume. The Reverend Jesse Jackson joined in the action, stating that “the rules were not public, and the roads were unclear” and calling the Florida vote “a systematic plan of voter suppression.” “The election ripped a scab off a festering sore,” griped Rep. Alcee Hastings of Florida.

The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights’ final report said that while “Florida Highway Patrol troopers conducted an unauthorized vehicle checkpoint within a few miles of a polling place in a predominately African American neighborhood,” the police “did not anticipate that the existence of the checkpoint would intimidate voters.” Hardly systematic. The same cannot be said of the Gore operatives’ efforts in New Hampshire. Anyway, it sure will be interesting to see how Rev. Jackson, the NAACP, and the rest of those concerned about “voter suppression” react to Mr. Gitell’s dispatch. It sure would be fun to see the Gore operatives trying to explain themselves to Mary Frances Berry.