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Want to help? Forward this e-mail to your friends, then, if you have not yet given, contribute to the Bush Cheney Recount here: https://www.econtributor.net/Contribution/Contribution.cfm?AID=IVFFBXFAZHGH AOL contribution link at bottom. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 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..." _________________________________________________________________ AOL contribution link: <a href=https://www.econtributor.net/Contribution/Contribution.cfm?AID=IVFFBXFAZH GH<Contribute</a< _________________________________________________________________ Paid for by Bush Cheney Recount http://www.georgewbush.com ============================================================================== To unsubscribe, please go here: http://www.georgewbush.com/unsubscribe.asp?email=EBASS@ENRON.COM To change your e-mail address or any other subscription information, please go here: http://www.georgewbush.com/MyGeorgeW.asp
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