Kerry sends 10,000 lawyers to fight for battleground states

The Kerry campaign is preparing to deploy at least 10,000 lawyers across election battleground states on 2 November to defend their candidate's right to take the White House in the event that the outcome of any count is called into question.

The Kerry campaign is preparing to deploy at least 10,000 lawyers across election battleground states on 2 November to defend their candidate's right to take the White House in the event that the outcome of any count is called into question.

The aggressive strategy, born out of a determination to avoid mistakes made by Al Gore in 2000, has enraged Republicans, who say that the Democrats risk sabotaging the election day process before it even begins. It is also kindling fears that the day may descend into a legal maelstrom even more intense than that seen four years ago.

Both sides have already fired off an array of lawsuits in a number of states, challenging everything from provisional voting ballots to the reliability of new electronic voting machines.

"It's disastrous for fundamental faith in the system itself," said Doug Lewis, director of the non-profit Election Centre. "There has been such a concerted effort to beat up on the system itself that people need to step back and understand that if you destroy the very process by which your candidate gets elected, then what have you gained?"

Responding to the Democrat legal manoeuvres, Marc Racicot, the chairman of the Bush campaign, said John Kerry would "say virtually anything to get elected ... including bringing chaos to this election, in order to ultimately bring about an opportunity for them to be successful".

A Kerry spokeswoman, Stephanie Cutter, defended the legal blade-sharpening. "The first thing we will do is make sure everybody has an opportunity to vote and every vote is counted," she said. "We will be ready to hit the ground running and begin a fresh start in this country, given that so many critical issues are before us."

Six legal "Swat teams" of lawyers and spin-doctors will be ready, with jets waiting and fuelled up, to descend upon any battleground state on the evening of 2 November. Every battleground state will have a team within one hour's flying time of its border.

Democrats have not forgotten how Mr Gore hastily conceded defeat in a telephone call to George Bush four years ago, only to retract hours later when the extent of the counting chaos in Florida became obvious. The impression was left that Mr Gore was always trying to catch up. By contrast, Mr Bush held steady during the 36-day Florida recount debacle, always insisting that he would be the country's next president and allowing television cameras to film him gathering his transition team and preparing to take power.

Aides to Mr Kerry have said he will be ready to announce his national security team on 3 November, even if the election is being contested. The senator has so far kept his likely choices to himself, although the former diplomat Richard Holbrooke and the Delaware senator Joe Biden are mentioned as likely cabinet members.

The flurry of lawsuits already filed is giving courts and election officials migraines in more than a dozen states, including Florida, Ohio, Michigan and Missouri, where the two candidates are in a close battle. Most have been fired off by the Democrat side, although the Republicans have hardly stayed on the sidelines.

Democrats have tried to ban states from using electronic voting machines that do not leave a paper trail by which votes could be traced in the event of a recount, and to have restrictions eased on provisional ballots being issued to people whose names have been left off voting rolls.