From: Steve Wingate 
Subject: SNET: Bush Camp in Court, Gore Team Says Withdraw Suit
Date: 11 Nov 2000 22:45:04 -0500
To: IUFO , SNETNEWS 

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Bush Camp in Court, Gore Team Says Withdraw Suit  

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican George W. Bush (news - web 
sites)'s campaign filed suit on Saturday to stop hand recounting of disputed 
Florida votes but Democrat Al Gore (news - web sites)'s team said taking 
the increasingly hostile presidential election into court should be 
reconsidered.  

Four days after the election was over with no one being declared president, 
Bush's team asked a federal judge in Miami to stop recounting a portion of 
the vote by hand in selected counties. The hand recount began on Saturday 
at Democratic request.  

``We regret that we were compelled to take this action,'' former Secretary 
of State James Baker, an observer of the recount for the Bush campaign, 
told a Tallahassee, Florida news conference. ``At some point however, 
Florida's voters and indeed all Americans are entitled to some finality.''  

The suit, running to 90 pages of legal arguments and claiming ``irreparable 
injury'' could be done if the hand recount goes on, will be heard at 9:30 a.m. 
on Monday in Miami.  

Baker's counterpart in the Gore campaign, former Secretary of State 
Warren Christopher, said the Bush team should ''withdraw the litigation they 
have filed today and ... allow a new and accurate count to be made of all 
the votes in the state of Florida.''  

Groups and individuals supporting Gore have filed suit in Florida 
complaining of irregularities or confusion in Tuesday's balloting, but the 
decision by Bush's camp was the first direct court intervention by either of 
the political parties.  

Texas Gov. Bush and Vice President Gore were in a ferocious battle to win 
Florida's 25 electoral votes that are needed to clinch the presidency.  

Neither had the 270 electoral votes required to be declared president and 
while Gore led the national popular vote by a slim margin, Bush was ahead 
in Florida by several hundred votes with more than six million cast in the 
state on Tuesday.  

Fight Escalates  

Still, until Saturday, much of the political fight had been conducted in 
rhetorical thrust and parry with spin control being the object of the day.  

A move into the court system, rare in presidential elections, threatened to 
prolong the counting of votes, raise the acrimony among the parties and 
throw the whole legitimacy of the election process into doubt.  

Leaders in both parties, political observers and newspaper editorials in 
recent days have expressed concern the animosity level could get so high 
and the legal maneuvering so intense that the country could be badly split 
when a president is finally selected.  

Democrats claim that voters in Palm Beach County used a ''butterfly ballot'' 
with candidate names down both sides that was so confusing that many 
people who supported Gore erroneously voted twice or voted for Pat 
Buchanan (news - web sites).  

County voting officials on Saturday broke the seal on ballot boxes from four 
precincts and began counting by hand more than 4,500 ballots to see if 
they matched the results when counted by machine.  

With dozens of television cameras filming through the windows, election 
workers divided up piles of ballot papers according to whether voters' 
intentions were clear or ''questionable,'' or whether they either cast more 
than one vote or no vote at all.  

``We have not been enjoined from anything,'' Judge Charles Burton, 
chairman of the Palm Beach County board of canvassing, told reporters. 
``Until we receive a court order indicating otherwise we are going to 
proceed.''  

Two other counties planned at least a partial hand recount and Democrats 
sought the same in a fourth county.  

But Baker said Bush won the original count on election night and a recount 
since, although not entirely complete, shows him still in the lead. A third 
count would only increase the chance for error and would be less fair and 
accurate than earlier counts, he said.  

``Potential For Mischief''  

``The potential for mischief would exist to a far greater degree,'' he said.  

``Therefore we ask that there be no further recounts of already recounted 
ballots,'' Baker said.  

Gore spokesman Mark Fabiani responded, ``Al Gore wants a speedy and 
correct count of the Florida votes. George Bush does not. Bush's decision 
to go to court to block the accurate, quick counting of votes is an outrage 
and will be rejected by Americans.''  

A senior Gore aide who wanted to remain anonymous said there was 
nothing unusual in the request for a hand recount and the Republican legal 
response showed the Bush camp was concerned they would lose a fair 
count.  

Baker said both sides should abide by the final Florida vote, due to be 
certified by the state no earlier than next Friday.  

Asked if he would agree to that, Christopher said, ``That decision has not 
been made at the present time ... there are other options that we have 
before us and we're going to hold on to those options for the present time.''  

Gore campaign chairman William Daley interjected that Gore was sure to 
be the winner when all Florida votes were counted.  

Bush, in a brief session with reporters at his ranch in Crawford, Texas, 
referred questions about the lawsuit to Baker, saying he would be the one 
to explain ``why we don't think we need three elections.''  

After meeting with his running mate Dick Cheney (news - web sites), Bush 
said, ''We're all in limbo. There's a very good chance Dick and I will be 
president and vice president and when that happens we will be prepared. 
It's an awesome responsibility.''  

Florida was the biggest prize still outstanding from Tuesday elections but 
Oregon, where Gore led by a small margin, and New Mexico, where the 
lead suddenly changed late on Friday to a 17-vote margin for Bush, still had 
not been decided.  

In addition, Republicans have raised the possibility of recounts in Iowa and 
Wisconsin where Gore also led by small margins.  

A state count of 65 of Florida's 67 counties gave 2,910,074 votes to Bush 
and 2,909,114 to Gore, a lead of 960. Other unofficial surveys of all 
counties put Bush up by little over 300 votes.  

Overseas absentee ballots sent by mail have until Friday to arrive before 
an official count can be determined.  

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