[Leon Harris, Cnn Anchor:] Let's go back to Washington, back to our bureau this time around. CNN's legal analyst Roger Cossack joins us now. Roger, first impression after hearing this news about the Al Gore camp now going back to court to get Miami-Dade County ordered back to the counting tables.
[Roger Cossack, Cnn Legal Analyst:] Well, Leon, I understand why they want to do that. They need those votes, they believe, out of Miami-Dade County. But, you know, if you think about exactly what they're asking for, I think what we've had here is a little act of civil disobedience, if you will, by the Miami-Dade County voters. They just finally threw up their hands yesterday and said, look, we are just not going to count anywhere. They want it done by Sunday, so now they are going to court, and what they are really asking for, in legal talk, is called a writ of mandamus. And what that means is, they want the court to order these people to do something. Now these people are volunteers, it's Thanksgiving Day. They want them to say, they want the court to the say, OK, you volunteers, give up this turkey and Thanksgiving and all of the stuff that we are giving up, by the way, today, and come on in here and start counting. Well, you know what the Miami-Dade County Board is going to say: Hey, listen, you count. We don't want to do this anywhere. And how do you enforce this order? While this would be contempt of court if they didn't continue, and what are they going to have to do? Send out marshals, forcing these people to come back and count. I think it is almost a frustrating situation for the courts because the people are saying: We just don't want to do it anywhere.
[Harris:] And the problem that they're going to have is getting enough people to do it. They have got some 416,000 plus to go through, plus this number of 10,000 or so that are disputed. And if you were watching a while ago? Were you watching when we were talking to Susan and we were watching the canvassing board in Broward County. Did you see how long it took these guys to go over one ballot? It is understandable. How do they expect these people to complete that process then?
[Cossack:] It's a little Boston Tea Party down there. They just said: Listen, we are not going to do this. We don't want to do this anymore. If you want it counted, get somebody else to count it. We don't want to count. So how are they going to force them to come back into court? They could issue an order and I suppose, if the volunteers say: OK, we will come back, we will come back. But if they say: We are not coming back, now what happens? So I think this is an exercise in frustration.
[Harris:] Explain something else to me because what happened was, that Broward County Canvassing Board reversed itself. Remember, the first time around...
[Cossack:] Right.
[Harris:] ... that they had to count every single ballot, otherwise it wouldn't be fair. Then they said, OK, we will just count and go over the 10,000 disputed ballots, and then they changed their mind on that again, saying it would be unfair to do just that.
[Cossack:] Right.
[Harris:] Now that they have gone back to their original position, what is about counting just the 10,000 ballots that are being disputed that is unfair?
[Cossack:] Are you talking about Broward or Miami, which says that we are not going to count at all?
[Harris:] That is Miami-Dade, thanks for correcting me, that is Miami-Dade that has been going and doing the flip-flopping on that.
[Cossack:] Well, counting the 10,000 undercounts or the ones that had the no vote on them whatsoever?
[Harris:] Exactly.
[Cossack:] Well, the argument is that they come back and say: Listen, you are going to pick 10,000 ballots out of the hundreds of thousands that were cast, and you are going to count those, and those are the ones that you are going to report, what about the rest of them? And I understand their argument is saying: Look, we agree that these 10,000 or so ballots were kicked out by the machine because people didn't vote or because these were ones that the machine couldn't pick up, and perhaps, these are the ones that really needs to be counted. But you know, that is an assumption. And I see why the other side says, if you are going to count, you are going to count. Look, the Miami people have said from Miami-Dade, we just don't want to count any more. You can go to court, you can do anything, but I would be real surprised if some court and by the way, they have already lost last night in the Third Circuit in Florida and now they are going to the Supreme Court And I don't know if the court has enough power to say, you better get back in there and stat counting. Because if they don't, what are they going to do?
[Harris:] Let me ask you one last question, then, because it seems like the only way they could get this through the court, or get the court to even consider this, or maybe even get Miami-Dade officials to consider it is if they got that deadline moved back some We are talking about a Sunday at 5:00 p.m. deadline. Now, if the court were to consider that, is that that is basically what the Gore campaign is going to have to ask the court to do first before they can convince the Miami-Dade officials to actually begin the recount again. correct?
[Cossack:] That is right. But here is the problem with that. That date wasn't just picked out of the blue. The reason that the Florida Supreme Court picked that date is because they know very well that the losing candidate, under Florida law, has a right to the contest the election. Right now, we are hearing a protest of the election. The losing candidate has the right to protest the election. That takes time too. So the reason they wanted everything done soon was to give a few days before this December 12th deadline so if the losing candidate wants to file a lawsuit to contest the whole darn election, they would have some time to do it. You just can't keep moving this date back, because, as the court said, we have to get our things in by the December 12, or else, then they might have the Florida state legislature to deal with.
[Harris:] Can't we just wake up tomorrow and have this all be a bad dream?
[Cossack:] Just as long as you understand that I am not the guy from the Turkey Institute.
[Harris:] All right, thanks, buddy, appreciate you sticking around for Thanksgiving. Have a good holiday.
[Cossack:] All right. You too Carol.
[Carol Lin, Cnn Anchor:] By the way, I want to remind you that you are asking that on the one year anniversary of Elian Gonzalez being found floating off of the shores of Florida. So we know how long a story can go on for. OK, well, continuing on this story. Let's go to ground zero in Miami-Dade County, where Frank Buckley, if your head is not spinning yet, maybe you can tell us whether, even if the court does rule today on the Gore petition, is there anyone there to even continue counting?
[Frank Buckley, Cnn Correspondent:] My sense of it is, Carol, that actually the canvassing board was quite willing to take on the task of counting the 10,750 undervote ballots, those are the ballots with a chad that might be partially removed, or a pinhole, or something that the machine, when they put it through the machine, it didn't say, well, yes, that is a definite vote for Bush or Gore or Nader or somebody else. These are what these undervote ballots are called. They were quite willing to take on the task of counting those by Sunday. They felt they could just barely, if they could do it in this tabulation room in the county building. Why do they have to do it there? Because that is the where the machines are where they also had to segregate some of those ballots. Some of the machines some of the undervote ballots in 109 precincts had not been sent through the machines to be segregated, They have to go through and those undervote ballots have to be sent out. Now the canvassing board members, as it has been explained to me by the county, have to be there to witness this process as it's going through. Their sense was, when that decision was made in the early afternoon that OK, we're not going to do this in the tabulation room because the Republicans were protesting that, the media was protesting that, we'll do it back on the 18th floor, and do this so that everyone can see, and there won't be the protests. When they made that decision, David Leahy, the election supervisor, said: Wait a minute. We can't be in two places at the same time. We can't be upstairs on the 19th floor watching the tabulation go through, while we at the same time examine each individual ballot. If we could be in the same room, we might be able to just make it. But if we can't be in the same room, his thinking was, he couldn't guarantee that it would get done. And Leahy's position was, if they couldn't do all of the undervote, that he wouldn't certify the undervote ballot. And so, and just couldn't guarantee that it would get done by Sunday. So that was really what the thinking was, in terms of not wanting to continue with the count. It wasn't that they were tired, yes, they were exhausted, but that wouldn't the primary motivating factor for them. They just felt that physically, it couldn't be done.
[Lin:] So regardless of the ruling, or just focusing on whether they can actually complete the work, any work at all by Sunday afternoon, is it really just the sense that the bottom line, is, they need more time, and they need a court to tell them that this 5:00 p.m. deadline can change, and then...
[Buckley:] Absolutely.
[Lin:] And then, they are more than willing to start the recounting and they can work out all those details, logistics, about where they do the counting and who is going to be in the room et cetera, et cetera, later, but they need more time.
[Buckley:] That is their position. They felt that they needed until December 1st, that is this next Friday, to get through all of the ballots. But they felt that they could get when the time was cut in half by the Supreme Court so that the deadline became this Sunday. They thought, well, we can't get through all of the ballots, but we can get through just this limited number of undervote ballots.
[Lin:] Gotcha.
[Buckley:] That was their vote yesterday morning. But then they changed. So they really do need more time from their point of view.
[Lin:] All right. Well, we will see what happens, if the court takes it up today or as soon as tomorrow. Thanks so much Frank Buckley Leon.
[Harris:] All right, let's go out now to Austin, Texas. CNN's Tony Clark is standing by. he has been covering the Bush camp there. Tony, any reaction to what we have just heard?
[Tony Clark, Cnn Correspondent:] Well, we haven't heard any formal reaction this morning. But everything was anticipated. You know, this was an important move for the Bush campaign to see Miami-Dade decide not to go ahead with the recount because they have argued all along that Miami-Dade keeps changing the rules. First, they are going to recount one way, and then they're not; and then they are going to do the undervote. And so Barry Richard last night was saying, this has all been very confusing, they keep changing the rules. And that is why they ought to stick with what they have now decided, stick with those numbers that they give the secretary of state on November 8th. All of this comes at the same time that the Bush campaign has gone to the U.S. Supreme Court, filing two appeals, an appeal of the Florida Supreme Court's decision allowing the hand count. And also appealing a decision lower court, lower federal court decision about the manual count. In both of those cases, they argue, that George W. Bush and Dick Cheney were the winners in Florida. And that efforts are being made to overturn that. They're saying that what is happening in Florida now is a circus, bordering on anarchy, and they have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to step in and either force the hand count to be discontinued, or simply throw it out of the tabulations and all of that. As for the governor himself, he was out jogging this morning. Wished everyone a happy Thanksgiving. He and his family will have Thanksgiving meal at a friend's house here in Austin, and then go to their ranch near Crawford, Texas. Tony Clark, CNN, Austin, Texas.
[Harris:] All right, thanks, Tony.
[Lin:] Thank you, Tony.