Caracas Carter.

We started a discussion below (Venezuela Jimmy) about Jimmy Carter endorsing the Venezuela election returns. The premise of his conclusion was reported as follows: "Our findings coincided with the partial returns announced today by the National Elections Council," Carter told a news conference.

But seemingly in contradiction to his statement, the International Herald Tribune is reporting: “The perception that a massive electronic fraud ... in the recall referendum on Sunday is rapidly gaining ground in Venezuela. All exit polls carried out on the day had given the opposition an advantage of between 12 percent and 19 percent. But preliminary results announced by the government-controlled National Electoral Council at 3:30 a.m. gave Chávez 58.2 percent of the vote, against 41.7 percent for the opposition.”

All exit polls? When will Carter withdraw his endorsement – or at least make it qualified?

UPDATE: Oh my. Must be wrong. The NYT Editorial has just told the people of Venezuela to stop whimpering and accept the results.