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Saturday Morning News

Congressman Plans Protest During Electoral College Count

Aired January 6, 2001 - 9:00 a.m. ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, let's move on to the top story, and that is the 2000 presidential election is forever etched in history, as we all know. And today it officially becomes history in the first week of 2001.

In just a few hours from now, it staggers to a close with the same contentiousness that paralyzed it for weeks. But don't expect this final chapter to play out as scripted.4

CNN's Chris Black is on Capitol Hill with a preview.

Hi, Chris.

CHRIS BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Kyra.

Well, today, Vice President Al Gore will perform one of his final duties as the incumbent vice president of the United States. He will preside over the official election of his rival, George W. Bush, for the presidency. This is the constitutionally mandated official count of the Electoral College.

It's been a bittersweet week for Al Gore. He spent a good part of his adult life here on Capitol Hill, first as a congressman and senator, for the last eight years as vice president and the president of the Senate. And it's in that capacity today that he will be acting.

When the vice president arrives, he will lead a procession of senators from the Senate side of the Capitol over to the House side for a joint session. With them will be two pages who will carry the certified Electoral College vote in a mahogany box. When they get to the House side, there will be an official count. Tellers, who will be House members designated by House Speaker Dennis Hastert, will begin with the state of Alabama, alphabetically, and read each state.

Then we get one small moment of drama. It will be, we expect, an objection. Congressman Alcee Hastings, who's a Democratic congressman from Florida, will raise an objection on behalf of the Congressional Black Caucus to Florida's 25 electoral college votes because of discrepancies in the count in that state.

However, Al Gore, as the presiding officer, will have to rule that objection out of order. Under the terms of the Constitution, an objection can only be raised if it is raised -- put in writing by a House member and a senator. Now, the Congressional Black Caucus members shopped around to find a senator who would raise objections with them. They were unsuccessful in that.

So this is going to, after this extraordinary election, where it will take maybe 45 minutes. We expect most of the House members and senators to not even attend. But it will -- that will be the end of it. It will be official for George W. Bush -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, Chris Black, thank you. It will be interesting to follow this today.

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