Mullings A Political Cyber Column By Rich Galen

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Where's Warren"

Wednesday November 29, 2000

Former Secretary of State Warren Christopher, who was omnipresent before cameras and microphones in Florida, was not heard from for days until he showed up on Larry King Live last night. If everyone wants to lower the temperature of the rhetoric surrounding this thing, Secretary Christopher is the guy.

When Christopher was in office they used to distribute little notices at his speeches warning observers not to drive or operate heavy machinery after listening to his remarks. We Want Warren! We Want Warren!

All Al All The Time. The four-minute Gore speech Monday night did nothing to help stop the building wave of people who think he should give it up. It might have had the opposite effect. So, his handlers trotted him out again yesterday afternoon to hold a longer press conference to make his case more personally.

Gore proposed yet another re-re-re-re-count saying, "This morning we have proposed to the court in Tallahassee a plan to have all the ballots counted in seven days, starting tomorrow morning, and to have the court proceedings fully completed one or two days after that."

Note these words: "�have the court proceedings fully completed�" Even after this latest demand that the votes be counted again, Gore holds out the threat of still more legal action.

My new official hero is Bush attorney Barry Richard, a Tallahassee attorney , who went toe-to-toe with Gore's super-lawyer, David Boies, and faced him down.

Speaking of yesterday's court hearing, Circuit Judge N. Sanders Sauls reminds me of the prairie-wise judge in every western movie ever made.

Here's where the Bush campaign scored a big non-court victory yesterday: There is a rule in politics that you want your lowest level legitimate person arguing with their highest level legitimate person. That is, you want your volunteer director quoted in the press opposite the Congressman who is your opponent.

Here's how the Gore campaign allowed themselves to get skunked: Al "I-Won-And-If-You-Don't-Believe-Me-You-Can-Ask-Joe-Lieberman" Gore spent the day being shown on network and cable television opposite Bush director of communications, Karen Hughes.

The reality of the current situation in Florida is this:
- Remember when the members of the Gore legal team were hailed
as geniuses because they convinced the Florida Supreme Court
to extend the deadline for getting the hand count done?
- And remember how they happily accepted those laurels with
hearty handshakes all around?
- The reason they were soooo exultant was because they truly
believed Gore would be in the lead when the deadline
arrived this past Sunday night.
- He wasn't.
- Oops.

Now, the Gore team finds that they have, in effect, stolen from Broward to pay Palm.
- The time period for this "contest" (which sounds so benign)
should have begun on Saturday November 17 when the
Secretary of State was to have certified the results of
the election. That would have left 25 days for the
contest until the December 12th deadline for selecting
Electors.
- After the Gore people sued, and the Supreme Court ruled, the
date shifted backward to November 26 - only 16 days from
the date for certifying Electors.
- So the Gore team finds itself with about 7,237,643 legal cases
THAT IT FILED pending around the State of Florida, and the
clock running. Out.

Monday night there was a bitter-sweet event in Your Nation's Capital. It was the kick-off for the foundation founded in the memory of Dan Dutko - a Democrat in his politics but among the most human of human beings - who died tragically about a year ago.

Here's the reason for bringing this up: On Court TV (!) yesterday I noted that there were a lot of senior Republicans and even more senior Democrats at that function, including The Democrat-in-Chief, Bill Clinton.

Unlike days of The Scandal when Republicans and Democrats would barely talk to one another, last night there was a general air of "this will soon be over, and all will be well."

The worst news for the Vice President? I didn't talk to a single person - of either political persuasion - who thought Gore would prevail. Of course, I didn't actually bring the matter up with The Democrat-in-Chief.

One of the reasons for a lack of enthusiasm for Gore in non-official Washington was summarized by Chris Matthews on Imus yesterday morning speaking about Gore's schmoozability: "Al Gore's best friend hates him."

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