Skip to main content
ad info

 
CNN.com AllPolitics
  Editions | myCNN | Video | Audio | Headline News Brief | Free E-mail | Feedback  
 

Search


Search tips
POLITICS
TOP STORIES

Bush unveiling religious-based charity plan

Bush and family attend largely black church

Bush appears to make encouraging first impression

Bush Cabinet will meet over California power crisis

Former first lady says Reagans repaid Bel Air home with interest

Lockhart defends Clintons as GOP criticizes gifts, pardons, pranks

(MORE)

TOP STORIES

Indian PM witnesses quake devastation

EU considers tighter BSE controls

Alpine tunnel tops summit agenda

Bill Gates to address Davos

(MORE)

 MARKETS    1613 GMT, 12/28
5217.4
-25.00
5160.1
+42.97
4624.58
+33.42

 
SPORTS

(MORE)

 All Scoreboards
WEATHER
European Forecast

 Or choose another Region:
EUROPE

WORLD

TECHNOLOGY

ENTERTAINMENT

  IN OTHER NEWS

U.S.

HEALTH

TRAVEL



(MORE HEADLINES)
EDITIONS:
CNN.com U.S.:
*

LOCAL LANGUAGES:


MULTIMEDIA:

CNN WEB SITES:

CNN NETWORKS:
CNN International

TIME INC. SITES:

SITE INFO:

WEB SERVICES:

Top Gore aides confident, but acknowledge 'turbulence' in recount struggle

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- With some Democrats in Washington worried that Florida recount results were less encouraging than expected, Al Gore's senior advisers said Tuesday they were confident now-disputed ballots would give the vice president more than enough votes to pull ahead in the state's presidential recount.

"We are all very comfortable that we are going to be in good shape when the hand counts are done," said a senior Gore adviser involved in the recount effort on the ground in Florida.

Graphic
 

This adviser conceded, however, that his prediction depended on most of the "disputed" or "contested" ballots being counted -- with local canvassing boards using dimples or other marks on the paper ballots to determine voter intent.

The Gore camp hopes the Florida Supreme Court's ruling will make clear that state law allows such a process to determine voter intent, but says it believes officials in counties where the recounts are under way will consider most of these ballots anyway.

"We certainly would not be pursuing the recount if it was not winnable," the senior Gore adviser said. "We are confident that we are within the range of victory, but there is a little turbulence in getting there."

In Washington, many Democrats -- including some Gore advisers -- have begun voicing concerns that the ongoing tally does not show the vice president making up enough ground to give them confidence that he will ultimately overtake Republican George W. Bush if the state Supreme Court orders the secretary of state to accept the recount results.

Sen. Bob Kerrey of Nebraska was dispatched by the Gore campaign to Florida in part to address the controversy over counting military overseas ballots.

Kerrey said some accommodation should be made to count dimpled ballots.

"Are they willing to do the same thing for 85-year-olds that simply didn't have the strength to punch through a punch card, that simply didn't have the capacity to get that done?" he asked.

Kerrey said he spoke to the vice president Monday night and that Gore said he believed he had carried the state of Florida and was confident that a recount would show that to be the case. But Kerrey said Gore acknowledged he could lose the court ruling -- or come out of the recount process still trailing.

"He understands that at some point it's going to be over, and he's not going to appeal this thing infinitum. He's going to stop and say, 'I still believe on the 7th of November I had a majority of the votes, but I know this thing's got to go on, I know that the electors have to be certified and I know that I may not end up being president.' "

Senior Gore advisers say they are confident the state Supreme Court will allow the recounts to continue, but they acknowledge there would be little rationale for continuing the legal fight if the court ruled Secretary of State Katherine Harris was within her rights to refuse to accept the results of the manual recounts.

The support the vice president enjoys from fellow Democrats would likely evaporate as well if the court's ruling had the effect of shutting the recount process down.

"I think there is a growing feeling among a number of individuals that this should be the final decision," Louisiana Sen. John Breaux told CNN. "This is, after all, the Supreme Court of the state of Florida. Supreme means the final decision."

Breaux said he had spoken to Gore recently and to Democratic vice presidential nominee Joseph Lieberman on Tuesday, "They're very calm," he said. "Surprising to me -- I mean, I would be a nervous wreck."


MORE STORIES:

Tuesday, November 21, 2000

ARCHIVES

 Search   

Back to the top  © 2001 Cable News Network. All Rights Reserved.
Terms under which this service is provided to you.
Read our privacy guidelines.