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Hey,
I'm not finished yet: video
Teens
from New Jersey, Colorado and Virginia talk about the issues they care
about.
Private
school boyz:
What is it like to go to high school where Bush and Gore went?t. Is
the system broken? A look at why many Americans feel left out of
the political process.
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The
Gore team's position Text of press briefing by Al Gore's campaign chairman William Daley and former Secretary of State Warren Christopher DALEY:
As you know, the automatic recount required by Florida law is continuing.
To date, that count has shown a considerable narrowing of the margin
between Vice President Gore and Governor Bush. When one considers the
number of ballots yet to arrive from Americans overseas, and presumably
mostly men and women in the military, it seems very clear that the outcome
here in Florida remains in doubt, as it will for several more days.
In
addition, in the past 24 hours three counties have granted requests
to have ballots counted -- hand counted, at least on a sample basis.
These requests were made because of oddities in the The wait to get these results is frustrating, frustrating to all of us in both campaigns, and to the American people obviously as well. But calls for a declaration of a victor before all the votes are accurately tabulated are inappropriate. Waiting
is unpleasant for all of us, but suggesting that the outcome of a vote
is known before all the ballots are properly counted is inappropriate.
In
addition, we continue to explore the questions of what can be done to
remedy the unfairness of thousands of residents in Palm Beach County,
who believed they were voting for Al Gore, having those votes tabulated
for Pat Buchanan or not tabulated at all. Our legal team has concluded
that the ballot in Palm Beach County was unlawful, it was complained
about on Election Day, a complaint implicitly acknowledged by the election
supervisor, who put out a flier on Election Day warning about the problems.
In
the end, as frustrating as this wait may be, what we are seeing here
is democracy in action, careful and lawful effort to ensure that the
will of the people is done. Other systems of government may work faster.
Curtailing voters' rights may get a result that is faster. But no system
of government is more just or more enduring than ours. I hope
that our friends in the Bush campaign will joining us in our efforts
to get the fairest and most accurate vote count here in Florida. Respect
for democratic principles and for the fundamental I think
as we move forward it is implicit for all of us, and all of those concerned,
that we carefully measure all of our words, recognizing the high stakes
involved in these deliberations. Secretary Christopher and I would be
happy to answer a few of your questions. DALEY:
I don't think this is bickering. This is our process that we're moving
toward to. I think we've got to see it to completion. Obviously these
hand counts -- and we are encouraged that the election -- that the county-level
election committees are moving very quickly, one of them being even
held today. And there are samples that are done first before a judgment's
made whether an entire county has to be done. So they seem, at a local level, to be moving rather quickly. So we're all encouraged that this process is moving about as quick as it can right now. --- QUESTION: (off-microphone) the overseas ballot has always favored the Republicans. What makes you think that Mr. Gore will fare well once those ballots ... DALEY:
I'm not -- I didn't say that we predict that he will those ballots.
It remains to be seen. But to assume they're one or the other would
be inappropriate at this time. Why don't wait to see when they're counted
how they come out? --- DALEY: My understanding, and I don't -- again, this is what I've been told. My understanding, in 1996, there were a total of 15,000, both non-voted ballots and double-punched ballots. This time there's double that amount. There's about 30,000 ballots that were either not voted or double-punched, so it's twice as many. So, obviously -- and the bottom line is that mistake, the problem may very well dictate who's the president of the United States, where four years ago it was not an issue in contention in this state of the nation who was going to win. --- QUESTION: What kind of support are you getting from your Democratic congressmen in Washington? DALEY: Well, I talked to Congressman Gephardt yesterday, others in our operation have talked to members of Congress. We seem to be getting very strong support. Obviously, they're as concerned as all Americans and all of us as to the outcome of this and the speed with which it moves forward, which we all are. But as far as their strong feeling that the rights of the people of Florida should be protected and the actual vote as it is, no matter what the outcome is of that vote, should be protected and should be gotten. OK. Thank you. |
