Confronted with the formal declaration that he had lost Florida, Vice President Al Gore was urgently pinning his presidential aspirations Sunday night on keeping the public and fellow Democrats patient while he pursued ways to reverse the final count to his favor against an encroaching deadline.
Polls suggest the public so far has been willing to wait while Gore tries every means at his disposal to prove that he won Florida. The question is whether Sunday’s official certification, solemnly voiced by the state’s three-person elections board and officially signed on national television, will strain that patience.
“The big risk for Gore is that once the state is certified for [George W.] Bush, the public begins to change its tune,” said Mark Rozell, a political science professor at Catholic University. “Gore is taking a gamble in banking on the public to continue to be in a patient mode.”
Even before Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris made her announcement, Gore told The New York Times that it was an essential democratic principle “that the will of the American people is not only expressed, but [also] heard and abided by.”
Gore insisted no Democrat had asked him to abandon his fight for the presidency and said even some Republicans had urged him to press on, though he refused to name them. He also told the Times he was confident the process would end before the Dec. 12 deadline for choosing electors and that the election would not be decided in Congress as the Constitution allows under certain conditions.
Gore’s representatives also began sounding the themes that will mark their effort to extend America’s patience. They emphasized that Gore won the nationwide popular vote by more than 300,000 votes and stressed that Gore leads in the electoral vote outside Florida.
At the same time, the Gore camp argued that many ballots have still not been tabulated at all. This is an attempt not only to appeal to the public’s sense of fairness, but also to rebut the Bush argument that Florida’s votes have been registered several times.
“How can we teach our children that every vote counts if we are not willing to make a good faith effort to count every vote?” asked Gore’s running mate, Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.).
“Because of our belief in the importance of these fundamental American principles, Vice President Gore and I have no choice but to contest these actions.”
Lieberman made his statement within moments of Harris’ declaration, in a bid to derail any sense that hers was the final word. “We must show the world and teach our children that even in this unparalleled time, America can and will fulfill its democratic values by demonstrating the patience to count every vote that was cast,” he said.
While the public’s patience is crucial for Gore, so is the continued support of prominent Democrats. If members of his own party begin defecting, Gore’s crusade could lose credibility.
To show unity and to rally the troops, Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota and House Democratic leader Richard Gephardt of Missouri were expected to fly to Florida on Monday to voice support for Gore’s efforts.
The vice president is likely to speak publicly Monday about Florida’s action. He is expected to appeal to the electorate to wait just a little longer, seeking to counteract Bush’s declaration of victory.
The Gore camp also insisted Bush is more responsible for any delay than Gore is.
“The Gore campaign isn’t the campaign that has brought the two appeals to the United States Supreme Court,” said Gore attorney David Boies. “This is not a situation in which the Gore campaign has done anything to delay this. We have been trying to expedite this. We have been trying to get this done.”
Other Gore staffers said that Bush’s declaration of victory could backfire.
“I think the people who have been following this know that not all the votes have been counted, and that it would be premature for anyone to conceded or declare victory,” said Gore spokesman Douglas Hattaway.
In any case, Gore must reverse the results quickly. The Dec. 12 deadline gives Gore just over two weeks to make his case.
Equally daunting, three powerful arbiters all appear more or less unfriendly to Gore.
The U.S. Supreme Court, which is scheduled to hear a Bush appeal Friday, is a conservative body. The Florida Legislature, which has the authority to choose the electors if the dispute is not settled by Dec. 12, is heavily Republican, and the U.S. House of Representatives, which has the ultimate power to choose a president in a contested election, also is controlled by Republicans.
Given that rough terrain, Gore’s strategists know they must reverse the Florida results and win a decisive majority and then hope that wards off moves by the Legislature or Congress.
“We want to get a full, fair and accurate count of the vote so we make it clear who won in Florida,” Hattaway said. “It would be hard for any politician to step in and overturn the will of the people.”
Gore kept a low profile Sunday, emerging from his Washington residence only to attend church. Later in the day, the vice president was briefed by his legal team.
That team plans to challenge the Florida election in court Monday, assailing the results specifically in Miami-Dade, Palm Beach and Nassau Counties.
Gore’s biggest hope lies in Miami-Dade County, where his representatives believe a thorough recount alone could give him victory. Miami-Dade officials stopped their hand counts when the Florida Supreme Court announced Sunday’s deadline, saying they could not finish in time.
Gore’s lawyers also intend to challenge what Boies called “the inexplicable actions in Nassau County.” That is a Republican-dominated county which, after conducting its legally required recount, submitted its original tally anyway, costing Gore about 50 votes.
The Gore challenge will focus on Palm Beach County as well. Palm Beach was unable to complete its manual recount by the deadline, and it used a more strict standard for counting ballots than the Gore team wanted.
Boies insisted all of this could be done without unduly dragging out the process.
“People can review these ballots very quickly, and you can cover a lot of ground,” Boies said. “So we believe the time is available to do the kind of review that needs to be done.”
