Gore presides as Congress certifies Bush's victory
Gore presides as Congress certifies Bush's victory
WASHINGTON (AP): With the vanquished Vice President Al Gore
presiding, Congress formally anointed George W. Bush as the
victor in last year's achingly close and bitterly contested
presidential election.
In a hoary constitutional ritual that made up with political
irony and shouted objections what it lacked in suspense, four
members of Congress read aloud documents Saturday certifying the
electoral votes of each of the 50 states and the District of
Columbia, all in alphabetical order.
When they finished an alternately raucous and humorous 92
minutes later, the Republican Bush had won by 271-266. To
prevail, the winner needed 270 of the 538 electoral votes
nationwide.
Reading from a sheaf of papers, and showing no apparent
emotion, Gore intoned:
"George W. Bush of the state of Texas has received for
president of the United States 271 votes. Al Gore of the state of
Tennessee has received 266 votes. ... This announcement of the
state of the vote by the president of the senate shall be deemed
a sufficient declaration of the persons elected president and
vice president of the United States, each for the term beginning
on the 20th day of January 2001, and shall be entered, together
with a list the votes, on the journals of the Senate and the
House of Representatives."
After announcing the results, Gore, a Democrat, said, "May God
bless our new president and our new vice president, and may God
bless the United States of America." At that, he shook the
outstretched hand of House Speaker Dennis Hastert, and a number
of others, and it was over.
Gore was presiding because it is one of the duties of the vice
president. The last vice president defeated in a presidential
race to oversee Congress' counting of the electoral votes was
Richard Nixon in 1961. Vice President Hubert Humphrey did not do
so in 1969, following his defeat by Nixon.
The joint session of Congress drew extraordinary attention
because it was the final vote tally in a disputed presidential
race that did not end until five weeks after the Nov. 7 election.
Gore did not concede until Dec. 13, a day after the U.S.
Supreme Court forced a halt to vote-counting in Florida.
Even so, House Democrats -- mostly blacks -- raised 20
objections during the session aimed at blocking Florida's pivotal
25 electoral votes from being counted. Many Democrats have
asserted that Bush won Florida unfairly because some votes were
not counted and because of a disproportionate number of
irregularities in largely black, mostly Democratic areas.
"It was the Supreme Court and not the people of the United
States who decided this election," said Rep. Barbara Lee, over
shouts from Republicans.
But time and again, Gore -- blending wit and formality --
disallowed the objections because they were not also signed by a
senator, as required by law. That shortcoming underlined the
judgment by many Democrats that the public had no patience to
resume battling over the election outcome.
When an angry Rep. Maxine Waters said she did not care that a
senator had not signed her objection, Gore responded, "The chair
will advise that the rules do care."
The rules also forbade lawmakers to explain their objections.
Many tried but were quickly silenced by Gore amid grumbling from
Republicans.
At one point, Rep. Alcee Hastings among the complaining
lawmakers, cried out to Gore, "We did all we could."
"The chair thanks the gentleman from Florida," Gore responded
with a smile.
After their objections failed, at least 16 House Democrats
filed out of the chamber en masse.
Gore pumped his right fist when California's 54 votes, the
biggest electoral prize, were awarded to him. But he showed no
emotion when the 11 votes from Tennessee, his home state, went to
his rival.
Out of more than 100 million popular votes cast nationally,
Gore won by nearly 540,000 votes, according to a count of the
final state tallies by The Associated Press.