Judge calls for 1 million ballots in Gore challenge; Powell to meet with Bush, Cheney

Gore urges patience in CNN interview

From staff and wire reports

WEB EXCLUSIVE Patty Davis says the Gore camp still believes it can win Tony Clark says Bush finds quiet but not solitude at his ranch Bill Hemmer says Florida Gov. Jeb Bush is keeping a low profile

TALLAHASSEE, Florida (CNN) -- Al Gore asked the Florida Supreme Court for an immediate recount of disputed ballots in his election challenge Wednesday as George W. Bush prepared to meet with his running mate and retired Gen. Colin Powell.

Gore's appeal came as the same Florida judge ordered more than 1 million ballots from Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties shipped via police caravan to Tallahassee for a possible role in the vice president's presidential election contest. Meanwhile, Gore warned Florida lawmakers not to intervene in the selection of presidential electors for the state as a legislative committee debated whether to appoint the Florida's Electoral College contingent themselves.

Lawyers for Gore, the Democratic nominee, had urged Leon County Judge N. Sanders Sauls to begin counting the disputed ballots from Miami-Dade and Palm Beach Counties as early as Wednesday. Sauls, who is hearing Gore's contest of the Florida election results, refused that request, so Gore asked the state Supreme Court to overrule him.

Gore believes that if up to 14,000 disputed ballots from those two counties were counted, he would emerge the winner of Florida's 25 electoral votes -- and with them the White House. Florida's current certified vote tally gives Bush, the Texas governor and Republican nominee, a lead of 537 votes out of nearly 6 million cast.

In an exclusive interview with CNN on Wednesday, Gore acknowledged that passions are running high and urged patience with the election contest. Without naming names, he criticized Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris for leaving the results of manual recounts in Palm Beach County out of the results certified Sunday.

In a close race, he said, "It's even more important than in any other kind of race to make sure that the outcome is one that's determined by the will of the people, by the votes cast by the people -- not by politicians who have control of the election machinery, and who decide for whatever reason to let some votes in that are legally cast and take other legally cast votes and exclude them."

The Gore campaign's latest appeal is a two-step process. The Gore legal team went first to a state appellate court to get permission to file "an original petition" with the state Supreme Court, asking it to order the immediate counting of the disputed ballots. The Bush camp asked Sauls to order that all ballots in Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties be shipped to Tallahassee for the challenge.

"I think they ought to send up all the ballots up in a unified way, ensuring the integrity of the evidence," Bush attorney Phil Beck said.

Sauls agreed, and county officials agreed to send the 1 million-plus ballots to Tallahassee by Friday in police vehicles. They will be kept in the court clerk's vault until a decision is made on whether to count them.

Boies said the counting needed to start by Thursday in order to meet the December 12 deadline for Florida to choose its presidential electors.

VIDEO CNN's John King interviews Vice President Al Gore (November 29) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media) Dick Cheney speaks with CNN's Bernard Shaw and Jeff Greenfield about the election and his health (November 29) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media) Gore will lose in court again, according to Bush attorney George Terwilliger (November 29) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media) Watch all up-to-the-minute video of Election 2000

TRANSCRIPTS Larry King Live: Interview with Dick Cheney and Warren Christopher On CNN: White House Chief of Staff John Podesta on transition On CNN: Bush Chief of Staff Andrew Card on transition Chat: Harvard law professor Heather Gerken on outstanding issues First Amendment expert Floyd Abrams on cameras in the Supreme Court Professor Abner Greene on the legal maneuvering in the courts regarding Florida votes Gallup's Frank Newport on public opinion on the Florida contest

ALSO White House transition council holds first meeting Florida lawmakers move toward special session to name electors Bush transition team up and working White House security checks on hold until election outcome is clear Conservative watchdog group reviews Palm Beach ballots Florida lawmakers ponder naming electors Disputed ballots headed to Tallahassee court in police cars

INTERACTIVE Fact check Key players in the dispute Election timeline Previous close elections Not ready for Webster's: What is a pregnant chad?

IN-DEPTH The Supreme Court reviews the Florida election case

U.S. SUPREME COURT FILINGS Florida Senate and House Of Representatives motions to U.S. Supreme Court (Bush v. Palm Beach County Canvass Board) Court filings to the U.S. Supreme Court (These require Adobe Acrobat Reader)

FLORIDA SUPREME COURT FILINGS Per curiam opinion sending butterfly ballot case to Florida Supreme Court Court filings to the Florida Supreme Court (These require Adobe Acrobat Reader)

GORE MOTIONS CHALLENGING FLORIDA CERTIFIED RESULTS Notice of hearing (Gore v. Harris et. al) Matt Butler's motion to intervene (Gore v. Harris et. al) Notice of Scriveners' error (Gore v. Harris et. al) (These require Adobe Acrobat Reader)

RELATED LAWS Florida Code Title IX - Laws concerning Florida Electors and Elections (Florida Legislature Web site) Read more election-related cases in CNN'S Law Library

MESSAGE BOARDS Presidential race 2000 The Election process

RELATED SITES Supreme Court of the United States Supreme Court of Florida Judicial Watch Leon County Miami-Dade County Palm Beach County Seminole County

Despite the ongoing contest, both the Bush and Gore camps moved ahead with planning an administration. Bush running mate Dick Cheney, who is heading the GOP transition effort, said Powell would travel with him to Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas, on Thursday to discuss the shape of a new administration.

"This will give us an opportunity for an extended discussion of the transition between General Powell, myself and Governor Bush," Cheney said.

Powell, who served as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under presidents Bush and Clinton, has been considered a possible secretary of state in a new Bush administration. But Cheney said no announcements about Cabinet picks were planned this week, adding: "And I would not anticipate an announcement in that regard, either."

In a CNN interview, Cheney called Gore's contest to the Florida results "unprecedented," but said he had to work to assemble an administration.

"We've had an extra 12 days of counting. We reached a point where the outcome of the election has been certified. It's time now to move on," he said.

He said Powell will be advising Bush on how to put together a team of national security aides.

But "clearly," Cheney said, "The governor has indicated on a number of occasions that he certainly would give careful consideration to trying to persuade the general to come out of retirement and join the administration," Cheney said.

The Bush campaign is attempting to portray Gore's contest as a last-ditch bid to overturn the election, while Bush is trying to move forward with the transition. Asked at a Wednesday news conference about the Texas governor's consideration of several figures from his father's 1989-1993 administration, Cheney said the transition effort is looking to veterans of several Republican administrations over the past three decades.

"The fact is we're looking for experienced people, people who can bring a lot to the team that Governor Bush wants to assemble, and we welcome folks regardless of what prior administration they might have been affiliated with," he said.

Bush himself was looking over lists of possible appointments to his pending administration with his aides at his ranch in Crawford and will only "speak when it's needed," his advisers said Wednesday.

The General Services Administration, which controls federal office space, will not hand over the keys to the official transition office until the contested election is resolved. In the meantime, Bush's team has rented office space in nearby McLean, Virginia, to house the transition effort.

Florida lawmakers convened again Wednesday to discuss whether to pick electors on their own if the dispute over Florida's results is not settled by December 12, the date the state's electors are to be certified. The push for a special session is being driven by the Republican majority in the Florida Legislature.

GOP leaders in both houses were angered by the Florida Supreme Court decision postponing certification of the Florida results until last Sunday to allow for manual recounts in three heavily Democratic counties. They said they need to take action to ensure that the state's voice is heard when the Electoral College meets on December 18.

Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, the Republican nominee's brother, praised legislators Wednesday for considering action. The GOP nominee's brother and state campaign chief had recused himself from the recount process, but said the state legislature has "clear, delegated authority" to pick the state's Electoral College contingent.

Democrats consider the gesture unnecessary, or worse, accuse Republicans of trying to short-circuit the Florida recount by picking a pro-Bush slate of electors on its own. And in an interview with CNN on Wednesday, Gore said Florida lawmakers would be making a mistake by trying to name their own slate of electors.

"I can't believe that the people of Florida want to see the expression of their will taken away by politicians," Gore told CNN. "The people of Florida have a right to select the candidate for president that they want. If the politicians ever tried to take that away from the people, I think you'd see quite a negative response to it."

Gore said he's pressing on with the recount on behalf of the 50 million people who voted for him, comparing the punch-card voting equipment used by Florida counties to a grocery checkout scanner.

"What happens when it misses one? Do they give it to you for free? No, they do a hand count on that one," Gore said. "And those machines are far more sophisticated than these Votomatic machines -- that sounds like something out of 'The Jetsons.' "

Bush has stayed largely out of public view since Sunday, when he appealed to Gore to drop his challenge. But Gore has kept a high profile for three days, granting five interviews on national networks Wednesday: He told CNN he wanted to avoid language that would make it harder for the eventual winner to bring the nation together.

"I've never used the phrase 'steal the election.' I think that's an intemperate phrase," he said. "And I think that both Governor Bush and I have an obligation during this period, when the votes are yet to be counted, to try to pave the way for whichever one of us wins to be able to unify the country."

Many conservative pundits have accused Gore of attempting to steal the election, however. Harris, Florida's top election official, certified Bush the winner of the Sunshine State's electoral vote, but Gore has argued that the count remains incomplete.

His critical reference to "politicians who have control of the election machinery" was a jab at Harris, who served as Bush's campaign co-chairwoman in the Florida. Gore suggested her actions could hurt any incoming president.

"If the election is determined that way, it would present a serious risk for the ability of whoever is the winner to bring the country together," he said.

Harris said Wednesday that she certified the results "as we prescribed by the statutes and in an unarbitrary and specific fashion." But Gore allies have criticized her for not giving Palm Beach County officials an extra two hours to complete their manual recount.

He also made a show of planning a possible transition. He met Wednesday with Roy Neel, the head of his transition effort, for a detailed discussion on the planning for a possible administration.

Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Lieberman joined Gore for the discussion with Neel, a longtime Gore aide and confidante. Kathleen McGinty, a former Gore aide in the Senate and former head of the White House Council on the Environment, and Labor Secretary Alexis Herman were also included in the meeting.

Cheney said Wednesday he received a "clean bill of health" during a routine checkup at George Washington University Medical Center, a week after suffering a mild heart attack and undergoing an angioplasty procedure. It was his fourth heart attack, and has raised new questions about the potential vice president's health.

"We told Mr. Cheney he can resume his usual schedule and stressed the importance of good exercise and nutrition." Dr. Gary Malakoff said in the statement after the appointment.

The 59-year-old former congressman, defense secretary and White House chief of staff had suffered three previous heart attacks over a period of more than 22 years and underwent quadruple coronary bypass surgery in 1988.

"I learned to live with that a long time ago," he told CNN. Asked if he feared another heart attack, Cheney said "I don't operate that way."

"I've been uniquely blessed to have nearly 60 wonderful years of a fascinating life. I look forward to several more years."

Correspondents Mike Boettcher, Candy Crowley, Kate Snow, Jonathan Karl, John King and CNN.com Writer Matt Smith contributed to this report.