WEBVTT - Bush v. Gore: Episode 5 – Contingencies 0:00:16.311 --> 0:00:23.191 Pushkin. Hey Leon here, Before we get to this episode, 0:00:23.431 --> 0:00:25.191 I want to let you know that you can binge 0:00:25.231 --> 0:00:28.591 the entire season of Fiasco Bush v goor right now 0:00:28.791 --> 0:00:33.071 ad free by becoming a Pushkin Plus subscriber. Sign up 0:00:33.111 --> 0:00:37.071 for Pushkin Plus on the Fiasco Apple podcast showpage, or 0:00:37.191 --> 0:00:44.351 visit Pushkin dot fm slash Plus. Now onto the episode 0:00:44.751 --> 0:00:49.670 previously on Fiasco. Many in this nation are getting anxious. 0:00:49.830 --> 0:00:52.551 There are battles going on in county offices all over 0:00:52.591 --> 0:00:53.031 the state. 0:00:53.231 --> 0:00:55.631 Republican demonstrators storm the hallways. 0:00:55.671 --> 0:00:58.311 They were pounding on the glass, and I mean people 0:00:58.311 --> 0:00:59.391 were really fired up. 0:00:59.471 --> 0:01:02.270 There would be no more counting of votes in Miami. 0:01:02.391 --> 0:01:05.071 Gore made a conscious decision that he would fight in 0:01:05.151 --> 0:01:07.071 the courts, but not on the streets. 0:01:07.271 --> 0:01:09.511 Let's turned out a Palm Beach County where the canvassing 0:01:09.511 --> 0:01:12.271 board is trying to be the deadline of five pm today. 0:01:12.111 --> 0:01:14.911 The Secretary of State has apparently decided to shut us 0:01:14.951 --> 0:01:17.311 down with approximately two hours left to go. 0:01:17.591 --> 0:01:20.311 Hi hereby declare Governor George W. 0:01:20.391 --> 0:01:24.590 Bush the winner of Florida's twenty five electoral vez what. 0:01:24.591 --> 0:01:30.231 By any reasonable standard, is an incomplete and inaccurate count. 0:01:33.791 --> 0:01:36.751 When Secretary of State Catherine Harris certified the results of 0:01:36.751 --> 0:01:39.831 the Florida election for George W. Bush. The Texas governor, 0:01:39.871 --> 0:01:43.111 took the opportunity to affirm the inevitability of his presidency. 0:01:43.631 --> 0:01:46.511 Secretary Cheney and I are honored and humbled to have 0:01:46.551 --> 0:01:49.631 won the state of Florida, which gives us the needed 0:01:49.711 --> 0:01:52.071 electoral votes to win the election. 0:01:53.471 --> 0:01:55.231 It was a strategy that Bush and his team have 0:01:55.311 --> 0:01:58.911 been using since the recount started. Whenever possible, they would 0:01:58.911 --> 0:02:01.631 try to make it seem like Bush was already president elect. 0:02:02.271 --> 0:02:04.071 They would leak the names of cabinet members he was 0:02:04.111 --> 0:02:05.431 recruiting in Texas. 0:02:05.471 --> 0:02:08.951 Today, Governor Bush had a conspicuous meeting with General Cole 0:02:09.031 --> 0:02:10.231 and Powell have. 0:02:10.231 --> 0:02:12.270 Him give speeches and settings that evoked the White House. 0:02:12.631 --> 0:02:14.631 I understand there are still votes to be counted, but 0:02:14.711 --> 0:02:18.231 I'm in the process of planning in a responsible way 0:02:19.031 --> 0:02:20.391 a potential administration. 0:02:21.351 --> 0:02:23.511 And they would insist over and over that he had 0:02:23.551 --> 0:02:30.951 already won Florida, not once, but twice. After the certification ceremony, 0:02:31.431 --> 0:02:33.911 there was an extra element of posturing to Bush's rhetoric, 0:02:34.871 --> 0:02:37.711 because even though the election in Florida was now technically over, 0:02:38.591 --> 0:02:40.991 Bush knew full well that the Gore campaign was not 0:02:41.071 --> 0:02:41.591 giving up. 0:02:41.911 --> 0:02:44.751 The Vice President's lawyers have indicated he will challenge the 0:02:44.791 --> 0:02:49.591 certified election results. I respectfully ask him to reconsider. 0:02:50.871 --> 0:02:54.431 Gore and his lawyers had just one move left. They 0:02:54.431 --> 0:02:56.791 were going to formally contest the outcome of the election, 0:02:57.671 --> 0:02:59.430 and they would do so by filing a so called 0:02:59.511 --> 0:03:03.151 contest lawsuit, naming the Bush campaign and the Florida Secretary 0:03:03.191 --> 0:03:04.391 of State as defendants. 0:03:04.751 --> 0:03:07.871 Obviously, the great sensitivity in the Gore campaign now to 0:03:07.911 --> 0:03:09.831 make the case to the American people that know this 0:03:09.871 --> 0:03:10.551 is not over. 0:03:10.791 --> 0:03:13.551 The Gore team had fought desperately to avoid the situation 0:03:13.631 --> 0:03:16.391 they now found themselves in. If only they could have 0:03:16.431 --> 0:03:19.071 put more points on the board before Florida's vote count 0:03:19.071 --> 0:03:21.751 was certified, it could have been Bush trying to overturn 0:03:21.791 --> 0:03:25.951 the outcome of the election. Instead, Gore was now officially 0:03:25.991 --> 0:03:28.391 a sore loserman trying to claw his way back from 0:03:28.391 --> 0:03:31.071 the dead, and he was running out of time. 0:03:32.031 --> 0:03:35.791 As Florida's ticking clock becomes a second adversary in the 0:03:35.871 --> 0:03:37.231 desperate search for votes. 0:03:37.351 --> 0:03:40.991 They need decisions, they need them yesterday. They need counts, 0:03:41.031 --> 0:03:42.671 they need the counts right away. 0:03:42.871 --> 0:03:46.791 We've gone from protest certification last night, and now contest. 0:03:46.951 --> 0:03:49.231 Well, I think it's an uphill battle. Not impossible, but 0:03:49.271 --> 0:03:52.751 I think it's very difficult Roe to hoe. The Gore 0:03:52.791 --> 0:03:55.031 team's mission was to convince a judge that the election 0:03:55.111 --> 0:03:58.111 results did not accurately reflect the will of Florida voters. 0:03:58.751 --> 0:04:01.831 Step one was to figure out what happened before, during, 0:04:01.831 --> 0:04:04.671 and after election day that cast doubt on the legitimacy 0:04:04.671 --> 0:04:05.231 of the outcome. 0:04:05.791 --> 0:04:08.791 The big question as we approached the contest phase was 0:04:08.911 --> 0:04:10.031 what should we be contested. 0:04:11.231 --> 0:04:14.151 This is Jeremy Bash in two thousand. He was a 0:04:14.191 --> 0:04:16.270 twenty nine year old doing policy work for the Gore 0:04:16.311 --> 0:04:19.911 campaign when the recount started. His law degree earned him 0:04:19.911 --> 0:04:22.471 a junior spot on the legal team in Tallahassee. I 0:04:22.510 --> 0:04:25.351 had never practiced law a day in my life. I 0:04:25.391 --> 0:04:27.751 had served as a law clerk for a federal judge. 0:04:27.991 --> 0:04:30.911 But on election night they said, anybody who's a lawyer, 0:04:31.511 --> 0:04:33.671 if you were working in Nashville, Tennessee, at the Gore 0:04:33.711 --> 0:04:36.431 campaign headquarters, you were told to go home and pack 0:04:36.471 --> 0:04:38.991 for three days and come back and end up having 0:04:38.991 --> 0:04:41.991 to last thirty six days for the full recount. 0:04:42.511 --> 0:04:44.911 Bash had been in Florida for about three weeks when 0:04:44.951 --> 0:04:47.831 Bush's victory was certified and the contest phase of the 0:04:47.831 --> 0:04:51.831 election began. Basher remembers listening in as the campaign's top 0:04:51.871 --> 0:04:54.671 lawyer's brief Gores and his political advisors on what could 0:04:54.671 --> 0:04:55.231 happen next. 0:04:56.111 --> 0:05:00.191 The legal team presented to the campaign leadership a variety 0:05:00.191 --> 0:05:04.431 of options, and in that meeting we laid out all 0:05:04.511 --> 0:05:08.831 the various ways we had suspected that either Democrats' effort 0:05:08.911 --> 0:05:12.871 to vote had been denied or Republicans engaged in some 0:05:13.311 --> 0:05:16.871 quote unquote dirty tricks to prevent Democrats from voting. 0:05:17.791 --> 0:05:19.991 Some members of the Gore team felt they should include 0:05:20.031 --> 0:05:23.791 as many grievances as possible in their complaint. They favored 0:05:23.791 --> 0:05:27.190 a two pronged approach, fighting to count likely Gore votes 0:05:27.231 --> 0:05:30.391 that had been unfairly thrown out, while also fighting to 0:05:30.391 --> 0:05:33.270 throw out likely Bush votes that had been unfairly counted. 0:05:34.151 --> 0:05:37.391 In this maximalist version of the contest lawsuit, the Gore 0:05:37.471 --> 0:05:39.831 lawyers would object to the counting of military ballots that 0:05:39.911 --> 0:05:43.631 lacked proper postmarks and signatures. These were the overseas absente 0:05:43.631 --> 0:05:46.551 ballots you heard about in our previous episode. They would 0:05:46.551 --> 0:05:49.231 also bring up a controversy involving thousands of absente ballot 0:05:49.271 --> 0:05:53.311 applications that had come in without voter ID numbers. Republican 0:05:53.311 --> 0:05:56.070 officials had quote unquote fixed the applications by writing in 0:05:56.111 --> 0:05:59.231 those ID numbers by hand after they were received, and 0:05:59.271 --> 0:06:02.991 the resulting ballots have been counted. Anyway, not everyone on 0:06:03.031 --> 0:06:05.630 the Gore team wanted to go into the contest guns blazing. 0:06:06.431 --> 0:06:07.871 Here again is Jeremy Bash. 0:06:08.991 --> 0:06:12.351 My view was that if we were going to take 0:06:12.431 --> 0:06:14.271 this thing to court, if we were going to file 0:06:14.351 --> 0:06:17.591 the first contest of a presidential election in US history, 0:06:18.031 --> 0:06:23.031 it should be on the strongest, narrowest, most ironclad grounds 0:06:23.071 --> 0:06:26.591 that we could stand on. We didn't want the voters 0:06:26.671 --> 0:06:29.671 to think that we were throwing everything against the wall 0:06:29.711 --> 0:06:32.511 to see what would stick, that we were really focusing 0:06:33.071 --> 0:06:35.431 only in the areas where we thought that a full 0:06:35.471 --> 0:06:36.950 recount was necessary. 0:06:37.911 --> 0:06:39.831 Bash had arrived at this conclusion by way of his 0:06:39.911 --> 0:06:42.711 daily interactions with journalists who were covering the recount and 0:06:42.711 --> 0:06:44.471 who would come to him with questions about the Gore 0:06:44.511 --> 0:06:45.591 teams legal strategy. 0:06:46.071 --> 0:06:46.591 There was this. 0:06:46.631 --> 0:06:50.311 Deep skepticism about what we were doing, and in general, 0:06:50.351 --> 0:06:53.831 their approach and their attitude was Gore is trying to 0:06:53.911 --> 0:06:59.831 undertake these herculean efforts to reverse the election. 0:06:59.671 --> 0:07:02.791 Result, any sign that he's considering a concession speed. 0:07:02.871 --> 0:07:05.591 The time is fast approaching to accept the certified results 0:07:05.631 --> 0:07:07.311 in Florida and conceive the. 0:07:07.271 --> 0:07:10.911 Election, and one Congressional Democrat has said publicly that Gore 0:07:10.951 --> 0:07:12.191 should throw in the towel. 0:07:13.231 --> 0:07:17.031 It was quite dispiriting, actually, because the whole vibe of 0:07:17.071 --> 0:07:20.711 the reporting was that Gore was behind, we were behind, 0:07:21.111 --> 0:07:23.751 and that we were trying to do something fairly unprecedented 0:07:23.751 --> 0:07:27.831 American history to undermine what had already been decided. 0:07:28.031 --> 0:07:31.191 Apparently, many Americans are ready for this election to be over. 0:07:31.351 --> 0:07:34.951 A new ABC News Washington Post poll shows sixty percent 0:07:34.951 --> 0:07:38.071 of people say Vice President Al Gore should concede the election, 0:07:38.551 --> 0:07:39.391 but thirty. 0:07:40.751 --> 0:07:43.631 In the end, Gore's lawyers decided to limit the scope 0:07:43.631 --> 0:07:46.391 of their lawsuit rather than going with the kitchen sink approach, 0:07:47.391 --> 0:07:49.591 So instead of trying to get any Bush votes thrown out, 0:07:50.071 --> 0:07:52.951 they would focus exclusively on getting more Gore votes counted 0:07:53.831 --> 0:07:56.591 first and foremost. That would mean asking for the unfinished 0:07:56.591 --> 0:07:59.351 hand recounts in Palm Beach and Miami Day to be completed, 0:08:00.351 --> 0:08:03.391 this time using a more lenient standard for determining voter intent. 0:08:03.791 --> 0:08:06.231 The Democrats trying to make the case now that there 0:08:06.271 --> 0:08:09.031 are roughly fifteen thousand or so votes that have never 0:08:09.071 --> 0:08:11.551 been counted or at least never manually inspected. 0:08:12.111 --> 0:08:14.111 When it came time to pull together the documents for 0:08:14.151 --> 0:08:17.111 the contest filing, Jeremy Bash stood by the office printer 0:08:17.191 --> 0:08:19.711 with Dexter Douglas, another lawyer working for the Gore campaign. 0:08:21.111 --> 0:08:23.391 Together they waited for a copy of the complaint to come. 0:08:23.311 --> 0:08:25.871 Out, and we were waiting and waiting and waiting, and 0:08:25.911 --> 0:08:29.671 I said, it feels like Dexter were sitting here waiting for. 0:08:29.551 --> 0:08:33.550 A baby to be delivered. Douglas, who died in twenty thirteen, 0:08:34.231 --> 0:08:37.551 had been agitating for a more aggressive approach. He thought 0:08:37.550 --> 0:08:39.511 the Gore team was making a mistake and being so 0:08:39.591 --> 0:08:40.790 focused and meek. 0:08:41.271 --> 0:08:43.511 And he said, well, is it going to be a 0:08:43.550 --> 0:08:46.110 boy or a girl? And we kind of chuckled about that, 0:08:46.151 --> 0:08:49.030 and then when the paper rolled off the printer, we 0:08:49.070 --> 0:08:51.871 both read it and he said, well, it's a boy. 0:08:52.950 --> 0:08:57.991 It's got very small balls, but it's a boy. 0:08:59.391 --> 0:09:01.350 It's hard to say how much of a chance Al 0:09:01.430 --> 0:09:04.391 Gore really had at this point, but the Bush campaign 0:09:04.471 --> 0:09:07.670 and their allies were not taking anything for granted. While 0:09:07.710 --> 0:09:11.910 Gore's lawyers took the extraordinary step of contesting election, Republicans 0:09:11.950 --> 0:09:14.311 in the Florida State Legislature were setting the stage for 0:09:14.391 --> 0:09:15.511 hail Mary of their own. 0:09:15.910 --> 0:09:19.311 The state legislature here in Tallahassee is moving rapidly to 0:09:19.391 --> 0:09:22.190 try to take control of this election away from the courts. 0:09:22.511 --> 0:09:25.431 If the plan worked, the Republicans in the Florida State 0:09:25.550 --> 0:09:28.391 Legislature would be able to deliver the state's twenty five 0:09:28.430 --> 0:09:34.151 electors to Bush. No matter what. I'm Leon Nafock from 0:09:34.231 --> 0:09:39.190 Prolog Projects and Pushkin Industries. This is fiasco Bush v. 0:09:39.351 --> 0:09:39.591 Gore. 0:09:41.751 --> 0:09:45.390 The Republicans here in Tallahassee brought down the hammer tonight's. 0:09:45.030 --> 0:09:47.751 Leu essentially wipe out the entire election. 0:09:47.991 --> 0:09:50.711 If you do not like political chaos, it's about time 0:09:50.751 --> 0:09:51.631 to head for the storm. 0:09:51.670 --> 0:09:51.910 Seller. 0:09:52.030 --> 0:09:54.110 When they had offered me the bulletproof vest I think 0:09:54.151 --> 0:09:55.751 that scared me more than anything else. 0:09:55.590 --> 0:09:58.830 Dead Those couple of hours today were just positively. 0:09:58.231 --> 0:10:04.550 Explosive Episode five contingencies. As a threat of a constitutional 0:10:04.550 --> 0:10:09.351 crisis hangs over Tallahassee, both Democrats and Republicans prepared a 0:10:09.391 --> 0:10:23.511 cross line never before crossed in modern politics, the Florida 0:10:23.550 --> 0:10:27.030 State Legislature was a lopsided body. In the state Senate, 0:10:27.070 --> 0:10:31.351 Republicans outnumbered Democrats twenty five to fifteen. In the State House, 0:10:31.590 --> 0:10:35.591 Republicans outnumbered Democrats seventy seven to forty three. It was 0:10:35.590 --> 0:10:37.711 a factive life in Florida that if Republicans in the 0:10:37.710 --> 0:10:40.551 state Legislature rallied around an idea, they could take it 0:10:40.590 --> 0:10:42.550 all the way without any Democratic support. 0:10:43.391 --> 0:10:47.231 Good afternoon, everyone. I hope those of you that aren't 0:10:47.271 --> 0:10:51.390 from Florida are enjoying your Florida vacation and our economy 0:10:51.430 --> 0:10:52.831 appreciate your help. 0:10:53.871 --> 0:10:56.950 That's John McKay, the Republican president of the Florida State 0:10:56.950 --> 0:10:59.870 Senate at the time of the recount. A few hours 0:10:59.910 --> 0:11:02.230 after the Gore team filed their contest lawsuit at the 0:11:02.271 --> 0:11:05.951 Leon County Courthouse in Tallahassee, McKay held a press conference. 0:11:07.030 --> 0:11:08.831 He took the opportunity to lay out his view of 0:11:08.830 --> 0:11:11.591 how the state legislature can help rescue Florida from its 0:11:11.631 --> 0:11:12.950 ongoing political nightmare. 0:11:13.710 --> 0:11:18.990 The US Constitution and the federal law vest the legislature 0:11:19.030 --> 0:11:22.550 with the ultimate authority to designate the manner of appointing 0:11:22.590 --> 0:11:25.071 presidential electors. 0:11:25.231 --> 0:11:27.991 To grasp what McKay was proposing. It helps to have 0:11:28.030 --> 0:11:31.271 a literal understanding of what the electoral college is and 0:11:31.310 --> 0:11:34.151 what it means in practice to be a presidential elector. 0:11:34.751 --> 0:11:37.230 Most people don't realize that when they vote for president, 0:11:37.550 --> 0:11:39.670 they're not voting directly for their candidate. 0:11:40.030 --> 0:11:42.870 They think they're voting for a presidential candidate, and they're not. 0:11:43.070 --> 0:11:46.511 They're voting for electors that have been put up by 0:11:46.790 --> 0:11:47.830 each of the parties. 0:11:48.511 --> 0:11:51.391 Basically, each state gets to pick a certain number of 0:11:51.430 --> 0:11:54.511 electors to represent them in the electoral College, and when 0:11:54.511 --> 0:11:57.430 you vote for president on election day, you're actually voting 0:11:57.471 --> 0:11:59.511 for the electors that have been chosen by your candidate's 0:11:59.511 --> 0:12:03.631 political party. So, for instance, when Bill Clinton won Florida 0:12:03.670 --> 0:12:06.631 in nineteen ninety six, the Democratic Party sent a slate 0:12:06.670 --> 0:12:09.870 of twenty five Democratic electors to vote in the electoral College, 0:12:10.070 --> 0:12:14.111 Florida's behalf. All of this happens on a strict schedule. 0:12:14.991 --> 0:12:17.990 In two thousand, all five hundred and thirty eight electors 0:12:17.991 --> 0:12:20.391 around the country were supposed to cast their votes on 0:12:20.430 --> 0:12:21.550 December eighteenth. 0:12:21.910 --> 0:12:25.591 By December eighteenth, those electors must send their votes to Washington. 0:12:25.871 --> 0:12:30.430 On January sixth, the new Congress certifies the vote. January twentieth, 0:12:30.550 --> 0:12:33.030 a new president is inaugurated, so. 0:12:33.190 --> 0:12:35.311 A little over a month before the new president would 0:12:35.310 --> 0:12:39.790 be inaugurated. Crucially, federal law also called for each state 0:12:39.790 --> 0:12:42.950 to choose its electors six days before the electoral college 0:12:43.030 --> 0:12:43.791 vote took place. 0:12:44.190 --> 0:12:48.230 December twelfth is key the day Florida certifies its electors. 0:12:48.351 --> 0:12:51.151 On the day Gore filed the contest lawsuit and Florida 0:12:51.190 --> 0:12:54.271 Senate President John McKay gave his press conference that was 0:12:54.310 --> 0:12:55.790 a little more than two weeks away. 0:12:56.550 --> 0:12:59.511 If unresolved by the twelfth, then the Legislature has the 0:12:59.550 --> 0:13:05.111 authority and may have the responsibility to step in to 0:13:05.190 --> 0:13:08.350 determine and communicate to Congress Florida's electors. 0:13:09.070 --> 0:13:11.670 It was McKay's view that all the suing and hand 0:13:11.710 --> 0:13:14.831 counting and contesting that al Gore was doing was placing 0:13:14.871 --> 0:13:18.871 Florida's electoral votes in jeopardy. McKay and his fellow Republicans 0:13:18.910 --> 0:13:21.070 feared that if all the legal wrangling wasn't over by 0:13:21.111 --> 0:13:24.151 December twelfth, Florida would be left out of the electoral 0:13:24.151 --> 0:13:27.430 college vote altogether, and none of Florida's six million ballots 0:13:27.511 --> 0:13:31.350 would count At all. The Republicans found their solution in 0:13:31.430 --> 0:13:34.551 Title three, Chapter one, Section two of the US Code, 0:13:35.111 --> 0:13:37.790 which said that the state legislature had the power to intervene. 0:13:38.670 --> 0:13:39.791 Here again is McKay. 0:13:40.271 --> 0:13:44.030 I did not want Florida's voters votes not to be counted, 0:13:44.070 --> 0:13:47.271 and if I remember correctly, about six million people voted 0:13:47.310 --> 0:13:52.230 that year. I wanted to make sure those votes were counted, 0:13:53.670 --> 0:13:56.191 and I hoped that the court system would resolve it. 0:13:56.550 --> 0:13:59.511 But if they didn't, the legislature had to be prepared 0:14:00.310 --> 0:14:05.070 to go into session or else everyone's votes in Florida 0:14:05.111 --> 0:14:06.030 would not be counted. 0:14:06.271 --> 0:14:10.511 The Democrats in Florida did not buy this rationale, convinced 0:14:10.511 --> 0:14:13.430 that the Republicans were scheming to deliver Florida's electors to Bush, 0:14:13.631 --> 0:14:17.751 regardless of how Gore's contest lawsuit turned out or who 0:14:17.830 --> 0:14:20.110 ultimately prevailed in the state's popular vote. 0:14:20.351 --> 0:14:23.071 Angry Democrats charging today, but that would be little more 0:14:23.071 --> 0:14:26.231 than a naked attempt to fix the election for George W. 0:14:26.311 --> 0:14:26.870 Bush. 0:14:27.071 --> 0:14:29.911 We should not serve as an insurance policy for a 0:14:29.951 --> 0:14:30.951 Bush presidency. 0:14:31.031 --> 0:14:33.830 To go down this road is to shake the very 0:14:33.911 --> 0:14:35.351 foundations of. 0:14:35.271 --> 0:14:38.631 Our democracy as they saw it. McKay and the Republicans 0:14:38.631 --> 0:14:41.831 were laying the groundwork for a power grab, an unconscionable 0:14:41.871 --> 0:14:43.350 and run around Florida's electorate. 0:14:43.791 --> 0:14:46.231 They were going to change Florida law after the fact 0:14:46.751 --> 0:14:49.990 to say that the ballots people would cast an election 0:14:50.071 --> 0:14:54.151 date had zero impact on Florida's electors. That instead that 0:14:54.231 --> 0:14:58.230 the legislators would meet and they would elect a slate 0:14:58.271 --> 0:14:58.911 of electors. 0:14:59.311 --> 0:15:02.151 This is Ron Klain, who served as the top legal 0:15:02.151 --> 0:15:04.191 strategist on Gore's recount team in Florida. 0:15:04.671 --> 0:15:08.191 So they would essentially wipe out the entire election. 0:15:08.911 --> 0:15:09.071 You know. 0:15:09.071 --> 0:15:11.631 Their basic argument was, Hey, it's a mass it's confusing. 0:15:11.671 --> 0:15:14.271 How about this, how about we let these fine legislators 0:15:14.271 --> 0:15:17.751 over here decide whether not Bush or Gore will be president. 0:15:18.351 --> 0:15:21.671 McKay rejects this characterization. He told me that he only 0:15:21.671 --> 0:15:24.071 grudgingly endorsed the idea of the so called en run, 0:15:24.671 --> 0:15:26.231 and though he was prepared to carry it out if 0:15:26.231 --> 0:15:28.711 it looked like Florida's electors wouldn't otherwise be seated in time, 0:15:29.271 --> 0:15:30.990 he shuddered to think of the president it would say. 0:15:31.871 --> 0:15:36.431 I was concerned, and I'm still concerned that if you 0:15:36.511 --> 0:15:43.711 had similar circumstances and you had a rabbit legislature that 0:15:44.031 --> 0:15:48.431 the partisanship would trump comments sense. And I thought that 0:15:48.871 --> 0:15:54.871 the legislature acting to select a presidential candidate could, perhaps 0:15:55.431 --> 0:16:00.871 one hundred years from now, give precedent where a legislature 0:16:00.951 --> 0:16:03.511 might do that. And I didn't want to be part 0:16:04.391 --> 0:16:08.951 of giving somebody a blueprint for ill purposes. 0:16:10.231 --> 0:16:12.511 You didn't want to do this right because you didn't 0:16:12.511 --> 0:16:14.871 want to set a precedent for someone else down the 0:16:14.911 --> 0:16:18.031 line to take over RISI and the Democrats as they 0:16:18.031 --> 0:16:20.071 saw you doing, they said, that's what you're doing. You're 0:16:20.111 --> 0:16:21.951 trying to take over this election. So what was your 0:16:21.991 --> 0:16:22.551 rebuttal to that? 0:16:23.231 --> 0:16:26.231 My rebuttal would have been had anybody ask me that question. 0:16:26.590 --> 0:16:29.631 I've postponed this as long as I can possibly postpone 0:16:29.710 --> 0:16:34.630 it without jeopardizing the votes of six million Floridians. 0:16:35.511 --> 0:16:38.471 Even as plans for the legislative endron solidified in the Capitol, 0:16:38.871 --> 0:16:41.631 Gore's effort to contest the election was just getting started. 0:16:42.151 --> 0:16:44.710 We're expecting in ten minutes for two lawyers for al 0:16:44.791 --> 0:16:47.671 Gore to walk into this courthouse, the Leon County Circuit 0:16:47.751 --> 0:16:51.071 Court in Tallahassee and officially challenged the results of the 0:16:51.071 --> 0:16:53.271 presidential election. In the United States of America in the 0:16:53.351 --> 0:16:54.071 year two thousand. 0:16:54.431 --> 0:16:55.191 The two lawyers. 0:16:55.231 --> 0:16:57.631 It was November twenty seventh when Jeremy Bash and Dexter 0:16:57.710 --> 0:17:00.151 Douglas took the contest lawsuit out of their office printer 0:17:00.311 --> 0:17:03.511 and walked it over to the courthouse. Cameras flashed around 0:17:03.551 --> 0:17:05.591 them as journalists tried to capture the historic. 0:17:05.311 --> 0:17:09.311 Moment as the attorneys for al Gore come into that 0:17:09.391 --> 0:17:13.110 courthouse and file their contest to the results. As you 0:17:13.111 --> 0:17:16.950 can see here walking across with some degree of consciousness 0:17:16.951 --> 0:17:19.151 and ceremony, albeit somewhat informal. 0:17:19.431 --> 0:17:21.110 Here again is Jeremy Bash. 0:17:21.671 --> 0:17:24.791 I held the pleadings in my hand, and I slid 0:17:24.870 --> 0:17:28.311 the complaint under the glass window. It was the first 0:17:29.071 --> 0:17:32.670 contest of a presidential election US history that I filed 0:17:32.711 --> 0:17:36.590 with my own hands. And the staff at the Leon 0:17:36.630 --> 0:17:40.791 County Courthouse took the pleading. They turned their back on us, 0:17:40.830 --> 0:17:43.311 and they went to the back of their workspace and 0:17:43.350 --> 0:17:44.430 they spun a wheel. 0:17:44.751 --> 0:17:47.830 What will happen is it will be assigned to a judge. 0:17:47.991 --> 0:17:48.871 A judge will then. 0:17:48.870 --> 0:17:51.150 Set a date for a The wheel, which was actually 0:17:51.231 --> 0:17:54.430 just a computer program, would determine which judge the Leon 0:17:54.471 --> 0:17:57.311 County Circuit Court would be assigned to preside over the contest. 0:17:58.471 --> 0:18:01.871 Going into the Scampbell, Tallahassee Native Dexter Douglas had given 0:18:01.911 --> 0:18:05.111 the Gor team permission to be optimistic. In his opinion, 0:18:05.551 --> 0:18:07.511 most of the judges in the pool would be receptive 0:18:07.551 --> 0:18:08.711 to their arguments. 0:18:09.590 --> 0:18:11.590 And they pulled a name off of the wheel and 0:18:11.590 --> 0:18:14.791 they came back and they said, you have been given 0:18:15.711 --> 0:18:20.591 Judge sauls that's what the wheel has given you. And 0:18:20.830 --> 0:18:23.950 Dexter Douglas he motioned at me like, don't say anything, 0:18:23.991 --> 0:18:26.031 but he kind of just shook his head and he said, 0:18:26.071 --> 0:18:26.630 can I of motion? 0:18:26.751 --> 0:18:27.190 Come with me? 0:18:27.311 --> 0:18:30.150 And we scurried back down the hallway into the elevator. 0:18:30.350 --> 0:18:33.191 We were followed by the press, and once the elevator 0:18:33.191 --> 0:18:36.390 doors closed and the press was out of earshot, Dexter 0:18:36.711 --> 0:18:39.590 just said to us, he said, that's a bad seed. 0:18:39.991 --> 0:18:43.111 That's a bad draw. Judge Saws is not good for us. 0:18:49.311 --> 0:18:52.590 Judge N. Sanders Saws was a lifelong North Florida Conservative. 0:18:53.390 --> 0:18:55.910 He also had a contentious history with the Florida Supreme Court, 0:18:56.271 --> 0:18:58.791 which many Republicans perceived as being biased towards Gore. 0:19:00.110 --> 0:19:03.311 Judge N. Sanders Salt and his rn ends with the 0:19:03.311 --> 0:19:06.670 Florida Supreme Court, his being a very strict constructionist, and 0:19:06.711 --> 0:19:07.430 here's a case. 0:19:07.471 --> 0:19:10.430 Almost immediately the Gore team realized they had to get 0:19:10.431 --> 0:19:13.551 the contest lawsuit out of Saualz's courtroom one way or another. 0:19:14.271 --> 0:19:17.350 They briefly considered asking him to accuse, but they decided 0:19:17.390 --> 0:19:21.150 against it. Instead, they set out to lose as quickly 0:19:21.271 --> 0:19:25.870 as possible. Here again is Gore recount strategist Ron Klain. 0:19:26.071 --> 0:19:28.630 In the few minutes after it happened, as we were 0:19:28.671 --> 0:19:31.870 sitting around discussing trial strategy, and it was very simply this, 0:19:32.390 --> 0:19:34.230 we need to lose, and we need to lose fast. 0:19:34.711 --> 0:19:36.751 The faster they could get a ruling out of Saulves. 0:19:36.751 --> 0:19:39.230 The Gore team vigured, the faster they could appeal the 0:19:39.231 --> 0:19:41.311 case and get it in front of the Florida Supreme Court. 0:19:42.071 --> 0:19:43.551 At least there they would have a chance. 0:19:50.751 --> 0:19:53.390 As the battle on the Florida Arena shifted to the 0:19:53.471 --> 0:19:56.751 legal arena, the Gore campaign brought in a heavyweight. His 0:19:56.830 --> 0:19:58.870 name is David Boys, and he's a legend in his 0:19:58.951 --> 0:20:01.870 own time, a New York lawrior with an enviable record 0:20:01.870 --> 0:20:03.551 in a quirky personal style. 0:20:04.150 --> 0:20:06.431 David Boys was in a meeting with Calvin Klein when 0:20:06.471 --> 0:20:08.671 one of Gore's friends called his law offics and asked 0:20:08.711 --> 0:20:12.511 him to join the recount effort Florida. Boys was representing 0:20:12.590 --> 0:20:14.350 Klein in a trademark case that was supposed to go 0:20:14.390 --> 0:20:16.910 to trial soon, but he wasn't about to say no 0:20:16.991 --> 0:20:18.031 to helping the Vice President. 0:20:18.711 --> 0:20:21.191 Even at that stage. We knew it was an important case. 0:20:21.231 --> 0:20:23.751 We knew it was a case that was going to 0:20:23.791 --> 0:20:29.670 involve historic decisions, and to have an opportunity to have 0:20:29.711 --> 0:20:32.751 a front row seat and maybe even be a participant 0:20:33.431 --> 0:20:35.231 was something that would have been hard to turn down. 0:20:36.071 --> 0:20:38.350 Boys had won some of the most spectacular lawsuits in 0:20:38.390 --> 0:20:41.710 the past fifteen years. He had represented the federal government 0:20:41.751 --> 0:20:44.951 in the monopoly case against Microsoft. He had also represented 0:20:44.951 --> 0:20:46.951 the New York Yankees in an anti trust suit against 0:20:46.951 --> 0:20:50.071 Major League Baseball. Boys was known for speaking in court 0:20:50.071 --> 0:20:53.071 without notes and for showing up to arguments wearing sneakers 0:20:53.911 --> 0:20:56.150 to fill out the picture of the eccentric genius. He 0:20:56.231 --> 0:20:58.390 was frequently seen eating candy or ice cream. 0:20:58.551 --> 0:21:00.830 Last year's Lawyer of the Year, according to the National 0:21:00.911 --> 0:21:04.830 Law Journal, profiled in Vanity Fair and People Magazine, the 0:21:04.951 --> 0:21:05.991 litigator in cheap. 0:21:06.590 --> 0:21:09.630 Boys was responsible for crafting the lose fast strategy in 0:21:09.671 --> 0:21:12.630 front of Judge Salls. Instead of calling dozens of witnesses 0:21:12.671 --> 0:21:14.791