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 s there any procedure
in Florida that Al Gore feels bound to respect? After getting the Florida
supreme court to toss out a deadline from the Florida legislature that
would have allowed ample time for a contest period, now he wants to collapse
the contest period in a way that would give him exactly what he wants
— apparently a statewide hand recount, or at least a hand recount
in Miami-Dade — and leave only a day or two for it to be fought out
in court. The only rule that the Gore campaign has any interest in applying
in a uniform and consistent way is: What Gore wants, he should get. Gore's
remarks were a clever, if obvious, attempt to portray the Bush campaign
as in favor of delay and lawyering. But his talk, like the one last night,
was a thin gruel of misrepresentations. A "full and accurate" count, for
Gore, might mean just counting Miami-Dade, and he again denied
that he wants recounts — simply a naked lie. Another reprise from
last night was the forced chuckle, one of those laughs that sounds as
if it might go on a little longer, and turn to tears. The only reason
that the campaign would feel obliged to send Gore out again today is it
thinks that he didn't get the job done last night: About that, at least,
the Gore campaign is right.
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