Florida court rules for Gore, but Bush won't give up

Florida court rules for Gore, but Bush won't give up
Chidanand Rajghatta

WASHINGTON, NOVEMBER 22: The Florida Supreme Court on Tuesday paved way for an Al Gore Presidency. But it ain't over yet. The Republican forces of Texas Governor George Bush have threatened to explore uncharted legal and legislative minefields to stop the Democrats from a court-backed victory.

Gore forces celebrated the court ruling that manual counting should be included in the results, with an extended November 26 deadline for certification.

The seesaw legal and political battle sent Republican vice-presidential nominee Dick Cheney, who has had three heart attacks plus a bypass in the past, back to a hospital with chest pains late on Tuesday.

Sullen Bushies described the ruling as unfair and unacceptable, and contemplated adopting what commentators called a ``nuclear strategy.''

This would involve rallying the newly-elected Florida legislature, which is Republican-controlled, and getting it re-assert the statutes that govern state elections. Such a move would engender a classic judiciary versus executive scenario.

``It is like stepping into a political Chernobyl,'' one commentator remarked.

Republicans are in effect accusing the Florida Supreme Court of usurping the state's legislative powers and rewriting election laws. The court in its ruling suggested it was merely reconciling contradictory elements in the statute.

Although the Florida Supreme Court laid down a fairly clear line that results from the manual recounting under an extended deadline will have to be taken into consideration, it did not pass any ruling on the issue of `dimpled' or `pregnant' chads. This is when voters have punched a ballot in the space next to the candidate they intended to vote for, but a full perforation has not been made and the ``chad'' has not been detached.

In the manual recount in three major Florida county, Al Gore has been steadily eating into George Bush's lead of some 930 votes. But it is widely acknowledged that he will not overhaul Bush unless the counties choose to count the dimpled chads that are being set aside in a separate pile in two counties, with only the Miami-Dade County counting them too.

Some 5,000 such contested ballots have been set aside. Gore is believed to have won about 2 out of every 3 such ballots.

But case law and precedence in the United States suggests that dimpled chads can be counted to determine voter ``intent,'' something the Florida Supreme Court alluded to in its ruling, citing an Illinois precedent. The decision to count the pregnant chads is now largely left to the county canvassing boars that are mostly Democratic. More legal fights are expected there.

Meanwhile, under the new scenario being contemplated by Bush forces, Republican lawmakers in Florida could convene a special legislative session to potentially choose a new method of selecting the state's 25 electors if Gore won with the recounted votes.

That would take the election into uncharted constitutional waters, possibly throwing the contest into the US Congress. The Republicans have a slim majority in the House and a tie looms large in the Senate (Republicans are leading 50-49 with one undeclared result under a recount because it is too close to call).

In case of an overall electoral tie or uncertain electoral slate, the U.S House of Representatives gets to elect the President and the Senate chooses the vice-president.

Although Republicans have a thin majority in the new House, when it comes to choosing the President sans the electoral college, each state gets one vote.Because Bush has comfortably won more number of states (30 or so out of 50), he will sail through.

But an absurd situation will arise in the Senate that picks the vice-president. Because the Senate could be in a tie, the incumbent vice-president (in this case Al Gore) will have a casting vote. He could exercise that to ensure the election of his running mate Joe Lieberman as the vice-president.

Improbable as it may sound, America could theoretically see Republican George Bush as President and Democrat Joe Lieberman as vice-president.

After the ruling, Gore suggested that he would -- as Bush has been doing -- begin the transition exercise to occupy the White House.

In a very American ritual, the party that is victorious in the Presidential election on November 7 usually begins a 10-week transition phase while the incumbent winds up and demits office on January 20.

In this case, because the verdict is so uncertain, the formal transition process is on hold -- including keys to the transition office building. Time is running out for both sides to make an effective transition, that involves appointing some 3,000 federal officials, some 600 of who need Senate confirmation. Unless an incoming administration manages a transition effectively, it does not get down to serious business till well into the first year of its term.

Despite an undisputed victory in 1992, Bill Clinton'ss transition phase was so disorderly and chaotic that his administration did not settle down for months. Delays included a one-year hiatus in appointing an ambassador to India.