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Bush News
11/28/00
http://www.georgewbush.com

Contents:
1   Talking Points to Set the Record Straight
2   Statement by Secretary James A. Baker, III
3   What They're Saying...
_________________________________________________________________


1
TALKING POINTS TO SET THE RECORD STRAIGHT

MYTH:  There are more than 10,000 votes in Miami-Dade that have
never been counted.

BOIES:  "[T]here are over 10,000 ballots that have never been
counted once for the presidency of the United States."  [Today
Show, 11/27/00]

FACT:
~ Every ballot in Miami-Dade was counted at least twice - once
  on election night and again during the automatic recount.

~ In every election, there are a significant number of ballots
  that are cast by voters without choosing a candidate in
  every race on the ballot, including races for President.

~ For example, in this election, 5% of the voters in Idaho,
  3.9% of the voters in Illinois and 3.6% of the voters in
  Wyoming cast a ballot without registering a vote for President.

~ The 10,000 votes (actually 9,000 according to their filing)
  about which the Gore campaign has been complaining constitute
  only 1.6% of the ballots cast in Miami-Dade.  These ballots
  were counted - twice; they merely registered no vote for
  President.

~ This reality reflects common sense:  a voter may want to vote
  for a candidate for the Senate, House or other office, but be
  undecided about the choice for President.  In particular, a
  voter who usually votes for candidates from one party may
  vote for local or statewide candidates, but be uncomfortable
  with his or her party's choice for President and yet
  unwilling to vote for the other party's candidate.  So he or
  she might cast a ballot without marking a choice for
  President.


MYTH: If you counted all the votes that already have been
counted in some of the recount, Gore would actually be ahead
by 9 votes.

FACT:
~ Democrats get to this number by adding unreported and
  unofficial votes from the late manual recount in Palm Beach
  and from the partial manual recount from Miami-Dade, and by
  subtracting the valid military overseas ballots and some of
  the certified votes from Nassau County.

~ The Florida Supreme Court set a deadline of 5 p.m. on Sunday
  for completing manual recounts, almost tripling the statutory
  time period for counting mandated by Florida's Legislature.

~ Palm Beach did not complete its manual recount by the Supreme
  Court's deadline.

~ Miami-Dade returned to its original decision of not
  proceeding with a manual recount.

~ The 157 "interim gain" for Gore in Miami-Dade came from a
  selective recount of the most Democrat precincts.  Gore won
  these selected precincts by approximately 75% to 25%, while
  Gore won the entire county only by 53% to 46%.  It would be
  unfair to use this interim change without counting Republican
  precincts, too.  Precincts in Miami-Dade, including those
  with predominantly Hispanic and Cuban American voters,
  favored Bush.  The Gore approach would treat these minorities
  in a discriminatory fashion.

~ Military overseas ballots that were valid under Florida and
  federal law should be counted.  Counties recognized this and
  counted them.  Even Joe Lieberman said that such military
  ballots should not be rejected.


MYTH:  Miami-Dade would have conducted a manual recount if not
for the Republican "mob" that "intimidated" the canvassing board.

   KLAIN:  "We think already almost 160 votes were counted in
   Dade County before the mob stopped the count...  But I think
   that to say that a mob can storm a counting facility, stop a
   count, and then that's going to provide the end because a
   partisan of the Bush campaign, Ms. Harris, refuses to accept
   returns and cuts off the counting, I don't think that's the
   kind of end that we have to American elections."
   [Good Morning America, ABC, 11/27/00]

FACT:
~ The record shows that the crowd was reacting to the Board's
  decision to move the recount behind closed doors, where it
  could not be observed by the public or the media, and to limit
  the recount to only a select set of the votes.

~ No Board member mentioned the protests as a factor in the
  decision, and Judge Leahy of the Board has already stated
  clearly that he was not intimidated by the crowd.

~ The police made no arrests, received no assault complaints,
  and did not even instruct the crowd to desist.  The crowd was
  quieted promptly.


MYTH:  In Nassau County, the board violated Florida law by
adding votes from earlier tabulations that had been rejected by
the board as illegal.

FACT:
~ On election night, all the votes were counted, but during the
  machine recount, 218 ballots were accidentally separated from
  the rest, and not counted.  As a result, Bush received 124
  fewer votes and Gore received 73 fewer votes than on election
  night.

~ After the recount, the Nassau County Board supervisor
  discovered her mistake, and tried to correct it.  Because the
  Supreme Court of Florida had held the date open for final
  certification until Sunday at 5:00 p.m., the Division of
  Elections informed the supervisor that she could revise the
  count to make it accurate.

~ The Board (2 Democrats and 1 Republican) voted unanimously to
  certify the original election night count - which included the
  218 ballots - rather than the machine recount total (which
  mistakenly omitted those ballots).
_________________________________________________________________


2
STATEMENT BY SECRETARY JAMES A. BAKER, III

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Regrettably, the Gore campaign has now filed a lawsuit
contesting the certified election results in Florida.  Their
aim is to overturn the outcome of the election after 19 days of
counts and recounts.

As I said last night, America has never had a presidential
election decided by a contest of the election outcome in court.
This is an extraordinary procedure and we are entering new,
uncertain, and controversial territory.

Therefore, I would now like to introduce the senior members of
the litigation team who will be defending the vote of
Floridians in favor of Governor Bush and Secretary Cheney.

I have earlier introduced you to Barry Richard of Tallahassee,
Florida, with the national law firm of Greenburg Traurig.  Mr.
Richard, a former Deputy Attorney General for the State of
Florida, has 33 years of trial experience.

Other members of our team are Fred Bartlit and Phillip Beck of
the law firm Bartlit Beck of Chicago, Illinois.  Together they
bring to this team 59 years of practice as trial attorneys.

The other two members of our senior litigation team are law
partners of mine at Baker Botts, in Houston, Texas.  Together,
Daryl Bristow and Irv Terrell have 68 years of experience
practicing in court.

These five gentlemen are here to summarize our view of all the
overall contest proceedings and to set the record straight on
four issues the Gore campaign continues to mischaracterize.
_________________________________________________________________


3
WHAT THEY'RE SAYING...

Quotes from Democrats:

"It's not saying Al Gore should do everything down to the last
legal limit to get the election...I don't think he should."
  - US Senator Russ Feingold, D-Wisconsin;
    Lacrosse Tribune, 11/28/00


U.S. Rep. Gene Taylor, D-Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, will vote for
Texas Gov. George W. Bush if the presidential race is ultimately
decided by the U.S. House of Representatives.

"I will vote the way the majority of my constituents in the Fifth
Congressional District voted.  And in this case, Governor Bush
carried [my district]."
  - The (Mississippi) Sun Herald, 11/28/00


Monday, Indiana House Speaker John Gregg, D-Sandborn, called on
Gore to end the disputes that have kept the presidential election
in doubt for 20 days.

"He needs to pick up the phone, call Austin and say, 'Mr.
President, congratulations. I support you as president 100
percent."
  - Indianapolis Star, 11/26/00


Self-described liberal Democrat Pat Caddell on MSNBC's "Hardball
with Chris Matthews," 11/27/00:
"They're talking about 26,000 people that they said their votes
didn't count.  There are 35,000 other people in Florida who's
votes were not counted that lie in George Bush country...Many,
many more are Bush votes and they don't say a word about that."


Quotes from Media:

Peggy Noonan on Fox News Channel's "Hannity and Colmes," 11/27/00:
"...a lot of emotional symbolism and emotional language without
having that symbolism and language buttressed by a good spine of
thought and logic and argument...

"You cannot say of the ballot, just because nobody voted for Bush
or Gore, that it's really a secret Gore vote that didn't get
counted..."


Salon.com's Joan Walsh, 11/28/00:
"His condescending, singsong delivery of a bland speech Monday
night was so inadequate to the gravity of the moment it was
almost insulting."


Don Imus and Howard Fineman on MSNBC's "Imus in the Morning,"
11/28/00:
Imus:  "What if Gore had won, and Bush...I mean, what if the
roles were reversed, how would, I wouldn't want to include you in
this, but how would the liberal weenies of the news media be
treating all this if the roles were reversed."

Fineman: "Oh my God, ...you kidding?!  That George Bush
was a cry baby, that he was the spoiled son of a failed
President.  You know, you can just here it.  The personal attacks
on Bush would be just absolutely vicious."


Ceci Connolly and Chip Reid on MSNBC, 11/27/00:
Connolly:  "But you also saw that sort of preachy Al Gore, that
you sometimes get, that has turned off many Americans over time.
And you also got a little bit of whining, frankly, when he
started talking about voter intimidation."

Reid:  "Some thought it very odd, why they had all the
photographers in there flashing.  It was a bit distracting.  And
the flags, some people think maybe it's an overdose on the flags.
And another question:  a very formal setting for a very personal
conversation with the American people."


Howard Fineman on MSNBC, 11/27/00:
Fineman: "He (Gore) had to make clear to people that there was
something about him, some essential goodness in him, that made
it worth fighting this fight.  And when he said, 'If I lose, so
be it,' he had to be convincing on that point.  And I must say,
after all the arguing in this very divided election, it's going
to be hard for most Americans to agree with that...

"...most Americans think that this election was fair.  He's got
to make the case that it isn't, and it's hard for him to do it.

"...political terms, I'm not sure how much time he really has..."

_________________________________________________________________


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