Candidates Prepare for Certification and Beyond
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: As the recounts continue and the lawyers prepare their Supreme Court briefs, let's get an update on the candidates and where they stand. Covering the Bush campaign in Austin Texas is CNN's Eileen O'Connor. And in Washington, Patti Davis is with the Gore campaign. But let's first start with you, Eileen.</s>EILEEN O'CONNOR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, there -- Governor Bush will be coming back sometime today around 3:30, is what we've been hearing, although we're not entirely sure from his ranch in Crawford, Texas, about 90 minutes north of here, where he has been relaxing since Thanksgiving. But he has been in touch with his lawyers who are, of course, preparing their briefs for the Supreme Court. Although we do have some reaction from the Bush campaign about those accusations by the Democrats, that they orchestrated these demonstrations and continue to orchestrate these demonstrations going on in Florida. Mindy Tucker, from the Bush campaign, is saying that, you know, the Gore camp needs to realize that there are a lot of people in America who are becoming upset with the way these manual recounts are being conducted. And she says look, basically these people are realizing that they're not there, that they're not producing accurate results, that they're subjective. And she also said that, you know, the Gore campaign accusations about these demonstrations, that they're orchestrated ring hollow because Jessie Jackson also held early demonstrations in the early days of this. And she said that, you know, the Democrats should apply the standard evenly. Now -- but, top priority, of course, is preparing that case for the U.S. Supreme Court. The Bush attorneys are working on their briefs. They have to file those by Tuesday. They say that it's really a basic argument, that they are looking -- when the Florida state Supreme Court decided to mandate that these manual recounts be conducted and that the deadline is tomorrow at 5:00 p.m. and that they be included in that certified total -- the Bush campaign says basically, the court will have to decide did the Florida state Supreme court overstep its authority.</s>GEORGE TERWILLIGER, BUSH CAMPAIGN ATTORNEY: While the circumstances may be unprecedented, the law is not. The law is very settled in this area. Courts in our country do not run everything. And the question really here is who should run the election in Florida and establish deadlines and decide when the votes need to be counted and finality obtained, the courts or the legislature?</s>O'CONNOR: Now, good news for the Bush campaign. Vice presidential nominee, Richard Cheney, was released from hospital yesterday and, as he said that he will be under no limitations. Doctors also said at the hospital that this was a minor incident, that they have repaired the clogged artery in his heart and that he also will be able to get back to the work of strategizing on a possible presidential transition at any time. I'm Eileen O'Connor reporting live from Austin.</s>LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks, Eileen. Let's go now to CNN's Patti Davis. She's with the Gore campaign in Washington this morning -- Patti.</s>PATTI DAVIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Leon, Vice President Al Gore is here at the official residence in Washington. We haven't seen him in a couple of days. But if he decides to venture out today, this is what he'll see. There's quite a noisy demonstration going on across the street. Bush supporters out there with their signs. And, in fact, their numbers have grown to several hundred in about the past 15 minutes or so. Now, across the street from them are the Gore supporters. They number about -- quite a lot this morning. Their numbers have come down a bit, obviously, these people exercising their First Amendment rights, exercising their right to give their opinion. Now, as for the U.S. Supreme Court argument scheduled for Friday, Democrats say that it could and should give Vice President Al Gore some political cover to continue his battle. Of course, the election could be certified on Sunday. If George W. Bush wins, they're saying that would give Vice President cover to continue on in making his case. The Gore legal advisors are hoping also that involvement by the U.S. Supreme Court could help tone down the rhetoric and the emotion.</s>KENDALL COFFEY, GORE CAMPAIGN ATTORNEY: We believe that the U.S. Supreme court will follow all the existing precedent and validate the role of the state Supreme Court of Florida in determining questions of state law. But what I think is a real positive for the whole country is that both sides will have their day in court very quickly and that we will have, in effect, the highest court in the land speaking to the issue. And I think that will give everyone great comfort and further validation in the outcome.</s>DAVIS: And to give you an idea of what's going on inside the official residency of the vice president, keeping a very close eye on developments. And there is no no talk of concession at this point. In fact, we're told that yesterday, he was meeting with his aides to talk about the transition if he does, indeed, win this election -- Moy Neal (ph), the person who's leading that transition; William Daley, his campaign chairman; they're both are leading the charge in Florida; Alexis Hermann, his labor -- the labor secretary for Clinton; Joe Lieberman. Also Hadassa and Tipper there. So, he is hard at work here inside the vice presidential mansion. I'm Patti Davis, CNN, live in Washington.</s>HARRIS: All right. Thanks, Patti. It sounds likes she's at a football game or something there. Well, now that this case has made its way all the way up to the Supreme Court, it's raising lots of questions. And joining us now is professor David Ryden of Hope College. He's the editor of the book, "The U.S. Supreme Court and the Electoral Process." He joins us now from Grand Rapids, Michigan. Good morning. Thanks for coming in and talking to us today about all this.</s>DAVID RYDEN, PROFESSOR, HOPE COLLEGE: Good morning.</s>HARRIS: Now that this -- we're going to be seeing some action in the Supreme Court, what is the history of the court's -- I don't want to use the word "interference," but the court's, I guess, influence over the electoral process? Has it -- has it happened before?</s>RYDEN: It has and certainly -- you know, really in the last 30 or 40 years the court's really been pretty active in terms of getting involved in the electoral process. Up to the 1960s, it pretty much took a hands off approach. But since then, there have been a number of areas where the court has been, I would say, central in terms of it's involvement in shaping how the electoral process actually operates.</s>HARRIS: Now, I read that you didn't think that the Supreme Court would take up this case that the Bush camp has brought before it. So you, like the rest of us, was quite surprised.</s>RYDEN: I did not. I confess to having read that one wrong.</s>HARRIS: Now -- well then -- now that it has made it there, how -- why -- first of all, why do you think the court did agree to hear the case and what do you think is going to happen there?</s>RYDEN: Well, far be it from me to be too confident in my predictions, given -- yeah -- how wrong many of us were on the first question. But my reading of it is simply that this -- the court looked -- I mean, one of the lessons we all ought to take away from the last few weeks is that it's how political the legal process is and how much law and politics are really bound up together. And we tend to think of courts as somehow insulated from politics or operating in a political vacuum. And I think the Supreme Court's decision to take this case on really ought to debunk that notion that they look at the political consequences, you know, riding on the legal issues at stake and, given the -- really, the integrity of the selection method for the highest national officer at stake, that they maybe viewed it as necessary for them to take an extraordinary step to, kind of, render their -- put their stamp of approval on the process.</s>HARRIS: Well, you bring up consequences. I want to hear your thoughts on the consequences for each of the two men involved here. Now that they have involved the courts, many people are -- they're taking some heat from different quarters ...</s>RYDEN: Yeah.</s>HARRIS: ... for having done so. Whom do you think is damaged most by this?</s>RYDEN: You know, I don't know who comes out of this stronger. I mean, I think -- I think Americans -- the partisans, the probe (ph) -- the hard core Bush and Gore backers, they're in this for the duration. You know, they want their candidates to take every legal step possible. But, in terms of the more casual man-on-the street, I think they're maybe running out of a bit of patience. And the more this turns into a legal food fight, the more I think both candidates are damaged. Regardless of who the winner is, I think he comes out in pretty weak shape in terms of being able to govern.</s>HARRIS: Well, if he loses this food fight, you think this is it for Al Gore? You think this is the end of his career?</s>RYDEN: I tend to think so. I mean, I -- you know, my spin on this is really the reason Al Gore is really hunkered down, is going to take every legal step possible -- I mean, on the one hand, he's -- I think he genuinely thinks he's probably gotten more votes in Florida. But I also think his mindset is it's going to be awful difficult for him to come back four years from now and to be a viable presidential candidate after what he's been through the last few weeks.</s>HARRIS: After what we've all been through.</s>RYDEN: Yes.</s>HARRIS: Professor David Ryden, thanks much for your time and your thoughts this morning. Appreciate it.</s>RYDEN: Thank you very much. Thanks.