Gore Gains Ground in Florida Recount
Wednesday, November 8, 2000
By John P. Martin
foxnews.com
WASHINGTON — With 27 of 67 Florida counties completing their recounts, Al Gore has cut into George W. Bush's lead by 198 votes late Wednesday, reducing the margin to just over 1,500 votes in the crucial state tally that will determine the nation's 43rd president.
Meanwhile in heavily Democratic Palm Beach County, where there have been accusations that the presidential portion of the ballot was confusing, officials announced 19,120 ballots in the presidential race were nullified because more than one candidate was picked. Only 3,783 voters made that mistake on the U.S Senate portion of the ballot.
"That total is a high number," said Palm Beach County Commissioner Carol Roberts, who is part of the canvassing board that is conducting the recount.
Pinellas County will have to redo its recount Thursday after a poll worker inadvertently failed to run an unknown number of ballots through its computer Wednesday, county Supervisor of Elections Deborah Clark said. The county retracted its original announcement that Gore had gained 404 votes and Bush dropped by 61 in its recount.
Both candidates dispatched aides to Florida to oversee the historic ballot recount that could conclude by 5 p.m. Thursday.
But Democrats were also threatening a lawsuit to halt the process because they said Republicans in Florida were ignoring claims of possible voter fraud and trying to rush the recount. State officials pledged to be fair.
"The state of Florida is in the national spotlight right now, in the world spotlight," Florida Attorney General Bob Butterworth said.
Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, brother of the Republican nominee, recused himself from the election canvass commission that will certify the winner and determine who gets the state's critical 25 electoral votes.
Like many others, the Florida governor struggled to find enough adjectives to describe the previous 24 hours, when the results swung back and forth and ended with his brother clinging to a lead of 1,700 votes out of 5.9 million ballots cast. The slim margin prompted the recount.
"All along we thought it would be close," said Jeb Bush, who admitted he called and apologized to his brother for failing to deliver the state. "Never in my wildest dreams did I ever imagine it would be this close."
In Austin, George W. Bush appeared briefly with running mate Dick Cheney outside the governor's mansion, and announced former Secretary of State James Baker would represent him in Florida. Both Bush and Cheney said they were confident their margin will stand and carry them to the White House.
Bush, the two-term governor who is hoping to beat the Democrats who ousted his father from the White House eight years ago, called the night "an exciting election" that displayed "the strength of our American democracy."
Gore told reporters in Nashville that it's "crucial that the American people have full faith" in the process, and promised that, regardless of the result, any transition will occur with dignity and "respect for the will of the people."
He enlisted former Secretary of State Warren Christopher to supervise the recount for him and running mate Joseph Lieberman. Christopher was careful to note, "We're not on the edge of a constitutional crisis" but cautioned that the process must be careful and fair.
Gore Voters For Buchanan, Not Nader
In Palm Beach County, some Democratic voters complained that a confusing ballot prompted them to vote inadvertently for Reform Party candidate Pat Buchanan. Buchanan received 3,000 votes in the county — an unusually high number compared to the rest of the state and district expectations. And questions swirled in other districts about voters who were turned away at the polls.
Also unclear is the impact of overseas absentee ballots, which under Florida law can be accepted for up to 10 days after Election Day.
Media Mess
Dangling in the balance is the outcome of an unusually close election that defied expectations, mirrored a country evenly divided, and raised anew questions about how and when the media declares winners.
The electoral vote seesawed through much of Tuesday night, forced news networks to twice rescind their projections, and ended with Gore calling Bush shortly before 4 a.m. Wednesday to retract an earlier concession.
State of Affairs
By then, only Florida and Oregon remained undecided, but the results elsewhere were unlike any other in a generation. Bush and Cheney won 30 states, blanketing most of the South and the nation's breadbasket. They won in Tennessee and Arkansas, home states of Gore and President Clinton. But Gore and Lieberman captured 19 states and the District of Columbia, including must-win battlegrounds of Michigan, Iowa and Washington.
Fittingly, even the bellwether states, those with a history of picking presidential winners over the last half-century, failed to cooperate: Pennsylvania fell to Gore, while Missouri chose Bush.
When the dust settled at dawn, Gore was poised to become the first candidate in 112 years to win the popular vote but not the 270 electoral votes necessary for the presidency. The latest tallies gave him 48,854,158 votes nationwide, about 49 percent of the total and about 215,000 more than Bush's 48,641,710.
The split reverberated in the Congress, where Republicans were waiting Wednesday to see the results of a Washington state race that could enable them to keep a slim Senate majority. Their edge in the House was safer, with the GOP holding a 220-211 edge with two races still undecided.
And the second-guessing began. Should Bush have spent millions of advertising dollars and time in California, a state in which he never significantly challenged Gore? Was the vice president wise to relegate President Clinton, a master campaigner, to the sidelines? Did Green Party nominee Ralph Nader, who failed to reach his national goal of 5 percent, but earned 95,000 votes in Florida, tip the election to Bush? Did the media taint the race by reporting Florida returns before polls closed in the state's western panhandle — which rests just across the central time zone boundary?
One sideline commentator was Clinton, who spoke to Gore early Tuesday night after first lady Hillary Clinton clinched her own Senate victory but before the presidential roller coaster began.
"I was just like you last night," Clinton told reporters. "I was a fascinated observer." |
