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Saturday Morning News

Bush, Gore Remain Out of Sight Through Election Confusion

Aired November 11, 2000 - 9:08 a.m. ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Even though no one knows whether it will be Bush or Gore who ultimately capture the White House, both men are already relying on one executive privilege. They are remaining largely out of sight and unleashing their subordinates to go on the attack.

CNN's Tony Clark on the line with us from Austin, Texas, to give us more on that -- Tony.

TONY CLARK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Miles, Governor George Bush, George W. Bush, has headed to his ranch, and near Crawford, Texas. He's spending the weekend there. It's a working weekend. He and his running mate, Dick Cheney, are going to be focused on setting up a new administration should it prove that he does become the president.

And he's leaving that effort to James Baker, the former secretary of state under Bush's father, President Bush. Bush, we are told, has given Baker the authority to challenge a hand count of the ballots in Florida to go to court to try and seek an injunction to prevent that from being happen. And Associated Press is reporting this morning that a decision has been made that they will fight this.

And so what we're seeing is apparently an escalation of the legal battle over Florida. As Bill Hemmer said earlier, there are a lot of controversies in states like New Mexico, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Oregon, but it really comes down at this point to Florida and who gets those 25 electoral votes -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: CNN's Tony Clark in Austin, Texas.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: All right, we just want to break to (UNINTELLIGIBLE). As we told you, workers in two Florida counties are getting down to manually recounting presidential ballots. We're going to turn to the Palm Beach County's canvassing board right now, where they're holding a press conference.

Let's listen in.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And I would move that the -- Mr. McGuire's protest be rejected. Is there a second?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'll second that, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) rejected by recognized. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right. All of the protests that have been filed are certainly recognized by the board, and any opposed? All right, the motion carries.

The next protest before us this morning -- (UNINTELLIGIBLE) -- all right -- is a request filed by Mr. Joseph Getter (ph), an attorney, on behalf of -- or as legal counsel to the Elaine Bloom (ph) campaign for Congressional District 22. That protest is requesting a manual recount of the ballots and allegedly dealing with the issue of the chads and, you know, whether they were fully or partly attached to the ballot, or whether the votes were counted or rejected.

Any discussion as to that request?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That was received on the fax.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was received on...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: November 9.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... November 9 at 4:30 p.m.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Late, late, (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) I've been asked about it, said to the best of my knowledge...

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... we got it right, we got it right, it came on, I believe, when we were doing the meeting the other day.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right. Well, the chair would note as to congressional district 22, the results of the election returns, as well as the recount that was conducted on November 8, showed a -- four additional votes for Congressman Shaw, three less votes for Elaine Bloom. Any other discussion as to that issue?

All right. Hearing none, it would be the chair's motion that since we are going to be doing a full machine recount of all of the ballots that it would be the chair's motion that we reject the request for a manual recount but that we -- since we're doing a machine recount that we also do a machine recount of the congressional district 22 ballots.

Is there a second?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. What I'm requesting is that -- OK. The reason I made the motion is because on the machine recount of the original, it only -- it showed a -- only showed a difference of a plus four votes for Congressman Shah and a negative three votes for Miss Bloom. In the chair's opinion, the request is really speculative in nature, and therefore I'm simply making the motion that we do -- 36,722 votes for Shah, 26,869 votes for Miss Bloom.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'll second your motion based on a more than 10,000, I believe (UNINTELLIGIBLE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right.

PHILLIPS: And you were listening to the Palm Beach County's canvassing board as they're holding a formal press conference right now. At this moment, they're talking about the congressional races and that they are calling for a full machine recount, not a manual recount. We'll continue to follow that press conference and hope to hear more not only about those races but, of course, the presidential race.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, it is a story of recounts and recriminations. We were talking to CNN's Tony Clark on the line from Austin, Texas, just before we went away to that live news conference.

Tony, just to pick up on the conversation that was going on there, as you trace back this past week and look at the tone of the rhetoric, it clearly has toned down somewhat. Nevertheless, this morning the report that the Bush camp has authorized James Baker, the former secretary of state, their lead person in Florida, to attempt to file an injunction to stop all this hand recounting.

I guess what's happening is, it's quickly turning into a legal battle. That turns into a whole thing of a different complexion. Is the Bush camp concerned about it getting in that realm?

TONY CLARK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, yes. In fact, I think James Baker said yesterday -- he was talking about the recount not only in Florida but potential recounts in New Mexico and other states where the races were close -- he described it as a slippery slope. And he said, you know, if the Gore campaign continues to press for a hand count in Florida, then the Bush campaign would have to do what was in its best interests.

And so now the Bush campaign has representatives in other states. It is, as we were hearing, prepared to fight the Gore campaign in Florida. And so what has been very much heated rhetoric over the past few days is now turning into legal action.

O'BRIEN: Tony, I'm curious about the images we're seeing as well this past week. We saw Mr. Gore playing touch football there, I guess somewhat reminiscent of Camelot, of a Kennedyesque kind of image. And on the other hand, the other side, where you are in Austin, Mr. Bush sitting in -- if you didn't know where he was, you'd say he was sitting in the Oval Office.

All of this very carefully calculated, right?

CLARK: Well, very carefully calculated, and there is a public relations aspect to both candidates. But, you know, both candidates have been looking at the prospect of a new administration even before the election, both the Gore campaign and the Bush campaign. The Bush campaign in the past few days has made it more obvious. There are only about 70-some days between election day and inauguration, so there is a logistics matter, where a new administration must get its people in place, must name its people to high positions. And so that's what we've been seeing with the Bush campaign. Governor Bush has been meeting with advisers, he's been talking about who would fill key positions in a new administration should the election turn out his way.

And in fact, that's what he and Dick Cheney are doing this weekend at the ranch.

O'BRIEN: Just to underscore this, CNN has definitely confirmed the Republican Party will go to federal court, seek an injunction to prevent a third recount in certain Florida counties. That announcement is to be made at 10:30 a.m. Eastern time, and that would be made by James Baker, who is the representative of the Bush camp in Florida, a GOP party source telling CNN the injunction will be sought to prevent -- and this is a quote, now -- "potential mischief in the planned recount."

Tony, the fact that a recount is done by hand raises the possibility of mistakes, but nevertheless, I guess in a vote this close, checking and rechecking isn't such a bad idea. Where does the -- how does the Bush camp reconcile itself to that?

CLARK: Well, you know, the reason the Gore campaign is going after the hand count is because the kind of ballots that are used, where you punch out a little hole in the card, there is the possibility that the punch didn't go all the way through. There have been cases in the past where examiners have had to look, and they see a little pressure point on the chad, the little piece of paper that usually comes out. And they determine intent to vote.

And so there is a reason for this. But, you know, the Bush administration has been arguing all along, it is time to get on with this. They believe they have won the election by carrying Florida.

But, you know, even at this point, the overseas ballots still haven't been counted, so regardless of the results that we hear today out of Florida, it may be almost the end of next week before we know one way or the other for certain.

O'BRIEN: Well, Tony, you mentioned this was a calculated public relations effort in both camps this past week. But it's quickly turning into a legal campaign as well. What is more important at this point, winning the legal battle or the public relations battle?

CLARK: Well, really, in this point, it's the legal battle that's most important. But there is also the public relations battle, which is designed by the -- which the Bush administration, the Bush campaign, rather, wants to try and get public opinion on its side and to force the vice president to concede defeat even though the -- all the ballots have not yet been counted.

O'BRIEN: Well, we will be hearing a little bit more about how the public feels about this in just a few moments. We have a new poll that's just been released. Our pollster, Keating Holland, is standing by, and we'll check in with that. Some interesting responses from people.

That's CNN's Tony Clark live from Austin, Texas.

PHILLIPS: Well, while the Bush team huddles, the Gore family scrimmages. The vice president frolicked with family members in a backyard game of touch football, but the presidential contest has all appearances of a full-contact sport.

We're going to check in now with CNN's Patti Davis. She's in Washington. And Patti, let's respond to the news that the Republican Party will go to federal court to seek an injunction to prevent a third recount in certain Florida areas. It of course is the Gore administration that wants the hand count.

How do you think they'll respond? I don't know if they'll be playing touch football now, but rather responding to this new information.

PATTI DAVIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the Gore campaign spokesman, Doug Hattaway, said, in fact, that they are waiting for the James Baker press conference to take place so they know exactly what it is that he's talking about. But Doug Hattaway telling me just a few minutes ago that it, quote, "sounds like they're going to go to court to stop people's votes from being counted." He said if that's the case, it is not fair, quote, "and we need a full and fair and accurate count."

Hattaway making the point to me moments ago that it is the Bush campaign now that is going to court, not the Gore people, as Gore had been criticized yesterday on all fronts for considering legal action. He is stressing the point that it is Bush now that is going to go to court and tie this up -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, and we'll be following that coming up within the next hour.

We're going to take a quick break. Patti, thanks for being with us.

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