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Sunday Morning News

Democratic Elector Prepared to Perform His Duty

Aired December 17, 2000 - 8:32 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: The presidential race may be over, but it's not yet finalized, of course. Tomorrow, members of the Electoral College will cast their votes in the final stage of the presidential election.

CNN's Kathleen Koch takes a look at one of those electors.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BILL GEORGE (ph): Are you guys ready to go?

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Another day, another rally for 59-year-old Bill George of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

GEORGE: Thank you for your help, man.

KOCH: President of the state's AFL-CIO, he was chosen by Democratic Party leaders in September to be an elector. The campaign this day was for a Florida recount.

GEORGE: See, when you don't count the votes, that means that the individual doesn't count.

KOCH: The very idea grates on a man born and raised in a gritty steel town in southwestern Pennsylvania.

GEORGE: This is my plant and this is my town of Elequipita (ph). Fifteen thousand people worked in this plant and it was seven miles long.

KOCH: His job, testing molten metal. George quickly learned why unions exist.

GEORGE: Many times they tried to force us to work in unsafe conditions, but because we had a union we knew we had some protection.

KOCH: After 15 years in the plant, George went to work for unions full-time. He's headed Pennsylvania's AFL-CIO since 1990.

GEORGE: And you're helping people out. You're helping people to be in the mainstream of American society. You're part of what America is about, creating a level playing field in reference to our society and it's just something that's worthwhile. KOCH: Labor's huge turnout November 7th is credited with giving Vice President Al Gore the keystone State's 23 electoral votes. But that hasn't stopped Republicans from calling George to persuade him to change his electoral vote, which is legal in Pennsylvania.

GEORGE: Of course, the stronger I was, the more they knew that I wasn't going to move on it. They finally did pop the question and says jeez, you wouldn't consider moving your electoral vote, would you? And I says no way.

So, how many years you got on the machine there?

KOCH: George says despite the Florida dispute, he's honored and proud to be an elector.

GEORGE: Win or lose, I'm excited about it. It's good. This process is good for America. It'll straighten out and this country will go forward no matter who the president is.

It was nice meeting you. Keep up the good work.

KOCH: Kathleen Koch for CNN, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com

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