Would Gore have been prez, if the supreme court didn't stop the recount?

[ringmastery]

I don't think it was a done deal, by any stretch of the imagination. Even if the recount went on and it was found Gore got more votes, the republicans had a doomsday plan to get Bush elected. They wanted to send two sets of electors to congress and then all hell would have broken loose.

[mn9driver]

1. Judge Saunders (?) was getting ready to order a full recount

of all of the undervotes and overvotes as required by Florida law when the Supremes shut the whole thing down. This is evidenced by his handwritten notes on the legal documents that were reviewed by the media consortium in 2001.

If that recount had gone through, Gore would have won.

[kskiska]

8. The judge was Terry Lewis

Judge Sanders Sauls received all the disputed ballots but refused to even look at them, much less count them. It was Lewis who ordered the final full hand recount, which was halted by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Seems like Jeb's fix was in as far as Florida was concerned. It will be this time, too, so we'd better arrange to win in the mid-west and not have it come down to Florida.

[Fridays Child]

2. I recall that...

...but I remember thinking, at the time, that it would have only delayed the inevitable. That is to say that Gore would have prevailed. Now, though, I don't remember the details or why I thought so.

[not systems]

3. Yes. And he would have won by a landslide without...

the mass disenfranchisement of people wrongly scrubbed from the voter rolls.

Try to see Unprecedented: The 2000 Presidential Election you can read
about it at http://www.unprecedented.org/

[bluestateguy]

4. Probably Not

It likely would have unfolded this way:

1) Court allowed the recounting.

2) There would have been more haggling over counting standards, possibly leading to a state recount. Every procedural decision would have been made by K. Harris in favor of the Republicans.

2a) Gore was gaining votes in Miami-Dade when the counting was stopped, BUT we don't know, or I don't know, if the Cuban precincts had been recounted yet.

3) Let's just say that Gore came out on top. OK, so what? Then the Republican FL legislature would have appointed their own electors and there would have been a contested slate of electors from Florida. Harris would have certified the legislature's electors.

4) It then would have gone to the House of Representatives. They likely would have certified the legislature's slate. They had the votes and it was that simple.

Gore was at a disadvantage from the beginning. The machinery of government was in control of Republicans at all the important levels. Had Gore made it is strategy from the beginning to call for a statewide hand recount he would have been in a much stronger position legally and politically. The Bush team would have been hard pressed to resist that approach. Gore may or may not have come out on top. It would have depended on the county counting standards. Then there were the overseas absentee ballots that were certified even though they lacked postmarks, a clear violation of Florida law. Still, demanding that these ballots, most of whom were cast by military personell, be discarded was a politically untenable position to take, and one that was just ripe for Republican demagoguery. Of course, had Ralph Nader honorably withdrew from the race in October none of this would have happened. He chose not to do that, however. The race in Florida would nopt have been close enough to steal. It seems that Mr. Good Government never lifted a finger when all of this Tomfoolery was going on.

[clarknyc]

5. Simply put: YES!

And we'd be looking at a very, very different future. God I hate where this country has descended to in 3+ years...

[Kahuna]

6. No. Both the Florida Legislature and GOP lead congress..

said that they would only recognize bush.

[ringmastery]

7. I remember some talk

that since the Senate was in control of the democrats at that time, they could have recognized a different set of electors than the house.

In other words, the house may have selected Bush as President and the Senate may have selected Gore as Vice President, which would have made one hell of an odd couple.

[kskiska]

9. I thought I remembered that the final decision

would come down to the Governor of Florida (you-know-who) to decide which slate should be used if it couldn't be decided by Congress.

[2004Donkeys]

10. Wouldn't it have been Lieberman as VP?

n/t

[ringmastery]

11. I think the senate could have elected

anyone they wanted as VP. And since Gore couldn't have been president, to poke an eye at Bush, they would have made Gore Vice President again.

But I don't remember this too well.