Prime-Time
Battle
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Even as
Gore scrambled for the high ground, Bush stuck to his I've-already-won
strategy. Only one item was tossed out - the transition posturing
that gave rise to that West Wingstyle photo op with Bush
and his Cabinet-in-waiting. The Florida battle is so all-consuming
that his top people have had to put governance on the back
burner; first they have to win. "Right now we're spending
every minute managing this," says Hughes.
Though Bush
claimed to have disdain for "efforts to mold public opinion,"
his advisers, like Gore's, were obsessed with them. Rove and
his team carefully weighed the question of how often to bring
their man in front of the cameras. Tuesday and Wednesday they
talked about herding the press corps to the ranch to show
off Bush's good spirits. By Thursday they decided that things
were going so well that the candidate didn't need to get in
the way of the news. "The news in Florida was so good," an
aide says, "we'd let it speak for itself." But by Friday afternoon
and the state supreme court's decision to postpone certification,
the good news was going bad. Soon after that, Bush left his
ranch for Austin.
With Bush's
defenses against the recounts threatening to crumble, Republicans
are second-guessing his static, defensive strategy. Instead
of running out the clock and relying on Harris, why hadn't
his team pushed for hand counts in Republican counties where
he might pick up more votes? His aides explained that doing
so would destroy his argument against Gore's recounts and
that even in counties Bush had won, their analysis showed
more miscast ballots came from Democrats than Republicans.
Whatever that may say about the aptitude of voters from the
two parties, it told Bush's people that demanding recounts
in G.O.P. counties might hurt more than help. They let the
deadline pass without requesting them.
The Republicans
in Florida, like their Democratic counterparts, have not missed
an opportunity to grab the slightest edge. Often, the embattled
county canvassing officials bore the brunt of their tactics.
In Palm Beach, where the crucial hand count was delayed for
days by legal wrangling, Republicans tried to stall the process
further on Thursday by challenging every fifth ballot. That
same day in Broward, a county G.O.P. lawyer named William
Scherer stormed into the canvassing room to serve the board
subpoenas. "You are acting in defiance of election laws,"
he cried, adding that the board members "would be testifying
in court." And in court they were the very next day, further
delaying the recount process until the judge threw out the
suit.
On Saturday,
the situation became even uglier, as Bush's team hammered
Gore over the rejected military ballots and stepped up its
charge that the manual-recount process was "distorting, reinventing
and miscounting" the vote, as Hughes said. Alleging that Bush
ballots had been found in Gore piles and that biased workers
had taped the chad back into Bush punch holes, the Bush team
worked mightily to convince the public that the recount process
is polluted beyond measure. Democrats, of course, disagreed.
In the end,
the state supreme court will probably decide that argument.
But the hand recount turns out to be an apt metaphor for how
Americans view the election itself. They both come down to
the same kind of scrutiny: holding the thing up high, examining
it closely and trying to see where the light comes shining
through.
- With reporting
by John F. Dickerson, Michael Duffy, Tamala M. Edwards and
Karen Tumulty/Washington, James Carney with Bush, Cathy Booth
Thomas/Tallahassee, and Timothy Roche/Palm Beach
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November 27,
2000 | NO. 47
U
N I T E D S T A T E S
COVER:
One Nation, Under Chad
In the murkiness of Florida, amid bickering about bits of paper, will
the next President be decided in the margins of error?
THE
CANDIDATES: Tales from the War Rooms
The inside story of the battles to take the White House
VIEWPOINT:
Will Defeat Be Good for the Democrats?
Jeff Greenfield speculates on political expediency
THE
COURTS: Where Will It All End?
Adam Cohen on judges, briefs and supreme decisions
VOTING:
A Map for the Electoral Labyrinth
Richard Lacayo on the morass-and ways to get out of it
S
O U T H P A C I F I C
INDONESIA:
Trouble on the Border
The first pictures from a West Papuan separatist training camp
Viewpoint:
The rebels' presence in P.N.G. could hurt Australia
T
H E A R T S
BOOKS:
Frank Moorhouse
brings his lively League of Nations chronicle to a close
Barbara Kingsolver
returns to her roots
CINEMA:
Girlfight's Michelle Rodriguez, a knockout talent
MUSIC:
The rich afterlife of Everlast Soul Sister Mumba One
TRAVELER'S
ADVISORY
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