Posted on 08/25/2002 4:21:23 PM PDT by aculeus
Al Gore might have had a statewide recount if he hadn't decided to "unleash the dogs of war" on Secretary of State Katherine Harris in Florida's postelection chaos.
The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights did a media-assisted hatchet job on Harris and Gov. Jeb Bush in its election post-mortem last year. And some of the male TV news anchors making snide references to her makeup wear more paint and powder than she ever uses.
Those are some of the insights gleaned from "Center of the Storm," a book Harris wrote about her experiences - and lessons learned - in the aftermath of the 2000 presidential election. The 289-page book, subtitled "Practicing Principled Leadership in Times of Crisis," is scheduled for publication in October, just before the election that Harris hopes will take her to Washington as Southwest Florida's newest member of Congress.
"Regardless of what course of action we chose, we knew we had landed in a no-win situation," Harris writes of returning to her Capitol office at 3:45 a.m. on Nov. 6, about the time Attorney General Bob Butterworth was phoning Nashville to tell Gore not to concede defeat. "Before I made my first public statement, we all knew that my office would come under fire."
For the next 36 days, Harris was sued in several counties, stung by partisan barbs from Democratic Party activists on cable-TV talk shows, denounced in rallies on the Capitol steps, joked about by Jay Leno and David Letterman, hounded by reporters and photographers, lionized by Republicans and lampooned by editorial cartoonists nationwide. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement gave her bodyguards because of death threats, and floral displays from all over the country clogged the lobby of her office daily.
"When the Gore campaign began to unleash the dogs of war upon me during the difficult recount controversy, I was not inordinately surprised," Harris wrote. She also said that "at the beginning of the recount period, I had erected a firewall between my office and any partisan activity."
Galley proofs of the book were received from Thomas Nelson Publishers last week by the Tallahassee Democrat.
Harris, who resigned this month to make the congressional race, describes writing the book as "educational and cathartic." She chose 12 basic principles she said always guide her public and personal decisions - illustrating each one with historical examples ranging from George Washington at Valley Forge to President Bush on Sept. 11 and including scores of inspirational quotes and bits of country music or poetry, to show how she applied her principles during the 36-day siege of Tallahassee.
'Never set out to be a hero'
"Political cartoonists and syndicated columnists weighed in on everything from my makeup and wardrobe to my childhood and education, from my family life and political life to my love life and social life," she wrote. "Wild rumors were repeated with impunity. The politics of personal destruction became the default mode of many media personalities, journalists and campaign staffers."
Harris said the media and her Democratic critics ignored her Harvard graduate business school education and four-year term in the Florida Senate, where she led an economic development committee, and depicted her as a wealthy dilettante more interested in cutting ribbons at art galleries than the humdrum election duties of the Department of State. Throughout the book, she repeatedly states that she applied the law impartially, never caring whether her decisions favored Bush or Gore.
"I never set out to be a hero to anyone - not to President Bush, not to Gov. Jeb Bush, not to former Vice President Gore, not to the Republican Party, not to the Democratic Party and not to the media," she wrote.
She also explains the separate "protest" and "contest" phases of an election challenge, saying Gore could have had a statewide recount if he had not tried to block her from certifying the election results. Harris also raps the Florida Supreme Court for "legislating" pro-Gore rulings that were reversed by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Harris set a 5 p.m. deadline Nov. 14, one week after Election Day, for all counties to certify results of their machine recounts. Gore wanted recounts in four Democratic strongholds - but later called for a statewide recount.
"In fact, had Al Gore not fought my enforcement of that deadline (thereby enabling me to certify the election on Nov. 17, 2000, the deadline for our receipt of overseas military ballots), he could have filed his contest more than one week earlier," Harris wrote.
"When the four-justice majority of the Supreme Court ... delayed certification until Nov. 26 (thereby writing new law, not interpreting the law), they abandoned traditional judicial decorum, chiding me for being too much of a stickler about the law - as if this trait somehow constituted a defect in character," Harris wrote of Florida's highest court.
"They ruled that certification constituted such a significant event with such momentous implications for Al Gore's ability to obtain a 'full and fair' (for only four Democratic-majority counties) manual recount, that they had no choice but to legislate from the bench and change the law."
Harris blasts media
Democrats have maintained that Gore would have won Florida's 25 electoral votes - and the White House - in a statewide recount. Gore forces think thousands of ballots in some of his strongest counties were wrongly disqualified.
At least 53 lawsuits were filed. But some unofficial ballot inspections paid for by consortiums of news agencies showed Bush winning by varying margins.
Bush's final victory margin, which Harris certified, was 537 votes - out of more than 6 million cast.
Harris' book frequently blasts the news media, saying they shamelessly favored Gore, and Civil Rights Commission Chairwoman Mary Frances Berry, whom she blames for leaking a preliminary report that called Harris and Gov. Jeb Bush "grossly derelict" in conducting the election. The commission's final report did not contain that allegation, she said, but the leaked copy already had been quoted in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times and Washington Post last year.
Harris resorts to anonymous sources for a few enticing tidbits. She writes that some reporters told her their editors wanted them to slant stories but doesn't identify them. Similarly, she says some GOP operatives criticized her for not leaning toward Bush in her recount decisions - but doesn't say who they were.
"Reporters often revealed to me that their editors insisted they create a negative story from circumstances that in no way warranted that spin," she wrote. "Others have told me that my Harvard education, years of public service, chairmanship of key committees, passage of important bills or other facts of accomplishment they had included in their stories were distorted or deleted by their 'unbiased' editors."
Harris said the allegation that blacks were prevented from voting hurt her more than anything else said about her. Of the Civil Rights Commission, Harris wrote, "The process and manner by which the majority commissioners, led by Chairperson Mary Frances Berry, performed their work constituted almost a worse injustice than the rampant falsehoods contained in the report itself."
She also mentions being likened to Cruella de Vil, Vampira and Morticia by some unidentified commentators.
"Ah, the joys of serious, analytical journalism," Harris wrote.
"Fortunately, I have seen these newscasters in person addressing the camera, and I can tell you, quite frankly, that they had applied far more makeup than I have ever considered wearing!" she wrote. "Just for the record: I haven't owned blue eye shadow since my early teen-age years and the rainbow colors I saw 'enhancing' my face in newspaper photos made me wonder whether a creative retoucher had been at work."
Harris said she was sustained in the recount fight by her personal faith, her family and a conviction that she was applying the law even-handedly. She said her political survival may have shocked the critics.
"Through this attack and others like it, the political prognosticators predicted that I would not be able to bear up under the pressure - that my career would be derailed, that I would surely melt into a little puddle, leaving only my broomstick behind," she wrote.
Contact reporter Bill Cotterell at (850) 599-2243 or bcotterell@taldem.com.
© 2001 tallahassee and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved.
I don't think that a statewide recount could have changed much except to make Bush's margin larger.
Certainly the military ballots tossed out all over the state would have been contested to federal court. There is zero way the supreme court would have allows the servicemens ballots to be tossed out on technicalitiesn a larger number of them would have been counted state wide.
What we do gather is that Gore's vaunted legal team of Boies amd Warrem Christopher were absolulely no match for for James Baker. Every decision Boies and Christopher made was wrong and every decision made by Baker was right.
I think a a big reaon Dubya is president is his decision to have James Baker represent him. Baker picked the rest of the legal team. And it was very all star.
I remembe going to the polls in 1980. Behind me in line was a well respected Ohio Democratic attorney. To make some talk, I mentioned that our votes would likely cancel each other out. He said the only way that could happen was if I was voting for Carter! He told me he had been up against James Baker in a Corporate acquisition matter. This Ohio attorney was very sharp, but he said Baker was miles ahead of him. He told me he was voting for Reagan becuase he had been told that James Baker would be in the Reagan cabinet handling the economy.
I think the media very very often fails to understand who is super smart and who isn't.
The thing of the 2000 race that is most curious to meow is why Bush thought it was advantageous to go to California late in the race and fix it so Gore felt it necessary to go to California after him. I know Republican polling is accurate. I have seen far too much of it to believe otherwise. When Bush went to California he put huge pressure on Gore to do likewise. Gore did go to California. I have often wondered what state they didn't want Gore to have extra time in which to campaign. Could it have been Ohio or Tennesee or even Florida.
Either Gore did not have as good a polling as Bush, or Gore was not as trusting of his people as Bush was or he was afraid not to go to California.
I think Gore can be spooked and was.
I think Hillary can be spooked even more than Gore. HIllary will likely be in 2008 what Teddy Kennedy was in 1980. All the media thought that the 1980 nomination was an easy win for Teddy. Especially with our hostages being held in Iran and Carter appearing helpless. But Carter beat Teddy with out even campaigning. In the General Election Reagan proved that Jimmy was not all that popular. But in the primaries Jimmy proved that beating Teddy Kennedy was easy.
I think Hillary is much like Teddy. She can win where the left prevails when she is the only leftist choice. But when there are more leftist choices or when she is competing in the non leftist states, she will fail.I look for Hillary to run in the primaries of 2008 and get as badly beaten as Teddy Kennedy was in 1980.
Bush will be grooming someone to run in 2008. It will be very interesting to see who that may be. In the last 2 years of the Bush administration someone will get the star build up by Bush. It will be fun to see who that is.
Dear God, please let it be so.
One of the major court rulings during the Florida election debacle that went virtually unnoticed by the major media was that of federal district judge Lacey Collier in Pensacola, who ruled on Dec 8th, 2000 that election officials in Florida had to count as valid hundreds more of the military overseas ballots that had been previously thrown out on technicalities.
When SCOFLA overruled Judge Sauls and restarted the counting, the state judge who was designated by them to count the ballots was told of the federal court's decision, and was told to add in the new military ballot totals. Of course, the recount came to a screeching halt a few days later when SCOTUS swatted down SCOFLA for the second time.
I posted the breaking news on free republic when I heard of the ruling via our local Penscola TV station. See Bush Wins Critical Underreported Military Ballots Lawsuit!" if you're interested.
The title of the ruling was Bush, et al v. Hillsborough Co. Canvassing Board. Go about halfway down the page to find a link to the ruling in PDF format.
Yes, I distinctly remember that. They were never added in, but the judgment did come down in Bush's favor -- or more accurately, in the military voters' favor.
I haven't heard anything more. Can anyone validate this or was it just hype?
Bush will be grooming someone to run in 2008. It will be very interesting to see who that may be. In the last 2 years of the Bush administration someone will get the star build up by Bush. It will be fun to see who that is.
Condoleezza Rice. Take it to the bank. Watch the upcoming Iraq war and see who gets showcased. Your questions will be answered.
Be Seeing You,
Chris
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