Veep Al Gore, trying to convince voters he’s right to keep fighting, yesterday accused the GOP of trying to “short-circuit” the 2000 presidential race.
“The choice really is whether the voters are going to decide this election by having every vote
count or whether that process is going to be short-circuited without all the votes being examined,” Gore said in a call to a Washington black radio station.
Gore stopped just short of accusing GOP rival George W. Bush of stealing the Oval Office by trying to stop a hand recount of ballots in the key state of Florida, where Bush is 300 votes ahead.
When radio host Travis Smiley claimed the race was being “stolen,” Gore urged against using “that word” and noted emotions were running high on the other side too.
But the veep then added: “I know what you are saying.”
Asked if a GOP conspiracy was behind the Florida fiasco – the way the Clintons blamed their scandals on a right-wing cabal – Gore cracked: “Well, you’re tempting me, but I’m not going to say anything.”
It was the same show in which Clinton, two weeks ago, described Gore as “the next best thing” to keeping Clinton for a third term – a reminder that Gore was not only tied to Clinton’s ethical woes, but a poor substitute for the popular lame duck.
Bush, meanwhile, stayed holed up at his Texas ranch yesterday and dispatched running mate Dick Cheney to accuse the Gore team of “manipulation of the ballots” and of “trying to prolong this as long as possible.”
“It’s time now to go to . . . wrap it up,” Cheney said on Fox TV, adding that he and Bush are already spending a lot of time planning the new administration.
The latest sniping – as both sides try to win over the public – came a day after Gore, on national TV, offered to drop all legal action in return for a statewide manual recount.
Bush, in a quickie trip to the governor’s mansion, rejected the offer in a televised speech, then headed back to the ranch.
On the radio show yesterday, Gore acknowledged that the next president will need to stop all the “arguing and bickering” and “reach out” to the other side “to establish an atmosphere of respect.”