Sorry--took a while to remember where I read this stuff:

It has been traditional for the "condo commandos" to haul the elderly out en masse on election nights to the nearest polling place, slap a "palm card" into their hands, and shove them in the direction of the nearest voting booth.

...The easily distracted retirees are usually better organized by the notorious Democratic condo-commandos such as Amadeo “Trinchi” Trinchitella, who told me Bush would be lucky to get 10 percent of the elderly vote. Trinchi wouldn’t trust his own condo-dwellers to vote on their own, so he’d bus them to the polls and hand them “palm cards” as they exited, the better to recall which democrats to vote for. Palm card in one hand, that punch thing in the other.

From the Washington Post:

At Century Village in Deerfield Beach, the sign on Amadeo Trinchitella's office door says, "Recreation Committee Chairman Trinchi." But the 80-year-old ex-restaurateur from the Bronx runs far more than the swimming pools and mah-jongg tables. Trinchi is the boss of Century Village, and he delivers.



Trinchi, a gravel-voiced, balding man, uses a walker now, but after 18 years at Century Village, he wields nearly absolute political power. He pulls out computer printouts to prove his point: Century Village votes monolithically – 96 percent for one Democrat, 97 for another.

"Fifteen thousand people in this development, with all the amenities, card games, 14 heated pools, classes," Trinchi explained. "They come down here, they have no work, so they withdraw. They don't have to pay attention to politics, because Trinchi and a few other people do it for them, so they can withdraw and enjoy life."



Pretty much the Democratic wet dream...everyone stay home and watch wrestling. We'll do the thinking for you.

Incidentally, a typo on one of these "palm cards" may have cost Gore many votes.