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Politics : Electoral College 2000 - Ahead of the Curve -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: sandintoes who wrote (2418)	11/17/2000 2:33:06 AM
From: KLP	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 6710

Reports: Electors Asked to Switch Votes Thursday, November 16, 2000 www.foxnews.com NEW YORK — With the presidency hanging by an electoral thread, some Republican electors in this year's Electoral College that will legally select the next president say they have been receiving phone calls lately asking if they would be willing to switch their vote from George W. Bush to Vice President Al Gore. AP/Wide World Nov. 8: Brown University students march in Providence, R.I., to protest the Electoral College and plead for Bush to concede the election. Two of South Carolina's eight electors told The State newspaper in Columbia that they had received calls in recent days asking if they would switch their vote. Both assumed the unidentified callers were associated with the Gore campaign, but the campaign denied making such overtures. Members of the Electoral College will meet in their respective state capitals Dec. 18 to formally select the next president. With the fate of the office still unsettled, reports are emerging that Democrats are girding for the possibility that the battle may eventually move from the courts to the Electoral College and are planning appropriately. Thursday, the Wall Street Journal reported that an Arlington, Va., political consultant with close ties to Warren Christopher has been looking into the background of Republican electors with the aim of convincing them to switch their vote. Bob Beckel, who managed Walter Mondale's 1984 Democratic presidential campaign, told the Journal that he had yet to contact any electors and that his activity was on an "ad hoc basis" without the backing of the Gore campaign. "It is information gathering on my part, using my own network," he said. "I call on mostly Democrats, but some Republicans, too, and ask. 'Who are these electors, and what do you know about them?' I just wanted to know who these electors are." If Bush eventually wins Florida, but loses the still-undecided New Mexico, it would take only three GOP defectors to hand the presidency to Vice President Gore. But if comments from a handful of the Republican electors are any indication, Gore has a hard sell ahead of him. One of South Carolina's electors, retired farmer Cecil Windham, told the paper, "I'd cut my arm off first before voting for Al Gore." The other, Air Force retiree Dan Richardson, said there was "absolutely no way" he would switch his vote in favor of the vice president. Nevertheless, Richardson said he has gotten about six calls, and Windham at least three since the election. In both cases, the callers asked if they would change their vote but refused to identify themselves. South Carolina is one of 24 states in which electors are required by law to give the state's votes to the candidate who wins the popular vote there. Violators could face criminal prosecution. Bush won South Carolina's popular vote 57 percent to 41 percent. All eight of the Arizona electors contacted by the Associated Press said they would remain in Bush's camp regardless of the outcome in Florida. And Electoral College members in Georgia, who are not legally required to vote for the state's winner, said Gore shouldn't expect any defections there either. Georgia elector Carolyn Meadows joked that it would take quite a bribe to sway a Bush elector into the Gore column. "Somebody's gotta come up with Bill Gates-type money before they'll get a Republican vote," she said. Privacy Statement For FoxNews.com comments write to comments@newsdigital.com; For Fox News Channel comments write to comments@foxnews.com © Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. © News Digital Media 2000. All rights reserved.