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Sunday Morning News

Election 2000: Court Battle Continues in Leon County

Aired December 3, 2000 - 7:00 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: We begin with the election once again today and here's an overview of the legal battle for the keys to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. That battle is being fought today in a Leon County court. Once again, that hearing resumes in about two hours time.

Al Gore's lawyers want a recount of 14,000 disputed ballots and perhaps more. Bush's lawyers say the vote is over and certified and Bush won.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Now, Florida's legislature may get involved. The Republican leader of the Florida House wants to call a special session Wednesday to name presidential electors. But the Senate leader hasn't given his OK.

Meanwhile, George W. Bush is moving ahead with transition plans. He and Dick Cheney met yesterday with congressional leaders to plan a political agenda for a Bush administration.

And finally, we're waiting for word on whether the U.S. Supreme Court will intervene in the dispute over Florida's presidential vote count. The high court reconvenes on Monday.

O'BRIEN: Let's go down to Tallahassee where we find our Bill Hemmer. He's been there all 26 days and counting. Good morning to you, sir.

PHILLIPS: He's loving every minute of it.

BILL HEMMER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Miles, Kyra, still counting here in Tallahassee. Good morning to both of you.

Listen, court goes back in session in about two hours time and that's not necessarily good news for the Gore team. You know, yesterday the judge had said at the outset that he wanted to wrap this trial up in 12 hours. Well, they went nine hours yesterday and it is still an open question as to how close we are to a finish in this particular case.

Could it be today? Maybe. Could it be tomorrow into Tuesday? Possibly as well. But again, as the Gore team continues to look at the clock, today is December 3rd, and the calendar keeps on ticking away days and that is critical right now in this race for the White House. Over to Circuit Court now, CNN's Mark Potter is setting the table for us. Mark, good morning to you.

MARK POTTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Bill.

Well, the hearing begins here at nine o'clock Eastern and lawyers for George W. Bush will continue through their lawyers, through their witnesses, rather, to make the case that there should not be yet another manual count.

Vice President Gore is contesting the election, saying that the Florida vote count was wrong and that George W. Bush should never have been certified the winner in Florida.

Now, his lawyers are asking that at least some of the ballots in Miami-Dade Counties and Palm Beach County be hand counted, noting that 9,000 votes from Miami-Dade were never counted at all.

These are pictures from the hearing yesterday. It lasted nine hours. During that hearing, the Gore lawyers put on a vote machine expert, trying to show how voters could inadvertently fail to punch the ballots correctly, rendering their choices unreadable by a vote counting machine.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID BOIES, GORE CAMPAIGN ATTORNEY: If, in fact, the machines are not cleaned out on a regular basis and there's chad buildup and therefore the voter may not be able to push down as firmly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

POTTER: Now, the attorneys for Al Gore presented only two witnesses. Their second was a statistician. The Bush team lawyer called as their first witness Judge Charles Burton, the chairman of the Palm Beach County Canvassing Board, by now a familiar face on television. He defended the ballot counting procedures and explained his early reluctance to do a manual recount.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JUDGE CHARLES BURTON, PALM BEACH COUNTY CANVASSING BOARD: I wanted to go about this in a more reasoned approach and analysis and I wasn't given that opportunity and I guess since that day I've been the one accused of trying to block this recount, which is not the case, but...

JUDGE N. SANDER SAULS, LEON COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT: Absolutely not. I'd have to salute you as a great American, as a matter of fact.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

POTTER: Now, the Bush argues, lawyers argue that because the canvassing boards did their jobs as required by law, a judge should not intervene and should not order yet another count. They have asked the judge, N. Sander Sauls, to throw this case out of court, but he has said that he won't even consider that until he hears all the evidence. And we'll hear more of that today.

Bill, back to you.

HEMMER: Mark, thanks.

Quickly here, though, in the opening statements yesterday, David Boies said they want to "get to the evidence." That hasn't happened yet. Again, that's that stack of ballots, anywhere between 10,000 and 14,000. Did the attorneys on the Gore side yesterday express any dismay that they did not wrap up with a verdict yesterday?

POTTER: Well, they're very concerned, as was said earlier in this program. The lawyers on their side want to get to this count right away. They had hoped to finish this yesterday. The judge had hoped to finish this yesterday. I think what dismayed the lawyers on the Gore side was the statement from a Bush team lawyer who indicated he thought that this might even have to go into Monday.

HEMMER: All right, Mark, Mark Potter over at Circuit Court. Thanks, Mark. We'll be back in touch. Again, that hearing scheduled to start in a bit, less than two hours time.

Meanwhile, still here in Tallahassee, one other item to talk about. That has to do with the state legislature and the potential for a special session later this week. Now, it was last night when the Senate president, John McKay (ph), said he's still waiting for a report to be delivered to him. He said he wants to read that report that came out of special committee earlier this week, again, a committee had convened here in Tallahassee, 14 members, divided among Republicans and Democrats, with the Republicans having the majority there.

Out of that committee came a recommendation to go into special session. Now, under Florida law, you can do it in one of two ways. The Governor can call it. In this case Jeb Bush probably will not and he has said as much. In addition to that, though, the second option, though, is to have the leader of the House and the leader of the Senate come together, sign a proclamation and then call for a special session.

Well, the House leader, Tom Feeney, has indicated he is willing to do that, however, still waiting on the Senate side. Now, this is not to say in any way that a special session won't happen this coming week. But as for now right now, no definitive word on when that may occur. We'll watch it throughout the day.

Meanwhile, David Cardwell, our elections analyst here in Florida, coming up at half past the hour. We'll talk to him about what we may expect and anticipate inside court today.

But for now, back to Atlanta and Miles and Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Thanks, Bill.

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