Presidency Undecided; Recount Could Take 10 Days
N E W Y O R K, Nov. 9 -- George W. Bush confidently predicted Wednesday he would win the presidency in short order, as his fate and that of rival Al Gore rested with Florida’s recount of nearly 6 million votes. Gore signaled he wouldrespect the results of the review but cautioned against a “rush to judgment.”
“This morning brings news from Florida that the final vote count there shows that [vice-presidential candidate Dick] Cheney and I have carried the state of Florida,” Bush told reporters in Austin, Texas. “And if that result is confirmed in an automatic recount, as we expect it will be, we have won the election.”
The Texas governor moved to assure the nation the race would “be resolved in a quick way.” But Florida’s secretary of state, Katherine Harris, told ABCNEWS the final absentee ballots from Floridians serving in the military or living overseas “will not be resolved for 10 days.”
After President Clinton had advised Americans earlier that it could take “a little while” to determine the winner of the election, Gore urged that the process be carried out “expeditiously but deliberately — without a rush to judgment.”
Democrats Wednesday questioned possibly misleading ballots in Palm Beach County, Fla. Voters there complained the ballots were so confusing that many believed they mistakenly voted for Reform Party candidate Pat Buchanan when they intended to vote for Gore.
Appearing at his Nashville, Tenn., headquarters with his running mate, Connecticut Sen. Joseph Lieberman,
Gore thanked voters for giving him a majority of the national popular vote, and signaled that “no matter what the outcome” in Florida, he would abide by the recount results.
(Follow the recount on our live results page).
“We now need to resolve this election in a way that is fair, forthright and fully consistent with our Constitution and our laws,” the vice president said. “What is at issue here is the fundamental fairness of the process as a whole.”
The Florida Roller-Coaster Ride
On a roller-coaster Election Day, Florida’s 25 electoral votes apparently swung from Democrat Gore to Republican Bush and then back into the tossup category. With 14 counties finished with their recounts so far, only 59 votes have changed hands, leaving Bush in the lead by 1,725 of the more than 5.8 million cast. The final recount, minus outstanding absentee ballots, is expected to be completed by Thursday afternoon.
Whoever wins Florida wins the presidency. Oregon is also still up in the air, but that state’s seven electoral votes wouldn’t push either candidate to the 270 needed to win.
As of this morning, Gore held 260 electoral votes. Bush held 246.
Amid the uncertainty, Bush walked and talked like a president-elect, as his campaign confirmed that he is already taking steps to prepare for his inauguration. Bush sources say he will name Cheney, to head up the White House transition team. Bush sources also confirmed that Andy Card, the former transportation secretary who headed up the Republican National Convention this summer, is a likely choice to become White House chief of staff.
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