Al Gore now faces the uphill fight of trying to reverse an official election in Florida while trying to persuade the world that George W. Bush isn’t really the president-elect.
His aides and lawyers have been working furiously for several days on both fronts – the legal and the PR – to try to preempt last night’s certification of Bush as the official winner in Florida.
Even before the results were signed, Gore lawyer David Boies announced plans to legally contest the final results in Miami-Dade, Palm Beach and in the northeast part of the state, Nassau County.
“Vice President Gore and I have no choice but to contest these actions,” a grim-faced Joe Lieberman, Gore’s running mate, said just minutes after the results were certified.
“It is in our nation’s interest that the winner in Florida is truly the person who got the most votes.”
In the larger public-relations arena, Gore appears to be going all-out to try to convince people that he’s the rightful successor to the White House.
He plans to take his case to the public in a TV address today.
Last night, he told The New York Times he needed to continue his battle because all of Florida’s votes have not been counted, and he predicted the tallying would be complete by the Dec. 12 deadline for naming members of the Electoral College.
He said his fellow Democrats have not pressured him to concede and that prominent Republicans, whom he declined to name, have urged him to fight on.
“If at the end of this process . . . if Gov. Bush is successful, I will spare no effort to help him unify the country behind his leadership, and I would expect him to do the same if I am successful,” the veep said.
After last night’s developments, Gore’s biggest challenge will be to persuade Americans that Bush hasn’t already won.
“We know that if Americans see a party, they’re going to see that person as the winner. We just have to keep going with the legal process and counting the votes,” said Gore adviser Greg Simon.
To help Gore, well-known Democrats were dispatched yesterday to tell the TV networks that the election isn’t over. Among them: Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle, House Democratic leader Dick Gephardt, Sen. Bob Graham of Florida, former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo and former White House Chief of Staff Leon Panetta.
Daschle and Gephardt left late yesterday for Florida, where they plan to hold a press conference today to back Gore’s post-election challenge.
A top Democratic Senate aide said most Democrats are supporting Gore’s challenge effort “for now” – but the real test will be whether they’re still with Gore later this week.
Asked whether Bush should be considered “president-elect” or “president-elect-under-contest,” Gore lawyer Rich Lucas responded, “You’re going to have to ask the Bush campaign what they’re going to call him.”
Most Democrats believe Friday’s U.S. Supreme Court hearing, which was prompted by a Bush legal appeal, has given the Gore team breathing room to try to contest the Florida election results.
He plans to sue to compel Miami-Dade County to conduct a hand recount and to compel Palm Beach County to count dents in punch-hole cards. Gore also will try to force Nassau County to use the machine recount, which gave him 51 more votes than the election-night results.