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| Texas Senate Picks New Lieutenant Governor in Secret |
| 12/29/2000 1:43 PM |
With the blessing of the Texas Supreme Court, state lawmakers chose a new lieutenant governor -- perhaps the most powerful post in Texas -- by secret ballot.
A few hours after the court turned aside a legal challenge by news organizations Thursday, the Texas Senate picked Bill Ratliff, a Republican from Mount Pleasant, about 100 miles northeast of Dallas.
Ratliff was sworn in immediately. The 11-year Senate veteran received a standing ovation as he stepped to the podium.
"To my colleagues, there truly is no greater honor than to be selected by your peers for an office as responsible as this one because, after all, you know all of my faults as well as I do having worked together all these years," Ratliff said.
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| In Final Year, Gilmore's Legacy Appears Secure |
| 12/29/2000 1:41 PM |
Virginia Gov. James S. Gilmore III has already forged a legacy that will have far-reaching effects, and the resurgence of the state's Republican Party has propelled him into a prominent national role.
With a little more than a year to go in his term, the governor has signed the largest tax cut in state history, boosted education spending, and promoted Virginia as a high-tech mecca. Most importantly, he gave Republicans a historic breakthrough in the legislature, delivering to them a one-time Democratic stronghold.
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| Rumsfeld Gets Pentagon Post |
| 12/29/2000 1:40 PM |
President-elect George W. Bush yesterday named Donald H. Rumsfeld to be secretary of defense 23 years after he completed a term in that job in the Ford administration.
Mr. Rumsfeld promised to direct the development of a missile-defense system and to help Mr. Bush fulfill his promise to restore the prowess of the military.
"History teaches us that weakness is provocative. The task you have outlined is to fashion deterrence and defense capabilities, so that our country will be able to successfully contribute to peace and stability in the world," he said.
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| Bush Fills Four More Cabinet Posts |
| 12/29/2000 1:38 PM |
President-elect Bush named Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson to become secretary of health and human services Friday.
Bush also chose Rod Paige, the Houston superintendent of schools, to be secretary of education, and named former Colorado Atty. Gen. Gale Norton to be secretary of the interior.
He nominated Anthony Principi to be secretary of veterans affairs, the department in which he once served as deputy.
The four Cabinet appointments left only three slots to be filled after the new year, the secretaries of labor, energy and transportation.
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| Pentagon Nomination Delay 'Becoming an Issue' |
| 12/27/2000 11:56 AM |
Half the people in Washington seem to be asking why George W. Bush is taking so long to find a defense secretary. The other half are wondering why anyone would want the job.
The basic problem in filling the top slot at the Pentagon in the new Bush administration is that the president-elect's defense policy already is fairly well determined, and so are most of the new administration's other top national security appointees, people involved in the process said.
When former senator Dan Coats (R-Ind.), considered the front-runner for the defense post, met last week with Bush and Vice President-elect Cheney, he asked Bush whether he would be subordinate in policymaking to Colin L. Powell, the former Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman who will be secretary of state, according to a source familiar with that half-hour-long discussion.
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| Rumsfeld Atop List to Take Over as CIA Director |
| 12/27/2000 11:52 AM |
Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has emerged as the leading candidate to become CIA director under President-elect George W. Bush, according to government officials close to the presidential transition team.
Mr. Rumsfeld, 68, is said to be the favored candidate to run the CIA and other U.S. intelligence agencies because of his past government experience, which includes being defense secretary from 1975 to 1977, a congressman from Illinois and an ambassador to NATO.
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| Bush Daughter Released From Hospital |
| 12/27/2000 11:48 AM |
With her mother by her side, one of President-elect George W. Bush's twin daughters was released from the hospital Tuesday after an emergency Christmas Night appendectomy.
Jenna Bush, 19, was released from St. David's Medical Center late Tuesday, said Bush spokesman Gordon Johndroe.
Jenna spoke to her father by telephone before going home with Mrs. Bush, who had not planned to join her husband and other family members on a quick vacation trip to Florida.
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| Bush Slips Into Florida, With No Press |
| 12/27/2000 11:31 AM |
President-elect Bush returned to Florida today for the first time since surviving this state's disputed vote recount. As victory laps go, Bush's arrival here was about as resounding as a dimpled chad.
Bush seemed determined to slip into the state unnoticed as he began a two-day vacation at an old family haunt on Florida's Gulf Coast. He left his press corps stranded on the tarmac in Austin this morning. His staff later put the journalists on a separate plane.
As a result, there was no record of Bush's first stop, to pick up his father, the former president, in Houston. The two opted to meet at Houston's Hobby Airport, forgoing a triumphant rendezvous by George H.W. Bush, former president, and George W. Bush, future president, at Houston's George Bush Airport.
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| Clinton Grants 59 Pardons, Including Rostenkowski |
| 12/22/2000 5:14 PM |
President Clinton granted a pardon today to Dan Rostenkowski, the prominent Illinois Democrat and onetime chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee who served a 17-month prison term after pleading guilty in 1996 to two counts of mail fraud.
Rostenkowski, 72, was one of 59 people receiving presidential pardons today. He was the highest-profile recipient, having built a political career that once made him one of the most powerful figures in Washington. His downfall came over the use of public funds to pay employees who did little or no work and to cover costs of personal gifts.
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| Possible Bush Appointees |
| 12/22/2000 5:10 PM |
Possible appointees to President-elect Bush's Cabinet and White House staff:
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| Bush Taps Gilmore As RNC Chairman |
| 12/22/2000 5:08 PM |
President-elect Bush has chosen Virginia Gov. James S. Gilmore III, a tough-minded, tax-cutting conservative with a talent for raising money, to become the chairman of the Republican National Committee, according to party sources.
The announcement will be made today in Austin, sources in Richmond said. Gilmore's selection must be ratified by the RNC next month.
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| Bush, Clinton at Odds Over the Economy |
| 12/22/2000 5:07 PM |
As he prepared to make more Cabinet appointments, President-elect Bush stepped up his warnings about the state of the economy today, despite complaints from the White House that his bearish talk could become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Bush said there are "warning signs on the horizon" even as a variety of high-level Clinton administration officials worked the airwaves and telephones, charging that Bush is trying to promote his tax cut at the expense of market confidence, and is seeking to avoid blame for any future downturn.
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| Bush Selects Senator Ashcroft to be Attorney General |
| 12/22/2000 5:06 PM |
President-elect Bush chose Sen. John D. Ashcroft of Missouri, a leading conservative, to be his attorney general today, restoring Ashcroft to the zenith of politics just six weeks after he was defeated for reelection.
Ashcroft, 58, also was Missouri's governor for two terms and was state attorney general. He was elected to the Senate in 1994 and lost this fall to Gov. Mel Carnahan, who had been killed in a plane crash and whose widow, Jean, was appointed to replace him. Ashcroft pondered, but ultimately rejected, the pleas of Christian conservatives that he enter the race for the Republican presidential nomination last year.
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| Senator Hatch Gets Cameo in New Movie |
| 12/20/2000 5:11 PM |
Sen. Orrin Hatch, long a critic of violence in Hollywood, has a cameo in the new Michael Douglas movie "Traffic," which includes nudity, sex, drug use and profane language.
"I'm glad I did it," the Utah Republican said. The R-rated movie, which has received high praise from critics, has an anti-drug message.
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| Bush Looks to Governors for Cabinet |
| 12/20/2000 5:08 PM |
President-elect Bush looked to fellow Republican governors for his Cabinet-in-the-making Wednesday, with Christie
Whitman of New Jersey poised to take over the nation's top environmental post and Tommy Thompson of Wisconsin the front-runner for secretary of health and human services.
Bush advisers said the postings were tentative, but could be finalized soon.
Montana Gov. Marc Racicot, one of the first state executives to encourage a Bush presidential bid, visited the president-elect in Austin, Texas, on Wednesday and was the leading candidate for attorney general, though he could be offered another senior administration post, advisers said. His chief rival for attorney general was fellow GOP governor Frank Keating of Oklahoma.
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| Cheney's Influence Reverberates |
| 12/20/2000 5:08 PM |
When President-elect Bush announced that Paul O'Neill would serve as his treasury secretary, O'Neill volunteered that he and Dick Cheney "go back many years" together to their days in the Ford administration.
When Bush sat down to breakfast with Alan Greenspan, the Federal Reserve chief's longtime friend Cheney was right there at the table.
When the government handed over keys to the presidential transition offices, it was Cheney who gladly accepted them.
Americans are seeing a lot more of Dick Cheney and his smile than they ever did of past vice presidents-elect, even the notably visible Al Gore.
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| Bush Cleans Out His Austin Desk |
| 12/20/2000 5:07 PM |
Boxing up his collection of autographed baseballs and personal belongings at his office as he prepared to resign his state post, President-elect Bush got nostalgic Wednesday about his six years as governor of Texas.
"I'm going to miss this place. I have a lot of fond memories," Bush said as he left the office after a morning visit. "On the other hand, I'm looking forward to my new assignment. I'm enthusiastic and optimistic about what lies ahead."
Bush, who has moved forward with nominating his Cabinet and appointing White House staff, was planning to resign as governor Thursday, his campaign said.
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| Bush Transition Team Feels Crunch |
| 12/20/2000 5:05 PM |
Every meal -- including breakfast -- is a meeting. Sleep has become a luxury for some members of President-elect Bush's transition team. For others, it is entirely optional.
The drawn-out fight over the 2000 election has led to a time crunch that is forcing Bush officials to work overtime preparing for the transfer of power on Inauguration Day.
And some expected pleasantries of a neophyte administration might simply fall by the wayside because of the truncated schedule. For example, there may not be time for a meeting with the heads of state of Mexico and Canada before Jan. 20, said Ari Fleischer, transition team spokesman.
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| For Gonzales, Modest Start Led to Bush's Inner Circle |
| 12/20/2000 5:04 PM |
When Gov. George W. Bush appointed Alberto R. Gonzales to be Texas secretary of state in 1997, he said of the man who had loyally served as his general counsel, "The most important thing is for Al to remain in the inner circle."
Bush's comment was testimony to how much he had come to rely on and trust the Houston lawyer during the two years that Gonzales was his general counsel. Now, as president-elect, Bush has underscored that point by naming Gonzales his White House counsel, a post that will keep him firmly within the inner circle as it moves from Austin to Washington.
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| Early Approach Earning Bush Praise |
| 12/20/2000 5:03 PM |
President-elect Bush came to Washington this week after a less-than-triumphant campaign and impressed both Democrats and Republicans, who found him in their private sessions to be self-assured, surprisingly direct, yet ready to listen to differing views.
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| Bush Names Cabinet Personnel |
| 12/20/2000 4:59 PM |
President-elect Bush made a string of personnel announcements Wednesday, naming secretaries of agriculture, housing and urban development, commerce and the treasury.
Bush picked Californian Anne Veneman as agriculture secretary. She had previously served as a deputy agriculture secretary under Bush's father.
The president-elect chose his campaign chairman, Don Evans, a Texas oil company executive, to run the Commerce Department. And he named Mel Martinez, who co-chaired Bush's effort in Florida, as his pick for secretary of housing and urban development. Martinez is chairman of the Orange County, Fla., government.
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| Senator Ashcroft Tours Missouri to Say Thank You |
| 12/19/2000 7:24 PM |
U.S. Senator John Ashcroft announced Monday that he plans to tour Missouri this week on a "Thank You Missouri Tour."
A schedule released by his office in Washington said Ashcroft will "thank Missourians for the opportunity to serve and for their input in some of ... his key accomplishments as a senator."
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| Powell to Promote Diversity at State Department |
| 12/19/2000 7:22 PM |
Three days after his appointment by President-elect George W. Bush, Secretary of State designate Colin Powell said Tuesday he would be dedicated to promoting diversity at the State Department during his tenure.
Secretary of State-designate Colin Powell is seen during a ceremony at the State Department in Washington Tuesday. Kathryn LaBlanc, head of the White House Initiative for Historically Black Colleges and Universities is at right.
"America overseas ought to look more like America at home," he said following a State Department ceremony intended to draw students from mostly African-American Howard University into the foreign service.
The ceremony formalized a partnership between historically black Howard University and the State Department to encourage African-American students to consider a career in the foreign service.
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| Bush to Announce Cabinet Appointments Wednesday |
| 12/19/2000 7:21 PM |
President-elect George W. Bush is slated to announce a handful of administration nominees Wednesday upon his return to Austin, Texas -- including an expected announcement that former campaign chairman Don Evans will be named commerce secretary.
Bush also is expected to name Florida county official Mel Martinez as housing secretary during a press conference scheduled for noon EST, GOP officials said Tuesday. Martinez co-chaired Bush's campaign in Florida and is closely aligned with Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, the president-elect's brother. Martinez fled Cuba for the United States in 1962 and played a significant role in the Elian Gonzalez case earlier this year.
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| Coats Is Pentagon Front-Runner |
| 12/19/2000 7:18 PM |
Former senator Daniel R. Coats (R-Ind.) emerged as the leading contender for secretary of defense yesterday as President-elect Bush used his first post-election visit to the nation's capital to interview finalists for his administration and meet with leaders on Capitol Hill.
Campaign sources said Coats had edged out Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge (R), the favored candidate of Bush's choice for secretary of state, retired Army Gen. Colin L. Powell. Vice President-elect Cheney told CNN that Ridge had taken himself out of the running "several weeks ago," and the sources said Bush officials, having moved toward Coats, are happy to take him at his word.
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| Bush Tries to Round Out Cabinet During Washington Stopover |
| 12/19/2000 7:17 PM |
President-elect Bush conducted a parade of private job interviews Monday for potential Cabinet secretaries, including his leading candidate to head the Pentagon.
Former Sen. Dan Coats, R-Ind., is likely to be Bush's choice as defense secretary, several advisers said before the two met. They said Bush wanted to talk to Coats, a former senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, before making a final decision.
Bush also met with Paul H. O'Neill, leading candidate for treasury secretary, and Ann Veneman, top prospect for agriculture secretary, while in Washington for a round of high-profile courtesy calls, said two Bush advisers who spoke on condition of anonymity.
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| Bush Chooses Heads for Commerce, Housing |
| 12/19/2000 7:14 PM |
Amid a whirlwind tour of the nation's capital, President-elect Bush laid the groundwork for his Cabinet-in-the-making, approving the nominations of longtime friend Don Evans as commerce secretary and former Cuban refugee Mel Martinez as housing secretary, Republican officials said Tuesday.
Bush planned to announce the appointments Wednesday in Texas, said several GOP officials involved in the deliberations. He squeezed interviews with Martinez and other Cabinet prospects between sessions with congressional leaders, President Clinton, former rival Al Gore and Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan during a two-day Washington stay.
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| Bush Meets With Clinton and Gore |
| 12/19/2000 7:13 PM |
President-elect George W. Bush met separately Tuesday with President Clinton and Vice President Al Gore, ending his two-day trip to the capital and inching closer to filling his Cabinet.
Bush spent two hours at the White House discussing foreign policy and other matters with Clinton, but his private meeting with Gore, the rival he narrowly topped for the presidency, lasted less than 10 minutes.
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| Bush Wins Electoral College Majority |
| 12/18/2000 6:12 PM |
With unwavering support from his presidential electors Monday, Texas Gov. George W. Bush secured the Electoral College majority needed to become the 43rd president.
With electors voting in their state capitals across the country, Nevada's four electors put him over the top with a total of 271 votes, one more than the Constitution requires.
That closed the door on the remote possibility that a few "faithless electors" who had pledged to vote for Bush who might upset his victory by casting their ballots instead of Vice President Al Gore.
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| George W. Bush is Time Magazine's Person of the Year |
| 12/18/2000 5:11 PM |
There will be no recount on this one: President-elect George W. Bush was named Sunday as Time magazine's Person of the Year.
As in this year's razor-thin presidential election, the Texas governor received the nod over Vice President Al Gore. According to Time Managing Editor Walter Isaacson, the magazine decided last week that the new president-elect -- either one -- would receive its annual honor.
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| For Rice, a Daunting Challenge Ahead |
| 12/18/2000 5:07 PM |
There are many ways to view Condoleezza Rice, whom President-elect Bush named as his national security adviser yesterday.
There is Condoleezza Rice, 46, a poor Alabama cotton farmer's granddaughter who became an accomplished classical pianist and ice skater and graduated from college at 19.
Then there is Condoleezza Rice, a Cold War product who speaks Russian, wrote her doctoral thesis about ties between the Soviet and Czech militaries and did a two-year stint as the National Security Council's Soviet expert just before the Soviet Union crumbled.
And then there is the Condoleezza Rice, who at 38 became Stanford University's youngest, first female, first African American provost, making her the chief operating officer of a billion-dollar-a-year institution with competing faculty, student and community interests in the heart of Silicon Valley.
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| Bush Bolsters His Growing Staff |
| 12/18/2000 5:07 PM |
Hours before embarking on a goodwill mission to Washington, President-elect Bush named Condoleezza Rice, a Russia specialist in his father's administration, as his national security adviser yesterday and added two Texan confidants to his infant White House staff.
As White House counsel, Bush chose Alberto R. Gonzales, a Texas Supreme Court justice who formerly served as Bush's counsel in the governor's office. Bush named Karen P. Hughes, a longtime adviser and the collaborator on his autobiography, as counselor to the president, responsible for strategic planning, communications and speechwriting.
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| President-Elect's Twins Duck Spotlight |
| 12/18/2000 5:05 PM |
Being part of a first family is nothing new to Barbara and Jenna Bush, twin daughters of President-elect Bush and granddaughters of the former president. But life in the spotlight is something the Bush girls certainly have not welcomed.
Though Bush's wife, Laura, has warmed to her role as Texas' first lady -- making public appearances on behalf of literacy programs and the arts -- the 19-year-old twins keep low profiles. And their parents remain fiercely protective and rarely speak about them in any detail in public.
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| First Ladies Present and Future Meet, Display Bipartisan Unity |
| 12/18/2000 5:02 PM |
Hillary Rodham Clinton stood in the lower vestibule of the White House, swaying and peeking playfully out the windows as she waited for a special visitor: her replacement.
Laura Bush and Mrs. Clinton met in a gracious display of the bipartisan unity that Mrs. Bush's husband -- and his defeated opponent, Al Gore -- called for last week, when the five-week post-election battle finally came to an end.
After a Secret Service agent muscled open Mrs. Bush's frozen car door, the first-lady-to-be stepped out and the two women shook hands.
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| Bush Talks Tax Cuts |
| 12/18/2000 5:01 PM |
As electors nationwide gathered to seal his victory, President-elect George W. Bush outlined his tax relief plan Monday to congressional leaders, pledging to work with both parties even if it means some occasional "head-knocking" and gentle "arm-twisting."
Bush said the first proposal he sends to Capitol Hill will be an education package, but it is the $1.3 trillion tax cut that is likely to generate the strongest opposition from Democrats and test the new president's pledge to end partisan gridlock.
"What I'm prepared to say today is that I laid out in specifics what I think is right when it comes to tax relief," Bush told reporters after a 90-minute closed-door meeting with Hill leaders. Joining him were Sen. Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt, D-Mo., and Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D.
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| Bush Near Selecting Cabinet Members |
| 12/18/2000 4:58 PM |
President-elect George W. Bush conducted a parade of private job interviews Monday for potential Cabinet secretaries, including his leading candidate to head the Pentagon.
Former Sen. Dan Coats, R-Ind., is likely to be Bush's choice as defense secretary, several advisers said before a scheduled meeting between the two. They said Bush wanted to talk to the former senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee before making a final decision.
Bush also planned to meet Paul H. O'Neill, leading candidate for treasury secretary, and Ann Veneman, top prospect for Agriculture secretary, while in Washington for a round of high-profile courtesy calls, said two Bush advisers who spoke on condition of anonymity.
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| Powell Talks With Albright , State Officials |
| 12/18/2000 4:31 PM |
Colin Powell, the secretary of state-designate, held extended talks Monday with senior State Department officials as part of a month-long transition.
Powell met, among others, with Undersecretary of State Thomas Pickering; Marc Grossman, director general of the foreign service; and Bonnie Cohen, the undersecretary for management.
The State Department has set aside several first floor offices for discussions between the officials from the outgoing and incoming administrations.
On Sunday, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright invited Powell to her home in Georgetown and they discussed foreign policy issues for more than three hours.
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| Bush Meets With Greenspan |
| 12/18/2000 4:30 PM |
President-elect Bush interviewed Cabinet candidates, conferred with Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan and assured leaders of both parties on Monday that "we can come together" despite his whisker-close victory.
The Republican's overture drew promises of cooperation from congressional Democrats on the day the Electoral College was voting to hand him the barest of victories, an expected one-vote electoral majority.
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| Bush Turns Energies Toward Team Building |
| 12/13/2000 11:30 PM |
Republican President-elect George W. Bush took up the task late Wednesday of preparing for the presidency and uniting partisan rifts in the nation. Al Gore, bowing out of the painfully close race, made a long-awaited congratulation call to his Republican rival.
Gore phoned Bush shortly before making a concession speech on national television at 9 p.m. EST. During the call, Gore offered his congratulations, Bush spokeswoman Karen Hughes said. "The governor thanked him and the governor said I look forward to seeing you next Tuesday," Hughes said.
Bush closed the conversation by telling Gore, "I look forward to working with you to heal the nation."
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| Bush Transition Team Seeks to Make Up for Lost Time |
| 12/13/2000 11:18 PM |
The Bush transition kicks into high gear today as the president-elect's team takes over two floors of government-furnished office space set aside for the transition and lays claim to $5.3 million in federal funds to pay for expenses.
But offices and money are not the obstacles. The record amount of transition funding and the high-tech, turnkey office space with sophisticated computer networks should be of great assistance to the Bush team.
The problem now is time. The protracted election battle has cut the transition period virtually in half, with the inaugural just five weeks from Saturday and formidable tasks to be accomplished.
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| Bush's First Goal: Bipartisanship |
| 12/13/2000 11:17 PM |
As aides to Texas Gov. George W. Bush prepared today for the moment when their boss could finally claim the presidency, they faced an overarching goal: how to make the future commander-in-chief appear commanding to a divided nation.
The advisers decided to have Bush deliver his speech in the chamber of the Texas House of Representatives, where he would be introduced by the Democratic speaker and address a bipartisan audience of legislators.
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| Bush Claims Presidency, Calls for National Unity |
| 12/13/2000 11:16 PM |
George W. Bush claimed the presidency tonight, calling for Americans to "put politics behind us and work together" -- an echo of Al Gore's message to the nation just an hour earlier.
"I was not elected to serve one party, but to serve one nation," Bush said from the chambers of the Texas House of Representatives in Austin. The Texas governor chose that setting, he said, because he had been able to work there with Democrats and Republicans alike.
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| Ethics Experts Say Scalia, Thomas Connections Not Conflicts of Interest |
| 12/12/2000 10:50 PM |
Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia both have family connections to George W. Bush's side -- but ethics experts say neither justice has a conflict of interest or needs to step aside from voting in the Florida recount case.
Federal law requires "any justice" to "disqualify himself in any proceeding in which his impartiality might reasonably be questioned." And it also requires judges to step aside when a close relative "is acting as a lawyer in the proceeding" or "is known by the judge to have an interest that could be substantially affected by the outcome of the proceeding."
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| Twenty-nine States Submit Electors |
| 12/12/2000 10:47 PM |
More than half of the states submitted their presidential electors to the National Archives by Tuesday, giving them protection from challenges in Congress.
By the end of day, 29 states and the District of Columbia had turned in their final lists to the archives, the federal record-keeper of the Electoral College.
Al Gore and George W. Bush have been vying for a majority in the college since the Nov. 7 election. The outcome hinges on Florida and its 25 electoral votes.
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| Florida House Approves Slate of Electors |
| 12/12/2000 10:45 PM |
The Florida House of Representatives voted Tuesday to name a set of presidential electors pledged to George W. Bush while the U.S. Supreme Court deliberated over the fates of Al Gore and Bush. The measure passed by a vote of 79-41.
Florida's Republican-controlled House held a five-hour special session Tuesday to debate and vote on the resolution that could give George W. Bush the state's 25 electoral votes. Republicans hold a 77-43 majority in the House. Two Democrats voted with the GOP.
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| Minge Concedes; GOP Picks Up Minnesota House Seat |
| 12/12/2000 10:44 PM |
Four-term Democratic Rep. David Minge on Tuesday ended a recount challenge in Minnesota's 2nd Congressional District and conceded defeat to Republican challenger Mark Kennedy --assuring a GOP pickup that will help that party maintain its narrow control of the U.S. House of Representatives.
Kennedy's margin of victory over Minge, certified by state election officials following the Nov. 7 election, was 155 votes out of more than 290,000 ballots cast. A hand recount requested and paid for by Minge under state law was completed last Friday, though no revised tally was released. Although about 350 contested ballots were then sent to state District Court Judge Bruce Douglas for a final call, Minge's campaign examined them and decided that even a best-case scenario would still leave Kennedy ahead.
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| Democrats Worried in West Virginia and Tennessee |
| 12/12/2000 10:43 PM |
The early strategic plan for the campaign of Democratic presidential nominee Al Gore had to assume victory in two nearby Southern border states: Tennessee and West Virginia.
Tennessee, after all, is Gore's home state, a place he represented in the U.S. House for eight years (1977-85) and the U.S. Senate for eight years after that (1985-93).
As running mate on the 1992 and 1996 tickets headed by Bill Clinton, Gore helped keep Tennessee's 11 electoral votes in the Democrats' column despite a general Republican trend in the state.
West Virginia - with its largely rural and blue-collar population and below-average economy - is one of the nation's traditional Democratic strongholds.
Yet Gore lost both states to Republican nominee George W. Bush - Tennessee by 51-47 percent, West Virginia and its five electoral votes by 52-46 percent.
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| Health of Thurmond, Helms Is Focus in Senate |
| 12/12/2000 10:39 PM |
Sen. Strom Thurmond (R-S.C.) turned 98 this month and clutches the elbow of an aide as he moves slowly about the Capitol. Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.), 78, has had cancer, heart bypass surgery, two knee replacements and a nerve ailment that forces him to use a motorized scooter most of the time.
Even though both men are putting in full days and looking pretty much the same as ever, their health remains an intense focus of attention because control of the Senate in the next Congress hinges on their continued well-being.
Aides to both men have brushed off rumors about health problems, and Helms stomped on them.
After a reporter called a Helms aide last week inquiring about rumors of a recurrence of cancer, Helms called back, teasingly speaking in a frail voice. After unequivocally denying any new health problems, he declared "Rumors of my demise have been greatly exaggerated."
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| Supreme Court Overturns Florida Justices |
| 12/12/2000 10:34 PM |
The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday night that the Florida Supreme Court erred in its order for a manual recount of thousands of ballots in the state contested presidential election.
In an extraordinary late-night decision that unfolded on national television, the justices said the recount ordered by the Florida Supreme Court violated equal rights and there was not enough time to conduct a new recount that would meet constitutional muster.
"Because it is evident that any recount seeking to meet the Dec. 12 date will be unconstitutional ... we reverse the judgment of the Supreme Court of Florida ordering the recount to proceed," the court said.
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| No 'Crisis' Yet, Say Legal Scholars |
| 12/10/2000 10:54 PM |
Americans found themselves in a new place this weekend, confronting what many public figures called "a constitutional crisis" brought on by conflicting court decisions and continued doubt about the outcome of last month's presidential election.
But legal scholars from all points on the ideological spectrum said it was too soon to declare a true constitutional crisis, one that threatened the ordinary functioning of the government or put one branch of government in open, irreconcilable conflict with another.
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| Bush Cousin Tells All |
| 12/10/2000 10:53 PM |
On the afternoon of Nov. 7, George W. Bush called his cousin John Ellis, head of the decision desk at Fox News.
"Ellis, Bush here," he drawled. "Here we go again. . . . Looks tight, huh?"
"I wouldn't worry about your early numbers," Ellis said. "Your dad had bad early numbers in '88 and he wound up winning by 7 [percentage points]. So who knows?"
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| Florida Senators: GOP Leaders May Delay Vote |
| 12/10/2000 10:49 PM |
The Republican leadership in the Florida Senate may delay a decision on selecting presidential electors until the U.S. Supreme Court rules on ballot recounts, a key lawmaker said Sunday.
A delay would allow GOP lawmakers to decide whether the move is constitutionally and politically wise.
"We can use time as our ally," said Senate Rules Committee Chairman Tom Lee, a confidant of Senate President John McKay.
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| Scalia Takes a Pivotal Role in Case |
| 12/10/2000 10:48 PM |
Justice Antonin Scalia once described the Supreme Court as a reluctant constitutional fire brigade.
"We should not be a prominent institution in a democracy," he said in a brief telephone conversation this year. "We are called in to correct mistakes. When you have to call us in, someone has screwed up; something has gone terribly wrong."
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| Justice O'Connor May Hold Key Vote |
| 12/10/2000 10:44 PM |
Some 100 million voters cast ballots for president on Election Day, but one voter ultimately may decide the whole thing: Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.
O'Connor, a Republican who has provided the fifth vote for a host of important high court decision, again joined the 5-4 majority in stopping the hand count of ballots across Florida, as Republican George W. Bush had requested.
But Supreme Court observers believe she is the jurist most likely to switch sides after oral arguments are heard Monday in the case likely to decide whether Bush or Democrat Al Gore becomes the nation's next president.
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| Bush, Gore Teams Prepare Arguments |
| 12/10/2000 10:42 PM |
On the eve of historic U.S. Supreme Court arguments, Al Gore's attorney said Sunday the vice president urgently needs a legal victory to recount Florida's votes or "that's the end of the road" for his dogged drive to the presidency. A chorus of jittery Democrats agreed.
As both sides previewed their cases in legal filings, George W. Bush's lawyers asked the high court to overturn a Florida Supreme Court recount plan they said would "incite controversy, suspicion and lack of confidence" in the first American presidential election of the 21st century. Democratic attorneys defended the Florida court.
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| Appeals Court Rejects Challenge of Cheney's State Residency |
| 12/7/2000 11:10 PM |
Dick Cheney is a Wyoming resident and therefore would be constitutionally qualified to serve as George W. Bush's vice president, a federal appeals court ruled Thursday.
The ruling came from the bench after an hour-long hearing in which lawyers for three Texas residents argued that Cheney had moved to Bush's home state of Texas when he took a job there in 1993.
The 12th Amendment of the Constitution says that if the presidential and vice presidential candidates reside in the same state, then that state's electors cannot vote for each of them.
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| Bush Holds Off on Appointments Until Election Victory Assured |
| 12/7/2000 11:07 PM |
George W. Bush has "pretty much" made up his mind on the makeup of his White House staff and also is working on potential Cabinet appointments.
But continuing uncertainty about the election outcome is keeping the Texas governor from making those choices public.
The Bush camp had hoped to announce prospective White House appointments this week, ahead of Cabinet posts. However, with the election drama dragging on in various courts, Bush advisers decided any announcements might appear to be premature.
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| Florida Lawmakers: We Are Not Bush's Puppets |
| 12/7/2000 11:05 PM |
On the eve of a special session with national implications, a leader of Florida's Legislature acknowledged Thursday he has received advice from intermediaries of George W. Bush as lawmakers move toward appointing a slate of electors loyal to the Republican presidential candidate.
But House Speaker Tom Feeney said Democratic allegations that Bush's campaign is calling the shots for the GOP-dominated Legislature are "out of touch" with reality.
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| Now It's Up To the Judges |
| 12/7/2000 10:58 PM |
Three legal battles over Florida's votes were poised to end Friday, possibly giving Al Gore, George W. Bush and the electorate answers to the question that has paralyzed the nation for weeks: Is the presidential race over or should the ballots be counted again?
For the second time in three weeks, the Florida Supreme Court justices on Thursday hosted an oral slugfest between the two candidates' attorneys, but ended the day without announcing a decision. Two lower court trials that could affect thousands of absentee ballots also ended, and the judges in those cases suggested they would rule within a day.
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| Bush Continues Transition Work as Legal Battles Waged in Florida |
| 12/6/2000 10:10 PM |
George W. Bush, anxious to assemble a White House staff even as he awaits a final court decree on the election, is conferring with his choice for national security adviser: Stanford University scholar Condoleezza Rice.
Rice was meeting with Bush on Wednesday at the governor's mansion, the latest in a series of high-profile sessions the Texas governor has held with members of a prospective Bush administration.
Bush said he won't announce any Cabinet appointments until legal challenges are resolved. But aides held out the possibility that Bush would announce further top White House staff positions by week's end.
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| CIA Briefs Bush; GOP Urges Voiding Clinton Orders |
| 12/6/2000 9:36 PM |
George W. Bush received his first daily national security briefing from the Clinton administration yesterday while Senate Republicans urged his running mate, Richard B. Cheney, to reverse Clinton-era executive orders.
"It's going to be important to show . . . the American people that this administration will be ready to seize the moment," Mr. Bush told reporters during another busy day of transition planning in Austin.
Meanwhile, on Capitol Hill, Mr. Cheney gave congressional Republicans their first taste in eight years of what it will be like to work with a Republican administration.
He greeted House Republicans in the morning and ate lunch with Republican senators, who encouraged Mr. Cheney in a free-wheeling discussion to have Mr. Bush overturn a long list of executive orders signed by President Clinton.
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| Jeb Bush: Legislature Has a Duty |
| 12/6/2000 9:32 PM |
Republican lawmakers need to use a special session of the Legislature to help clear up the uncertainty of the presidential election, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush said Wednesday.
GOP leaders announced the session beginning Friday to appoint the Legislature's own slate of electors in the state's contested presidential race.
Hours before the announcement, the brother of Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush said Florida lawmakers "ought to be focused on their constitutional duty in a time of uncertainty."
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| DeLay Dares Clinton to Shut Down Government |
| 12/6/2000 9:32 PM |
Congressional leaders should force President Clinton to choose between freezing spending for many federal agencies or shutting down the government if they can't work out a budget deal with him, House Majority Whip Tom DeLay said Wednesday.
''If he wants to shut down the government, that's his problem, not ours,'' DeLay told reporters. DeLay's combative tone came as leaders of the lame-duck Congress struggle over whether to compromise with Clinton over school spending, taxes and other issues before he leaves office on Jan. 20.
Some Republicans believe they would get a better deal - with lower spending - if they delayed a decision until the next administration, which seems increasingly likely to be headed by Republican George W. Bush.
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| As Wrangling Continues, Bush Ponders His Cabinet |
| 12/6/2000 9:31 PM |
Texas Gov. George W. Bush said today that he has made up his mind about top members of his White House staff but is holding off on making formal offers to potential Cabinet members because of the continued legal wrangling over the presidential election.
"I imagine I could name a few folks pretty quickly if I so choose to do so," Bush said. "I've been spending a lot of time thinking about the Cabinet. I can tell you this %u2013 that when it comes to a White House staff, I've pretty well made up my mind on who should serve. Hopefully, there'll be an appropriate moment to share that information with people."
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| Florida Legislature Called to Special Session |
| 12/6/2000 9:27 PM |
Florida's Legislature has been called for a special session to consider appointing the state's 25 presidential electors.
The session was announced Wednesday evening by Florida Senate President John McKay. Appearing at a news conference with Florida House Speaker Tom Feeney, McKay said they had signed a proclamation calling for the special session to convene on Friday.
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| Bush Transition Effort Steps Up After Good News From Florida |
| 12/5/2000 11:20 PM |
Andrew Card, George W. Bush's choice for White House chief of staff and thus the man overseeing much of the initial hiring for a Bush administration, says the resumes keep rolling in from both Democrats and Republicans looking for positions.
For every inquiry the Bush team puts out, Card said, roughly 20 unsolicited calls come in from those looking for work. He added that Monday's favorable court rulings could hasten the process of assembling a Bush administration.
Bush awaits only the clearing of a few more legal obstacles before he begins naming Cabinet and top White House spots, Card said.
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| Bush Raises More Than $7 Million |
| 12/5/2000 11:17 PM |
George W. Bush has raised twice as much money as Vice President Al Gore to pay for their Florida recount expenses, both campaigns reported Tuesday.
Bush has raised $7.4 million, helped by the same benefactors that enabled him to raise a record $100 million for his presidential campaign. Gore has taken in $3.5 million to pay his recount expenses.
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| Bush: Jeb Won't Be Part of Cabinet |
| 12/5/2000 11:15 PM |
George W. Bush said Tuesday that he would reach out to Democrats and Republicans alike and work to heal the nation's partisan wounds if declared the presidential winner.
But one person who won't be offered a Cabinet job, Bush said in an interview on CBS's "60 Minutes II," is younger brother Jeb, the GOP governor of Florida. "No," Bush replied when asked by correspondent Scott Pelley if there was a Cabinet role for his brother.
"He needs to be in Florida doing the job of governor," Bush said, adding, "He'll be happy to hear his name mentioned on national TV."
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| A Senate Divided Presents Challenges |
| 12/5/2000 11:13 PM |
The new Congress that arrives next month will feature a Senate evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans, with the GOP only nominally in control and Democrats demanding a "power-sharing" arrangement.
The prospect of a Senate split 50-50 along party lines, and majority control decided by a vice president's tie-breaker vote, presents a historically unusual situation and raises an array of questions.
For starters, it will keep attention riveted on the health of aging senators. The death or resignation of even one senator could, under certain circumstances, tip power to the other party.
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| Bush Pressured to Hire Conservative Secretary of Defense |
| 12/5/2000 11:07 PM |
Word that Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge is high on Republican George W. Bush's list of potential defense secretaries has prompted an aggressive campaign by conservatives to pressure the Texas governor into looking elsewhere.
Opposition to Ridge is being aired in conservative publications, and several sources familiar with Bush transition discussions said complaints have been directed to GOP vice presidential nominee Dick Cheney, who is heading the transition planning and is himself a former Pentagon chief.
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| Rising Absentee Voting Boosts Potential for Fraud |
| 12/5/2000 11:04 PM |
California's final vote totals dribbled into Sacramento just last night. The last of the ballots, nearly 50,000 of them, weren't held up by recounts or lawsuits. They were absentee tallies arriving from the counties - right on time, 28 days after the election.
The use of absentee ballots is mushrooming in California and around the country, seized upon as an election tool - first by Republicans and more recently by Democrats - to provide an extra political edge in the closest contests. Democratic lawsuits over the handling of absentee ballots in three Florida counties beginning this week in Tallahassee, have turned a spotlight on the phenomenal growth of absentee ballots, the political parties' role in the process - and the potential problems that creates.
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| For Florida High Court, Heat Is On |
| 12/5/2000 11:02 PM |
After four weeks of bitter partisan warfare over the outcome of the 2000 presidential election, the buck has stopped once again at the elegant white-columned entrance to the Florida Supreme Court.
On Nov. 21, the Florida justices gave Vice President Gore a victory, extending a deadline to permit manual recounts of disputed ballots in heavily Democratic counties.
But that decision had the effect of prolonging Gore's battle with Texas Gov. George W. Bush, not settling it.
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| Confident Bush Assumes Stance of President-Elect |
| 12/5/2000 11:00 PM |
Optimistic that only formalities remain in his month-long court fight for the White House, Texas Gov. George W. Bush plunged unabashedly into the schedule of a president-elect today and promised to "seize the moment" if Vice President Gore concedes.
People who have talked to Bush said he has settled on several high-level nominations and plans to begin announcing them within days. Campaign officials said they have also started the process of requesting FBI background checks for key appointees.
After lying low since Election Day except for a few cameos for the cameras, Bush fired up all the burners today. He received his first post-election briefing from the Central Intelligence Agency this morning and is to meet Wednesday with Condoleezza Rice, the former Stanford University provost who is expected to be his national security adviser.
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| Jeb Bush's Position in 2002 at Issue |
| 12/4/2000 11:40 PM |
Florida's Republican Gov. Jeb Bush has indicated in recent days that he is prepared to help his brother, Texas Gov. George W. Bush, emerge with the state's 25 electoral college votes. The question is whether such an aggressive posture will come back to haunt him two years from now.
Key figures in both political parties anticipate a powerful Democratic backlash in 2002 if George W. Bush is ruled the winner here and moves into the White House on Jan. 20.
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| Next Stop: Florida Supreme Court |
| 12/4/2000 11:39 PM |
Vice President Al Gore's hopes of finding enough votes to win the presidency rest anew with the Florida Supreme Court after a circuit judge today delivered a withering rejection of the legal and factual arguments made by the Democratic nominee's lawyers.
After a ruling that one of Gore's attorneys called "a slam dunk for the other side," the Democratic legal team appealed within minutes, aware that if the state Supreme Court does not overturn the ruling -- and soon -- the winner of the state's 25 electoral votes and the White House will be Texas Gov. George W. Bush.
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| Analysis: Hopes Dim for Gore to Prevail |
| 12/4/2000 11:37 PM |
Vice President Gore's last-ditch legal struggles became much more politically difficult yesterday in the wake of two judicial rulings that most Democrats viewed as virtually exhausting his options for overcoming George W. Bush.
Despite a formal endorsement by the party's congressional leaders for Gore's latest filings in Florida courts, Democrats across the spectrum conceded that his prospects for victory appear dim. Some said he should begin weighing the best time to withdraw.
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| Gore Turned Down on Recount |
| 12/4/2000 11:36 PM |
On a day of dramatic legal action, Leon County Circuit Judge N. Sanders Sauls dealt Vice President Gore a substantial setback yesterday, rejecting Gore's request for a manual recount of thousands of Florida presidential ballots and refusing to overturn the certification of Texas Gov. George W. Bush as the winner of the state's 25 electoral votes.
"The court finds that the plaintiffs have failed to carry the requisite burden of proof," Sauls told a packed courtroom in Tallahassee just before 5 p.m., as the Gore and Bush legal teams looked on.
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| Supreme Court Sends Case to Florida |
| 12/4/2000 11:35 PM |
The U.S. Supreme Court tossed the presidential hand-recount case back to the Florida Supreme Court on Monday, saying the state court's reasoning in extending a deadline for counting votes was unclear.
The high court's action was overshadowed within hours by a Florida judge's rejection of the overall election challenge by Al Gore -- a ruling that could wind up making the U.S. Supreme Court case moot.
Three days after a historic session of arguments, the nation's highest court unanimously set aside the ruling by Florida's top court that let Al Gore pull within 537 votes of George W. Bush's total. But the justices avoided a decision on Bush's claim that the extended deadline for recounted votes was unlawful.
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| Senator Who Lost to Dead Candidate Observes Florida Trial |
| 12/3/2000 7:32 PM |
An incumbent senator who faced his own constitutional quandary after losing to a deceased governor said it would have been "improper" to challenge the vote in court.
"I thought if I pursued all my legal rights, it wouldn't be right for the state of Missouri. It would be improper," Sen. John Ashcroft, R-Missouri, said Saturday during a break in proceedings in a Florida circuit court.
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| The Wooing of the 'Blue Dog' Democrats |
| 12/3/2000 7:29 PM |
Frequently marginalized during the past several years, a few dozen conservative congressional Democrats have seen their political stock soar in recent days as both parties now consider them critical to the success of their agendas next year.
George W. Bush's campaign is openly courting the so-called Blue Dogs, floating their names for Cabinet positions and calling a few of them. Political observers are describing them as the new power brokers of the 107th Congress, who will help shape all major legislation, and Democratic leaders are watching them anxiously to detect any signs of defections.
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| Flordia Lawmakers May Meet Wednesday |
| 12/3/2000 7:27 PM |
The Republican-controlled Legislature is poised to hold a special session Wednesday to try to enforce George W. Bush's certified victory in Florida by naming the state's 25 electors, the House majority leader said.
But Senate President John McKay said he isn't ready to sign a proclamation convening the session despite House Majority Leader Mike Fasano's statement Saturday afternoon that both leaders would do so on Monday.
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| Rehnquist Accustomed To Spotlight |
| 12/3/2000 7:26 PM |
In his long Supreme Court career, Chief Justice William Rehnquist has tangled with presidential politics three times before %u2013 in the Watergate, Paula Jones and President Clinton impeachment cases.
This time, Rehnquist will try to forge unanimity on legal issues underpinning a 2000 presidential election that revealed a nearly evenly divided electorate.
Rehnquist and the other eight justices heard from lawyers for Republican George W. Bush and Democrat Al Gore on Friday. The issue before the court - whether the Florida Supreme Court overstepped its authority by extending the time for counties to certify their votes - will not decide the disputed election, but a ruling against Gore could add significant pressure for him to concede.
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| Cheney Urges Al Gore To Concede |
| 12/3/2000 7:25 PM |
Lawyers for Al Gore and George W. Bush slogged through a second day of testimony about chads, voting machines and the vice president's pleas for a recount, while GOP running mate Dick Cheney said Sunday it's time for Gore to concede. Democrats talked about the possibility of a gracious exit from the presidential contest, but declared, "It's far from over."
As a Florida circuit judge promised a speedy resolution to Gore's historic election protest, the vice president braced for the next round of legal action and attended church, where he heard a sermon titled, "A Time for Waiting."
It was an apt metaphor for the longest, closest presidential contest in 124 years. Gore, testing Americans' willingness to wait as he exhausts his legal options, conducted an interview with CBS's "60 Minutes" as part of a personalized public relations blitz.
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| Senator Ashcroft Rejected Challenge of Loss, Didn't Want to "Bog the State Down" |
| 12/2/2000 1:02 AM |
Missouri Sen. John Ashcroft said Thursday that he didn't pursue legal challenges after his re-election loss to a dead candidate because "to bog the state down would have been wrong."
On the eve of Friday's U.S. Supreme Court arguments about Florida's presidential voting and its recounts, Ashcroft laid out for CNN his reasons for accepting his Nov. 8 loss -- an unspoken but unmistakable contrast with the continuing legal fights between Republican George Bush and Democrat Al Gore.
The Republican freshman's Democratic opponent, Gov. Mel Carnahan, died Oct. 16 in a plane crash that also killed his eldest son and a campaign adviser. The Ashcroft-Carnahan battle had been one of the nation's most closely watched Senate races.
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| Bush Begins to Map Out Legislative Plans |
| 12/2/2000 12:54 AM |
Moving to take the reins of power even as the legal battle for the presidency rages on, Texas Gov. George W. Bush and his advisers have begun sounding out Republican congressional leaders and mapping strategy to assemble a legislative package -- and the bipartisan coalition needed to pass it.
Bush intends to forge ahead with his proposals for education reform and a new Medicare prescription drug benefit early next year, according to aides and GOP lawmakers, and then follow up with plans for a major tax cut, a top-to-bottom review of defense and a first step toward an overhaul of Social Security.
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| Florida Felons May Have Voted Illegally |
| 12/2/2000 12:53 AM |
At least 445 Florida felons voted illegally Nov. 7, casting more doubt over the sharply contested presidential election, a newspaper investigation found.
A review of nearly half a million ballots cast in 12 Florida counties found that hundreds of felons voted despite the state's multimillion-dollar effort to purge dead and illegal voters from lists of registered voters, The Miami Herald reported in its Friday editions.
This could mean more than 5,000 felons cast ballots if the pattern holds up across the state. Nearly six million people voted in Florida's 67 counties.
Most of the votes, nearly 75 percent, were cast by registered Democrats.
"There are a ton of us out there," said 37-year-old William Herman, who was sentenced in 1989 to five years in prison for negligent homicide with a motor vehicle. "It shouldn't be that way, but when they give you a voter registration card, hey, what are you supposed to do?"
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| Gore Dealt Double Defeat in Florida |
| 12/2/2000 12:52 AM |
The Florida Supreme Court and a state court judge dealt Al Gore's lawyers a double defeat Friday in their bid to force an immediate hand recount of thousands of disputed ballots.
In yet another ruling announced later in the day, the state high court unanimously refused to order a new election in Palm Beach County, rejecting a plea from voters who contested the design of the county's "butterfly ballot."
"Courts have generally declined to void an election" unless defects in the ballot "clearly operate to prevent a free, fair and open choice," the court ruled in an opinion that court spokesman Craig Waters summarized from the courthouse steps.
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| Court Questions Bush, Gore Lawyers |
| 12/2/2000 12:49 AM |
While the nation's highest court considered who will serve in the nation's highest office, advisers for George W. Bush and Al Gore on Friday floated the names of candidates for two Cabinets -- only one of which will ever see the light of day.
From the splendor of their raised wooden dais, nine U.S. Supreme Court justices heard arguments on a narrow question of Florida election law while, hundreds of miles away, the Florida Supreme Court and a circuit judge denied Gore's petitions for immediate recounts.
Florida's high court also refused to order a new election in Palm Beach County where a "butterfly ballot" drew protests from Democratic voters. Gore was not formally involved in the case, but a new election would have thrown the contested election into turmoil.
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| Poll: Bush Would Win New Vote |
| 12/2/2000 12:46 AM |
George W. Bush may want to rethink his opposition to a new vote to end the Florida election mess.
According to a new FOX News/Opinion Dynamics poll conducted Wednesday and Thursday, the Texas governor would win with 49 percent of the vote "if the election were held over again tomorrow." And 56 percent said Al Gore should concede.
Also, 60 percent of the 900 registered voters surveyed had a favorable opinion of Bush, while just 46 percent thought highly of the vice president. Bush's ratings went up, while Gore's dropped from a pre-election poll.
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