(1 Dec 2000) English/Nat
XFA
As Vice President Al Gore’s legal team continued its battles in court on Thursday, his Presidential rival was talking about a transition administration with his closest confidantes..
Texas Governor George W. Bush met at his ranch with running mate Dick Cheney and Colin Powell, his all-but-certain choice for Secretary of State.
In an afternoon news conference, Bush told the media he’s getting his team in place to assume power, regardless of Al Gore’s continuing court challenge.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"Thank you all for coming. Laura and I are honoured to welcome back to our ranch the Cheneys and of course today the Powells have come to visit. Really thrilled that Colin and Alma took time out of their life to come down. We are going to spend the afternoon talking about our transition and in particular we are going to talk about national security matters and foreign policy matters. No better person to talk about that than Colin Powell."
SUPER CAPTION: George W. Bush
Despite appearances, Powell maintained he has not yet been asked to serve as Secretary of State.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"Q: Would you serve in a Bush Administration?"
A: "I have not yet been asked and if that question should be posed to me I think I should answer directly to the Governor at that time, before answering it to anyone else."
SUPER CAPTION: Colin Powell
Meanwhile, Al Gore battled in two supreme courts…one state, one federal, as he waged an overtime struggle for Florida’s all-important electoral votes.
Gore’s attorneys filed an urgent plea with Florida’s highest court Thursday to immediately start hand-counting thousands of ballots from Palm Beach and Miami Dade counties.
A lower court judge delayed a decision on a recount until at least Saturday.
But the Gore team insists there’s no time to delay.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"Those votes are there, we know that they are there. The actions of the canvassing boards have demonstrated that they are there and what we are asking is those votes be counted."
SUPER CAPTION: David Boies, Gore Campaign Attorney
Later in the day, Bush lawyers gave their side… Insisting county and state officials were correct in certifying election results, even though machines had rejected many ballots.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"It doesn’t matter how many times somebody says ‘Everybody’s ballot should be counted.’ They haven’t asked for everybody’s ballot to be counted in the first place, and in the second place, we’re not talking about ballots that were not counted other than ballots that the machine rejected because they were not properly marked."
SUPER CAPTION: Barry Richard/Bush Attorney
On Friday, the U-S Supreme Court will consider whether recounts should count.
And attorneys for Gore will ask the Court to also weigh in on another matter.
UPSOUND: (Committee vote)
A special committee recommended to the Florida legislature that it call a special session to appoint its own set of presidential electors, the Florida state representatives who’ll take part in the electoral college which officially votes in a new American President.
Since Republicans hold a majority in the state legislature, such a step would certainly benefit Bush.
The Gore camp blasted the move as an attempt to get around the will of the voters.
And Democratic vice presidential candidate Joseph Lieberman said the legislature’s intervention would set a terrible precedent.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
SUPER CAPTION: Joe Lieberman, Democratic vice presidential nominee
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