Since Bush v. Gore was decided in 2000, recounts have received far more attention; it’s almost like they’ve become a routine part of a campaign.  Each year, candidates, state parties, and election lawyers across the country prepare for these post-election challenges that may never come.

In 2008, we saw the impact that a recount can have.  In Minnesota Senator Norm Coleman won on election night.  On election night Coleman led comedian Al Franken by over 700 votes.  A canvass ensued, and Franken chipped away at Coleman’s lead, leaving Coleman ahead only 215 votes.  With a margin that narrow a recount ensured.  Over the course of the recount Franken managed to find enough votes to come out ahead by 225.  (Some news stories even reveal that the election may have been decided by the votes of convicted felons who were not eligible to participate in the election.)

This delivered Al Franken to the United States Senate, and delivered President Obama and Harry Reid a critical vote for their liberal agenda.

The Democrats learned a lot from this.  So much so, that this election cycle they want to be even better prepared.

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Editors Note: This post is re-printed with permission from The Nation magazine, where it appears as the February 4, 2010 cover story. You can see a video interview with Professor Lessig about the piece here, or take action on issues raised in the piece by visiting FixCongressFirst.org.

We should remember what it felt like one year ago, as the ability to recall it emotionally will pass and it is an emotional memory as much as anything else. It was a moment rare in a democracy’s history. The feeling was palpable–to supporters and opponents alike–that something important had happened. America had elected, the young candidate promised, a transformational president. And wrapped in a campaign that had produced the biggest influx of new voters and small-dollar contributions in a generation, the claim seemed credible, almost intoxicating, and just in time.

Yet a year into the presidency of Barack Obama, it is already clear that this administration is an opportunity missed. Not because it is too conservative. Not because it is too liberal. But because it is too conventional. Obama has given up the rhetoric of his early campaign–a campaign that promised to “challenge the broken system in Washington” and to “fundamentally change the way Washington works.” Indeed, “fundamental change” is no longer even a hint.

Instead, we are now seeing the consequences of a decision made at the most vulnerable point of Obama’s campaign–just when it seemed that he might really have beaten the party’s presumed nominee. For at that moment, Obama handed the architecture of his new administration over to a team that thought what America needed most was another Bill Clinton. A team chosen by the brother of one of DC’s most powerful lobbyists, and a White House headed by the quintessential DC politician. A team that could envision nothing more than the ordinary politics of Washington–the kind of politics Obama had called “small.” A team whose imagination–politically–is tiny.

These tiny minds–brilliant though they may be in the conventional game of DC–have given up what distinguished Obama’s extraordinary campaign. Not the promise of healthcare reform or global warming legislation–Hillary Clinton had embraced both of those ideas, and every other substantive proposal that Obama advanced. Instead, the passion that Obama inspired grew from the recognition that something fundamental had gone wrong in the way our government functions, and his commitment to reform it.

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