On the scene with Candy Crowley in Austin, Texas

CNN Senior Political Correspondent Candy Crowley, covering George W. Bush, gives her insights from Austin, Texas.

Q: Does the Bush camp ever look worried? Or do they assume that they are going to move into the White House in January?

Candy Crowley

CROWLEY: There's no real assumption at this point that Bush will move into the White House. But having said that, there is a genuine feeling among Bush supporters in and outside the campaign that he has, in fact, won Florida and therefore the presidency.

But the Bush team, especially legal team, is well aware that this will ultimately be decided largely in the court system. And nobody assumes anything about which way any of the courts will act.

Q: When on camera, Bush surrogates say Democrat Al Gore is trying to steal the election. What's the mood behind the scenes?

CROWLEY: The Bush team's state of mind reflects generally what you hear them say in public. And mostly what you hear them say is that Al Gore went to Democratic counties for a recount and will, "keep recounting until he pulls out a victory there." This is a matter of fact to the Bush team. They are perplexed when asked anything that suggests any other motivation for this recount.

One staffer involved in the legal maneuverings talked about the Gore campaign decision to take the Miami-Dade Canvassing Board to court to force a recount and told me, "This is so transparent." Honestly to them, there is no other way to look at this situation than that the vice president and his supporters are hunting over a baited field. Or in other words, the Bush staffers feel the Gore campaign has gone to counties where the Democratic voters are and Democratic officials are in charge.

Q: In the wake of the Gore camp saying they won't concede if Bush is still ahead Sunday evening, are the Republicans reaching out to Democrats to put pressure on Gore to reconsider?

CROWLEY: The Republicans don't think they have to reach out to Democrats to put pressure on Gore. During the last week, all they had to do was turn on the television or read on the Internet to see that Democrats have already made it clear that their support for further action by Gore becomes iffy should a Sunday recount declare Bush the winner. It is not a sentiment the Bush camp needs to stoke.

Q: Is the Bush campaign focusing on public relations as much as on the legal battles?

CROWLEY: What's been interesting to me over the almost past three weeks is that political operatives for Bush -- those closest to him -- have been working for a year and a half to get this man elected. Now, when their help is the most critical, they are mainly shuttled to the sidelines while the legal team plays this out in Florida.

For the first two weeks as the election became legally entangled, it was nearly impossible to get telephone calls returned from Bush campaign political operatives. This is due, in large part, to the fact they were operating in a legal arena and needed to consult with lawyers in a different state to figure out what to do politically.

Having said that, they seemed to have done a good job eventually at trying to mold public opinion around the idea that the election was over and Bush had won. Every political operative you talk to in the campaign made a point of saying: There's been a count, a recount and now we have the official results. To them, the score was 3-0 in Bush's favor. The idea, of course, was to convince the public that Bush had won and to fuel public impatience for Gore to bow out.

Q: Are they concerned about the public perception that Cheney's heart trouble may prevent him from fulfilling his duties?

CROWLEY: While it's not their biggest political concern, they have to be concerned about the public perception of Cheney's state of health. It was the first thing George W. Bush talked about with reassuring tones and words within hours of public confirmation that Cheney had been hospitalized. Still, it is certainly not their first concern, and it certainly doesn't affect the legal issues. There's just no place now for voters to put that concern now that the voting is over. And the legal proceedings are largely immune to health reports about Cheney.