[Daryn Kagan, Cnn Anchor:] We're going to begin with the opening of a new chapter and the end of a long and bitter fight for the White House. George W. Bush has officially assumed the title of president- elect with a call for reconciliation and unity. We have live reports this morning from national correspondent Tony Clark he's in Austin, Texas; Eileen O'Connor at the Bush- Cheney transition office in McLean, Virginia; and our Patty Davis at Vice President Gore's residence in Washington, D.C. We're going to start with Tony on what George W. Bush plans to do as this his first full day as president-elect. Tony, good morning.
[Tony Clark, Cnn National Correspondent:] Good morning, Daryn. Busy day for President-elect Bush, but not a particularly public day for the president-elect. Over at the governor's mansion right now, this is about the time of day that he usually gets his intelligence briefing from the CIA, Andrew Card arriving there a short time ago, Andrew Card his designated chief of staff during a Bush White House. And then about an hour from now, there will be a prayer service at the Terrytown United Methodist Church. That's the church the governor and Mrs. Bush go to when they are in Austin. Three ministers speaking today. Among them the pastor from the church that they attend when they are in Dallas, Texas. The president-elect saying as he begins a new administration he is looking for divine guidance, as he said in his speech last night.
[Gov. George W. Bush , President-elect:] With God's help, we as a nation will move forward together as one nation, indivisible. And together we will create an America that is open so every citizen has access to the American dream; an America that is educated so every child has the keys to realize that dream; and an America that is united in our diversity and our shared American values that are larger than race or party. I was not elected to serve one party, but to serve one nation.
[Clark:] Staffers are working on his schedule for here in Austin before he goes to Washington over the weekend for a meeting with President Clinton, Vice President Gore. At this point, no news conferences scheduled, no announcements of key positions and no celebration. I talked to some of the key staff members last night after the president-elect's speech and they had just come back from Florida. Many were tired. And the fact that George W. Bush is the president-elect was something that still was very difficult to sink in Daryn.
[Kagan:] Tony, tell us a little bit more about this prayer service. You told us that this is the church where Mr. and Mrs. Bush usually go when they're in Austin, Texas. Was this a service set up specifically to as a celebration to mark the occasion?
[Clark:] It is specifically for the president-elect, his staff members, family members and the like. And it is and it's just for them, it's not a public service. And it was designed to set the tone. As I say, he mentioned seeking God's help in his speech last night, and it is sort of the first step that they want to take first very public step that they want to take in setting the tone, the mood, the direction for a Bush administration Daryn.
[Kagan:] Tony, thank you very much. Tony Clark in Austin, Texas. And we will be covering that prayer service in the next hour. Also, if the president-elect speaks, we'll bring you his comments live as well. Now to Vice President Gore, who gave his concession speech last night. He has a tough few weeks ahead of him. For more on that, let's bring in our Eileen O'Connor, who actually, it's Patty Davis. Patty Davis standing by in Washington, D.C. Patty, good morning.
[Patty Davis, Cnn Correspondent:] Good morning, Daryn. Vice President Al Gore began his speech last night with a joke, saying that he had just called Texas Gov. George W. Bush, now the president-elect, and said that he wouldn't be calling him back again this time. But it was obviously a highly emotional moment for the vice president as he steadied himself visibly, taking a deep breath before he began speaking, doing what he knew he had to do, and that was call it quits in his White House bid. It was a softer and humbled Gore who spoke to the nation. And he called on the nation to rally behind the new president-elect.
[Vice Pres. Al Gore , Former Presidential Candidate:] Some have expressed concern that the unusual nature of this election might hamper the next president in the conduct of his office. I do not believe it need be so. President-elect Bush inherits a nation whose citizens will be ready to assist him in the conduct of his large responsibilities. I personally will be at his disposal, and I call on all Americans, I particularly urge all who stood with us, to unite behind our next president.
[Davis:] As he left the Old Executive Office Building next to the White House after that concession, supporters cheered him along with wife Tipper and the Liebermans. He touched his hand to his heart to show those supporters how he felt, some shouting, "Gore in four." Now, afterwards, he returned here to the vice presidential residence. He had a party with his campaign staffers. And as Tony said, he will meet with the new president-elect, Bush, here in Washington come next Tuesday to talk conciliation, to talk healing. The meeting that Al Gore has asked for all along will finally come true now under a little bit different circumstances, being that he won't be the next president of the United States Daryn.
[Kagan:] Patty Davis in Washington, D.C., thank you very much. Now if you'll remember, because of the question of how the election was going to work out, the transition funds, millions of dollars, were not released to the Bush-Cheney team, so they went ahead and set up their own privately funded office. And that's where we find our Eileen O'Connor this morning. Eileen in McLean, Virginia. Eileen, I imagine very soon they'll be moving out of those offices.
[Eileen O'connor, Cnn Correspondent:] Well, they will, Daryn. Day by day, they say, they'll be moving out; 21,000 square feet, but still it wasn't really enough space. Vice President-elect Dick Cheney arrived here earlier this morning, very early this morning, to get right down to work. You could say that they have actually already hit the ground running, because they've been running for several weeks. As you know, they raised money themselves to set up a transition office. They have 1,100 jobs to fill that require Senate confirmation; more than 5,300 other jobs to fill. Transition experts say, though, Dick Cheney, being the clearly a very experienced player, a person who's dealt with transitions before, has worked in several administrations, knows what needs to be done. But still it is a daunting task.
[Craig Fuller, Bush-quayle Transition Coordinator:] These are people that have worked together for some time, but all of a sudden the territory is a little different, the desks are a little different, the computers are a little different, and they've got a mountain of paperwork in the form of resumes from people who want to come into government. So it's a daunting task that faces them. On the other hand, what I call the "Cheney factor" helps a lot. Secretary Dick Cheney, Vice President-elect Dick Cheney, has a lot of experience in Washington serving presidents, serving in cabinet posts himself. He knows how to run a transition, and putting him in charge of this was a very smart thing to do.
[O'connor:] And as you know, Gov. Bush has also been meeting with the man that he has said will be his White House chief of staff, Andrew Card, over these last few weeks. And they have been going over lists and lists, they say, of personnel. Clearly there are, as I said, thousands of jobs to fill, but they say they are well on their way and they will be prepared. This afternoon, in fact, they will be getting those keys to the federal office space that they have available downtown Washington. They'll be handed over from GSA officials in a little ceremony here in the Briefing Room that's just been set up with Secretary Cheney and Clay Johnson, who's the executive director of the transition. He's the guy who makes the all the trains run on time, who gets the computers set up, et cetera. And then, also, they will be taking advantage of some $5.2 million in transition funds Daryn.
[Kagan:] Eileen, as we mentioned, the offices where you are right now in McLean, Virginia, the Bush team went ahead and raised private funds in order to finance that. Would you happen to know if there's any of that money left over? And where does that money go now that they'll be able to use the federal funds?
[O'connor:] Well, it's not unusual, you know, for private funds to be raised. In fact, the Clinton-Gore administration in 1992 raised private funds, but they only had raised $1.3 million, possibly a little more, by now. But most of that will have been used up. And they likely will also use up all the federal funds. You know, there's a lot of expenses. There's travel expenses, there's communications. This pays for everything all the way down to postage, so it's quite a lot. And, you know, in terms of those resumes that they've been dealing with, they've actually online gotten like 18,000 the other day, but even more coming in, 20,000 as of yesterday.
[Kagan:] Very good. Eileen O'Connor in McLean, Virginia, thank you very much. We've been talking this morning that President-elect Bush and he talked about it in his speech last night trying to reach across party lines. He will face the challenge, though, of working with a divided Congress. Let's check in now with Kate Snow, who is covering that latest reaction from Capitol Hill. Kate, good morning.
[Kate Snow, Cnn Correspondent:] Good morning, Daryn. Last night, most Democrats agreeing that they thought Al Gore had done a very good job with his speech. They said that both Bush and Gore had struck the right tone. They felt they were paving the way for Democrats and Republicans to work together. This morning, some Democrats, though, some indication that perhaps more liberal Democrats may have felt that Al Gore didn't go far enough in his speech last night. Just a short time ago on CNN, House Minority Whip David Bonior said that he feels that they need to keep counting the votes in Florida.
[Rep. David Bonior , Minority Whip:] One thing I was mildly disappointed in last night with the president-elect was not recognizing the need to deal with the electoral reform problems that we saw in Florida but that go on all across this country. The franchise is a very important thing. The vote is an important thing for millions of people. It is their way to express themselves. And there's a lot of bitterness over what happened here. He needs to address that. He needs to dig deeper to understand that in order for him to really bind the wounds that are out there in the country.
[Snow:] And Republicans on the Hill acknowledge that there is going to be some bitterness among their Democratic counterparts. Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott addressing that yesterday here. He said it's going to be hard to bring people together. But Republicans feel that there is enough bipartisan consensus that they can get some legislative items passed.
[Rep. Dick Armey , Majority Leader:] We have legislation, if it has good standing with the American people, such as repealing the death penalty, repealing the marriage penalty, things of this nature, things we can do for prescription medicines for senior citizens, improving our education. We do these jobs right we'll get good bipartisan support. And we have an opportunity to work together. George Bush is a person who reaches out across the aisle. He'll be a good example before us. He'll be a good encouragement to us.
[Snow:] Vice President-elect Dick Cheney met with Republicans here on Capitol Hill yesterday, spent much of the day here. He met with moderate Republicans. And Sen. Trent Lott said he has plans to come back to the Hill soon and meet with Democrats as well. Kate Snow, CNN, live, Capitol Hill.
[Kagan:] Kate, thank you very much.