AL JUST DOESN'T KNOW WHEN TO QUIT - New York Post

greenspun.com : LUSENET : TB2K spinoff uncensored : One Thread

NOT THIS TIME, AL: Florida Supreme Court spokesman Craig Waters yesterday announces that the justices rejected the Gore campaign's petition to order Miami-Dade County to resume its hand recount. - AP

AL JUST DOESN'T KNOW WHEN TO QUIT Friday,November 24,2000

By Gregg Birnbaum in Tallahassee, Fla., Kenneth Lovett in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and Devlin Barrett in New York

Al Gore won't concede the election if Florida declares George W. Bush the winner of the state's 25 electoral votes on Sunday, the vice president's campaign spokeswoman said yesterday. Gore was braced to see the election certified in Bush's favor Sunday night after Florida's Supreme Court shot down his request to force hand recounts in Miami-Dade County.

If certification takes place, the vice president's camp has vowed to continue the fight with new legal challenges in Florida's lower courts.

"We want a full, fair and accurate count, and the only way left to do that is to file a contest for Miami-Dade," said campaign spokeswoman Jenny Backus.

Gore's team also filed papers last night with the U.S. Supreme Court asking it to deny Bush's request to throw out any hand counts.

Democrats insisted they could still win Florida with the recounts in Palm Beach and Broward counties - and said they would not abandon the fight for Miami-Dade County.

Broward County recounters, the only ones working on Thanksgiving, gave Gore 88 more votes yesterday before stopping for the night.

So 16 days after the election, Bush's lead of 930 votes in Florida has been whittled down to 713 by hand tabulations - if those recounts are ultimately accepted.

While the candidates spent Thanksgiving feasting privately with their families, the seven judges on the state Supreme Court huddled in conference calls before deciding to deny Gore's emergency request for an extra helping of recounts in Miami-Dade.

Gore had turned to the court after Miami's canvassing board, in a raucous meeting, decided on Wednesday to throw in the towel because it wouldn't be able to finish tallying votes by 5 p.m. Sunday, the court-imposed deadline.

The seven judges discussed the merits of the request before eventually handing Bush a major legal victory.

"The writ is denied without prejudice. No motion for rehearing is allowed," the court said in a unanimous opinion read by spokesman Craig Waters. The judges' decision left the door open for the Gore camp to refile on different grounds.

There are 10,750 uncounted ballots in Miami-Dade, the state's biggest county, that could not be "read" by vote-counting machines because the ballots had not been cleanly punched through, resulting in "hanging chads" or "indented chads."

Gore advisers insist they should be counted because they say voters' intentions can be determined during a hand recount.

They were looking to heavily Democratic Miami-Dade as a treasure-trove of votes, especially since they have not picked up as many as they had hoped in Broward and Palm Beach recounts.

"Without Dade it could be difficult, but it's doable," said Gore lawyer Mike Moskowitz.

Miami's decision to pull the plug on its recount also hurt Gore because it means that more than 150 additional votes for the vice president already tallied in a partial recount over the last few days will not be officially submitted to the Florida secretary of state's office for certification.

After the state Supreme Court announced its decision yesterday, Gore lawyers immediately said they would fight on in different courtrooms - and said they were already prepared for Secretary of State Katherine Harris to certify the election Sunday as a victory for Bush.

"We're obviously disappointed," said Gore's top legal eagle, David Boies. "We would have preferred that [the Miami votes] were counted promptly so they could be included in the certified results."

But Boies vowed they would not concede anything to the Bush camp, and said they planned to be in a Florida district court Monday morning asking a judge to mandate a county recount.

Boies said he would ask the judge to either oversee the recount personally, or appoint a "special master" to manage the political hot potato.

Gore lawyers are also expected to ask that the 150 votes Gore picked up in Miami before they halted the recount be added to the total.

-- Ain't Gonna Happen (Not Here Not@ever.com), November 26, 2000

Answers

Hey ain't! Take an exlax before you explode! Please!

-- the world's (laughing@you.com), November 26, 2000.

the world's (laughing@you.com)

The only laughing going on is at Sore/Looserman!

A couple of first rate clowns! They should have no trouble finding work at the circus after this blows over. :-)

-- Ain't Gonna Happen (Not Here Not@ever.com), November 26, 2000.


Hey Ain't, what is the Republican strategy in 2004? Since the mob strategy worked so well in Miami, I guess they'll just beat the entire public into submission so that they can't even vote.

-- (power@at.any price), November 26, 2000.

Since the mob strategy worked so well in Miami,

Dunno...probably compare notes with Jesse Jackson and his Palm Beach Riots first.

Whadya think? Good start?

-- Ain't Gonna Happen (Not Here Not@ever.com), November 26, 2000.


(humming to myself...) ...'tis the season to be jolly, fa la la la la, la la la la..... (aw, screw it...)

-- I'm Here, I'm There (I'm Everywhere@so.beware), November 26, 2000.


Moderation questions? read the FAQ