Gore to appeal in last-ditch move

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

WASHINGTON, DEC. 5. The Democratic Vice-Presidential candidate, Mr. Joseph Lieberman, is heading for Capitol Hill to shore up the position of the Presidential candidate, Mr. Al Gore, among party members, some of whom have started expressing serious doubts. Mr. Gore himself is expected to make ``one last'' appeal some time today for support as he moves the Florida Supreme Court for relief.

Democrats and supporters of Mr. Gore are generally resigned to the fact that he is on his last legs of the legal process; and more important, the time is running out. To cast blame on the Republicans for wasting time does not go very far - the Democrats would have run the clock out too if they were faced with a similar situation.

If Mr. Lieberman is in Capitol Hill this morning, it is not because the major warning signals have come from the House Minority Leader, Mr. Richard Gephardt, and the Senate Minority Leader, Mr. Tom Daschle. For now, the two leading Democrats are ``solidly'' behind Mr. Gore, but nearly everyone knows that this could change fast.

The primary purpose of Mr. Lieberman's trek to the Capitol Hill is to convince apprehensive Democrats of the need to give Mr. Gore one more chance.

Even Mr. Gore's top lawyers are saying that if the Florida Supreme Court refuses the petition for a narrow handcount of 14,000 ballots, the ball game is over. The two sides are to file their written briefs this afternoon; and then the State Supreme Court will give its timetable for the case that could include oral arguments.

Nevertheless, there is apprehension that the Court could also choose not to hear the case, making the judgment of the Leon County Circuit Court stand. That would be the end of the matter. But some sceptics are convinced that Mr. Gore, convinced of having won the Florida election and the Presidency, will desperately look for other avenues. But those avenues are not going to be easy to find. The State Supreme Court is going to be the last resort.

``He's got one last shot - an appeal to the Florida Supreme Court. He'll probably lose it, and then it's over'', says the Democratic Congressman, Mr. Barney Frank. And rebels or dissidents within the party like the Congressman, Mr. James Traficant of Ohio said: ``Enough is enough. The division and stratification must stop''.

Even if the consensus of legal and political analysts is that Mr. Gore got a double legal punch - with the Leon County Circuit Court verdict described as a big blow - the Gore campaign came back with its spin. When the U.S. Supreme Court vacated the ruling of the Florida Supreme Court and sent it back for clarifications, supporters of Mr. Gore called it a ``draw''.

And when Judge Sanders Sauls tossed out the Democratic petition, campaign managers of Mr. Gore said it was only expected that the matter would end up in the State Supreme Court ``by dinner time''. What was ignored, and for obvious reasons, was that Mr. Sauls did not give the Gore campaign anything to stand on; and the language of the ruling - unlike the U.S. Supreme Court - was clear and precise.

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