Democrats to move court against Florida result

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

WASHINGTON, NOV. 13 In a sign of rapid escalation in the presidential recounting process, the Gore campaign has said that it would move court to prevent Florida's Secretary of State from formally announcing the result of the election by the mandated 5 p.m. deadline on Tuesday.

Separately, and prior to the start of formal presentations this morning, the Federal judge taking up the Bush campaign's plea for an injunction against manual counting ruled that cameras cannot be present in the courtroom.

After a meeting with Mr. William Daley and Mr. Warren Christopher, top aides of the Vice-President, Florida's Secretary of State, Ms. Katherine Harris, said she would not budge from meeting Tuesday's deadline even if the recount by hand was not over and the results of Palm Beach County were not fully tabulated. Thus far, some 64 out of the 67 counties have accounted for the vote either by mail or fax.

At the end of the meeting with Ms. Harris, Mr. Christopher, former Secretary of State, noted that the Gore campaign will take the matter to court either on its own or through other Democratic officials in the State.

The Democratic campaign finds the explanations offered by Ms. Harris - a Republican and a supporter of the Texas Governor, Mr. George Bush - simply unacceptable. Democrats see politics a bigger reason for Ms. Harris' decision, not existing statutes.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Front Page
Previous : Jagir Kaur goes into hiding
Next     : Cong. not to support Soren