Most Democratic members of Congress – including the House minority leader, Rep. Nancy Pelosi – said that yesterday’s challenge to the Electoral College vote wasn’t about trying to overturn the president’s re-election. Rather, the Democrats wanted to call the country’s attention to problems with voting machines and ballot access that they want corrected. “This is their only opportunity to have this debate while the country is listening,” Ms. Pelosi said of the challengers. Senator Boxer, who joined Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones of Ohio in forcing the debate, said she only wanted “to cast the light of truth on a flawed system.”

For a minority of representatives, however, President Bush’s re-election was the issue. Among these were three New York Democrats: Rep. Major Owens of Queens, Rep. Jose Serrano of the Bronx, and Rep. Anthony Weiner, the mayoral hopeful who represents parts of Brooklyn and Queens. The three representatives signed a letter organized by Rep. John Conyers of Michigan that was sent to Vice President Cheney and congressional leaders on Wednesday.

“We write because we believe there were numerous, serious election irregularities in the recent presidential election, which resulted in a significant disenfranchisement of voters,” the congressmen wrote. “In particular, the massive and unprecedented extent of irregularities in Ohio raise grave doubts regarding whether it can be said the electors selected on December 13, 2004, were chosen in a manner that conforms to Ohio law, let alone federal requirements and constitutional standards.”

Along with the letter, the representatives circulated a report, “Preserving Democracy: What Went Wrong in Ohio,” prepared by the House Judiciary Committee Democratic staff. “We find that there were massive and unprecedented voter irregularities and anomalies in Ohio. In many cases these irregularities were caused by intentional misconduct and illegal behavior, much of it involving Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell, the co-chair of the Bush-Cheney campaign in Ohio,” the report alleged, charging that “actions by Mr. Blackwell, the Republican Party and election officials disenfranchised hundreds of thousands of Ohio citizens, predominantly minority and Democratic voters.” The representatives’ letter calls for a congressional investigation into the results of the Ohio election.

Given the exaggerated nature of these charges, it’s not surprising that only the most liberal members of Congress – such as Reps. Dennis Kucinich, Jim McDermott, and Maxine Waters – were willing to sign the letter. Which is why it’s so surprising that Mr. Weiner, who has earned a reputation for centrist politics among Democrats, chose to count himself among them. As we noted on Monday, Mr. Weiner’s centrist credentials may help him attract the “Giuliani Democrats,” as the congressman himself termed them, who have been disappointed by Mayor Bloomberg. It now seems that Mr. Weiner is running to the left, perhaps to appeal to those partisan, Bush-hating activists who will vote in the Democratic primary.

This is a doomed strategy-not only because Mr. Weiner is unconvincing as a leftwing radical, but also because it misunderstands what it will take for the Democrats to reclaim the mayoralty from Mr. Bloomberg. “My district is a Giuliani Democrat district,” Mr. Weiner himself told us last year. “They’re more conservative on the spectrum, and they took a flyer on Bloomberg in part because of the Giuliani stamp of approval.” So Mr. Weiner might want to focus on how Mr. Bloomberg fell short of that promise – by raising both taxes and spending – rather than indulging in far-out conspiracy theories and cavorting with Dennis Kucinich.