Bush Camp Proceeds With Transition; Gore Campaign Challenges Florida Certification
AL GORE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's about the principle, but there are more than enough votes to change the outcome, and that's an important factor as well.</s>BERNARD SHAW, CNN ANCHOR: Al Gore prepares to explain to the nation why he's challenging Florida's certified election results. His lawyers already have begun making his case in court.</s>RICHARD B. CHENEY (R), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We feel it is our obligation to the American people to honor their votes by moving forward and assembling the administration that they've chosen in this election.</s>JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: A day after declaring victory, George W. Bush and Dick Cheney press ahead with the presidential transition.</s>SHAW: Is that process being blocked by the federal government as the battle continues to officially claim the keys to the White House?</s>ANNOUNCER: From Washington, this is INSIDE POLITICS, with Bernard Shaw and Judy Woodruff.</s>WOODRUFF: Thank you for joining us. We begin with Al Gore, fighting on two fronts today to keep his presidential prospects alive. In less than four hours, he will make a political appeal on national television designed to support his new legal challenge of Florida's election results certified last night as a victory for George W. Bush. CNN's Gary Tuchman is in Tallahassee, where Bush and Gore lawyers have been arguing anew in circuit court, and in just a moment, we hope to bring Gary to us live. We'll get to that in just a moment -- Bernie.</s>SHAW: Now, more on Gore's legal challenges and the political case he is making for fighting on. CNN's John King is covering the vice president here in Washington.</s>GORE: On the other side quite frequently...</s>JOHN KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The vice president's challenge now is to convince the country he's not a sore loser, his court challenge of Florida's result not a waste of time.</s>GORE: If every vote is counted, there are easily more than enough to change the outcome and -- and decide the election in our favor.</s>KING: Court papers filed by Democratic lawyers say the official 537-vote Bush margin in Florida should be thrown out, because more than 10,000 ballots in Miami-Dade County that registered no presidential vote in the machine count were never reviewed by hand, Nassau County ignored its recount results and sent the state totals more favorable to Governor Bush, and that the official statewide shortchanges Gore by ignoring 372 additional votes turned up during recounts in Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties. Republicans say the vice president wants to keep recounting the same ballots in hopes of getting a different result. The vice president says that's not the focus of his challenge.</s>GORE: What we're talking about involves many thousands of votes that have never been counted at all. And if we ignore the votes that have been cast, then where does that lead?</s>KING: Democrats are worried the official certification of Florida's results will convince even Gore supporters that fighting on is a lost cause. So this conference call with Democratic congressional leaders was act one in a public relations offensive designed to buy the vice president a little more time.</s>SEN. TOM DASCHLE (D-SD), MINORITY LEADER: We were just given a new tally this morning that if we counted all of the votes that have already been counted in some of the recounts, we'd actually be ahead by maybe nine votes. So we're encouraged by that.</s>KING: Former President Jimmy Carter was enlisted as well. In a statement he said in close races -- quote -- "Judicial appeals are routinely permitted to ensure a more fair and uniform interpretation of election results." The vice president will make a direct appeal to the American people in a nationally televised address tonight.</s>KING: Now, that speech, the stakes could not be higher. It will run just under five minutes. The vice president essentially asking the American people to hang with him another week or so as he presses his court challenge in Florida. The vice president will make this about fairness, saying he believes every vote has not been counted. His team privately acknowledging (a) this is a very big speech for the vice president, and (b) the clock is now working against him -- Bernie.</s>SHAW: John, is the vice president worried that there are signs of restlessness in the land?</s>KING: He certainly is, Bernie. He's being advised by his own pollsters now that even about 25 percent of those who voted for Vice President Gore say it's time to bring an end to all this. Despite the public show of support from Democrats today, top Gore advisers working the phones among congressional Democrats in a private conference call. We're told the tone was overwhelmingly positive, but the Gore campaign urging the Democrats to hang in there another week or so, saying they realize it they don't get good results out of the Florida courts, if they don't get a new count started that shows progress by the end of this week, it will be very difficult to sustain any public support for keeping the legal fight going.</s>SHAW: Thank you, John King. Now, we're turning to Candy Crowley, covering the Bush camp in Austin -- Candy.</s>CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Bernie, in word and in action, the message from the Bush campaign is this contest is over. George Bush was out and about leaving the governor's mansion today and heading over to the capitol, where he greeted supporters who have come to know that he will be over there at some point in the day and come to support him. There was a bit of state business for George Bush today, and that is that he signed the certification for the Texas election, which he won quite handily, needless to say. For now, Bush is also doing some transition talk with his chief of staff, the man he has appointed, Andy Card, but the transition was left up to Dick Cheney, who is in Washington trying to put together the supposed Bush administration. What's the problem with the Bush team at this point is the General Accounting Office says it will not give any funds or any office space to either party while this matter is still in court. But as Cheney made clear, the Bush campaign will plow ahead anyway.</s>CHENEY: This is regrettable, because we believe the government has an obligation to honor the certified results of the election. Despite the decision, we feel it is our obligation to the American people to honor their votes by moving forward and assembling the administration that they've chosen in this election.</s>CROWLEY: Now, as the Bush legal team fights the good fight down in Florida, it is the Bush PR team with cheney as the head that is doing its best to undermine what is now going on in the Florida courts, and saying to the public what's happening is very, very unusual.</s>CHENEY: Every vote in Florida has been counted. Every vote in Florida has been recounted. Some have been counted three times. Vice President Gore and Senator Lieberman are apparently still unwilling to accept the outcome. That is unfortunate in light of the penalty that may have to be paid at some future date if the next administration is not allowed to prepare to take the reigns of government. We find ourselves in a unique and totally unprecedented position. Never before in American history has a presidential candidate gone to court to try to change the outcome of an already certified presidential election.</s>CROWLEY: Cheney says because of the way this election has gone, the administration or the incoming administration has already lost 30 days, and that it is their duty to the people who elected them to continue on with transition. However, they will have to do it with private fund -- Bernie.</s>SHAW: Candy, I'm curious, even on background, are the Bush people in Austin saying how long they think the court battle is going to last?</s>CROWLEY: No, because they don't know. I mean, essentially they understand, having at least watched this for the past three weeks, that most anything can happen. They do obviously think the Supreme Court hearing is key. But mostly right now what they're looking at is how is the public going to go on this. They really believe that that Florida certification on Sunday was an important milestone. I will tell you that they were somewhat disappointed, because what they expected was that you would see at least some leading Democrats come out and begin to hint around that it was time for Al Gore to give it up. That has not happened. They expect, or rather they hope, that they will see some of this as the court proceedings continue.</s>SHAW: Candy Crowley in Austin -- Judy.</s>WOODRUFF: As we mentioned a moment ago, attorneys for Al Gore in Florida today making their legal challenge of Florida's newly certified election results. Our Gary Tuchman has been down there covering today's circuit -- state circuit court hearing. Gary, please bring us up to date.</s>GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Judy, the circuit court hearing lasted one hour, but the judicial wheels are now spinning. For the first time in 125 years, a legal contest -- contesting the results of a presidential election. This was mostly a scheduling hearing. Typically, in these types of hearings, in an election-related hearing, 10 days are given for people to respond to a complaint. But today, that schedule was shortened. The Gore campaign asked for the case to be expedited, and they asked Judge N. Sanders Sauls, we need to move this along, there's a deadline of December 12th for electors in Florida to be certified and sent to Washingtion. So here's what happened. The Gore team has -- the Gore team will present its complaint. The Bush team has four days to respond to the complaints instead of the 10 days that are usually given. The Gore team will present a witness and exhibit list either tomorrow or Wednesday. The Bush team then has two additional days to present its witness and exhibit list. So what we have learned from the scheduling hearing is that this particular trial, this particular hearing in this courthouse, the Leon County Circuit Courthouse in Tallahassee, will last at least four days and possibly longer. What the gore team is asking for, it wants this judge here to ask Miami-Dade County to fully hand count its votes. That county stopped counting its votes after counting 20 percent of its precinct, saying it did not have enough time. The Gore campaign believes if that hand count was completed, it would have received at least 600 votes by itself, enough to have won this election. The Gore campaign is also asking this judge for Palm Beach County's votes to be accepted. That county completed almost all its votes by hand count, it finished its full hand count two hours after the deadline, but that resulted in another 215 net votes for Al Gore. What the Gore campaign is simply telling this judge is, listen, we would have won the election if all these things are done. The Bush campaign is saying, this was all improper, it shouldn't have been done in the first place, and the Bush campaign is telling the judge to leave the status quo. So that's where we stand in the Leon County Circuit Courthouse. Ultimately, whichever side loses here will appeal it and it will likely get to the Florida Supreme Court. Judy, back to you.</s>WOODRUFF: All right, Gary Tuchman reporting from Tallahassee. Now let's talk with two representatives of the two presidential campaigns. We will interview Montana Governor and Bush ally Marc Racicot in just a moment. But first we're joined by Gore campaign adviser Ron Klain, who is also in Tallahassee. Ron Klain, we just heard Gary Tuchman describe a process that could go on for days even in an expedited form, days back and forth with presentations, responses, then we're looking at appeals. Isn't the clock ticking out? Do you really believe the American public is prepared to sit quietly by, patiently, while this process takes any number of days to work through?</s>RON KLAIN, GORE CAMPAIGN ADVISER: Well, I hope the public doesn't sit quietly by and I hope they are impatient. I hope they are impatient at the continued efforts by the Bush campaign to delay the counting of votes. You know, Judy, this could have been over days and day ago if the Bush campaign hadn't used every trick in the book, including a rent-a-mob in Miami, to stop the counting of votes. All we're asking for is the most fundamental idea of democracy: let's count the votes, and when those votes are counted we'll know which candidate won. And I hope the public joins us in being frustrated in the efforts by the Bush campaign to delay and delay and delay.</s>WOODRUFF: You say, Ron Klain, you hope that's the public's reaction, and yet, the Bush campaign is citing an ABC News poll showing 60 percent of the American people, including clearly some people who voted for Al Gore, who are saying let's get this thing over with, they're citing a "Chicago Tribune" editorial calling on Al Gore to concede.</s>KLAIN: Well, yes, and I can cite editorials in the "Washington Post" and "The New York Times" today calling on Governor Bush to drop his lawless objections to the counting of votes and let the votes be counted. Look, Judy, I think from our perspective it's pretty simple. We can't understand why George Bush doesn't want the votes to be counted. Most of these ballots in question have not been counted even once. A machine said there was no vote on them. But I believe that thousands of people who went to the polls probably voted for president, and people ought to look at those ballots to see who they voted for.</s>WOODRUFF: Well, how can there be such two different interpretations, Ron Klain? The Bush people are saying the votes -- to say that the votes were not counted is purely, in their words, disinformation, they say -- and you've heard this over and over again -- they say the votes were not only counted, in many instances, they were recounted and recounted. How such different perspectives here?</s>KLAIN: Well, Judy, I think it depends on what your goal is. Their goal is to secure a victory at any price. Our goal is to see that these ballots are counted. Look, if you believe their view, what you have to believe is that 15,000 people drive to the polls on Election Day, voted for other offices, but chose to have no preference for president. I find that unlikely. But let me say this, maybe they're right, and if they are right we'll know if a human being looks at the ballots and sees. The only thing we're asking for is someone, this judge or someone he appoints, to look at these ballots and see if their vote is on them. And the Bush campaign has nothing to fear unless they fear the outcome of a full count of the votes here in Florida.</s>WOODRUFF: All right, Ron Klain, we thank you very much for joining us from Tallahassee.</s>KLAIN: Thanks, Judy.</s>WOODRUFF: And now as promised -- we appreciate it. And now as promised, the governor of the state of Montana, Marc Racicot, he also joins us from Tallahassee, where he's been serving as one of the pointmen for George W. Bush. How do you respond to Ron Klain's last comment there, that the Bush campaign has nothing to fear other than simply counting the votes of people who went to the polls?</s>GOV. MARC RACICOT (R), MONTANA: Well, their votes have already been counted, Judy. They were counted once and then they were counted twice pursuant to the automatic recount. What they're suggesting is that you ought to look at the votes and try to divine whether or not someone intended to vote. It was previously cited that there were 15,000 people in the state of Florida that didn't vote in the presidential primary. Quite frankly, the number of people that didn't vote in the presidential election -- the number of people that didn't vote in Florida is below the averages of many, many other states. For instance, in my homestate, 1.66 percent of the people did not vote for a candidate for president. Here in the state of Florida, only .97 percent did not vote. So that notion that people vote in every single election is just simply not true. It's dispelled by evidence all across the country.</s>WOODRUFF: But even -- let me just play devil's advocate here, Governor. Even if these votes were counted once, what would be wrong with counting them again in an accurate and orderly fashion just to be certain that the outcome that was certified yesterday is correct?</s>RACICOT: There would be absolutely nothing wrong with that, and we have asserted all along and the evidence shows...</s>WOODRUFF: Well, isn't that all they are asking for?</s>RACICOT: No, that's not what they are asking for, Judy. What they are asking for is for people to hold up these ballots and try and discern with no physical evidence other than anything from a scratch mark to a pause mark, whether or not someone they have no knowledge of, have never known, intended to vote. Now, that's just simply a process that's mystical. There is no way to do that with reasonable certainty, which is what the law of Florida requires.</s>WOODRUFF: So, when Vice President Gore says, as he did today in that phone call with Senator Daschle and House Democratic leader Dick Gephardt, he says -- quote -- "If every vote were counted, there would be more than enough easily to change the outcome in Florida." What say you?</s>RACICOT: Well, regrettably and sadly, he is terribly, terribly mistaken. I sat in a courtroom over the course of three and a half days and watched this process take place, and these are ballots for which there is no punch-out mark on the ballot. So how can you allege that in fact these were votes? This is not a process where people were counting votes, they were casting votes based upon standards that were not the same from place to place, not even the same in the same place from moment to moment. So this is a process where the vote counting has to stop and making certain that the votes that have been cast actually count.</s>WOODRUFF: But the legal wheels do move on and the process will move forward in Tallahassee.</s>RACICOT: Regrettably, that is the case, and I think that Secretary Baker last night made a very, very simple and eloquent statement about the vice president bringing this to a close. And I think that you are seeing the opinion of the American people swell up and solidify and emphasizing that the notion Secretary Baker talked about last night is in fact what they believe ought to take place.</s>WOODRUFF: All right, the governor of the state of Montana, Marc Racicot, we thank you once again for joining us.</s>RACICOT: Thank you.</s>WOODRUFF: We appreciate it -- Bernie.</s>SHAW: And still ahead here on INSIDE POLITICS...</s>WILLIAM J. CLINTON, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Let's just watch this happen, it will be over soon and we'll be ready for the transition.</s>WOODRUFF: President Clinton will provide transition help for the next White House occupant, but not until a winner is declared. We're going to look at the legal and political issues of the transfer of power.