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Morning News

Election 2000: Two Florida Political Insiders Discuss Supreme Court Ruling

Aired December 13, 2000 - 9:25 a.m. ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Now back to Florida. The spotlight of the world has been shining on that part of the country. Let's see how they feel about the latest Supreme Court ruling.

Our Mark Potter having a seat in a diner in Tampa, Florida.

Mark, good morning.

MARK POTTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn.

We're at Village Inn Pancake House in Tampa. We're talking to the breakfast crowd here, and of course you know what we're talking about; topic a, the decision last night.

We have a couple of guest with us here who have been watching it probably more closely than anybody else: Jim Norman, a county commissioner from Hillsborough County, also a member of the canvassing board, and Susan Macmanus, a political analyst from the University of South Florida at Tampa.

Jim, let me ask you first, you were standing by watching I'm sure very closely last night, because there was the prospect of you having to go count those undervotes if the decision went the other way. What did you think when you heard and finally understood what the Supreme Court had said?

JIM NORMAN, HILLSBOROUGH CO. CANVASSING BOARD: I think it's finally over. It's great for the country to finally move on. With the timing of it all, I know we couldn't recount. I'm just thrilled the country finally has a decision.

POTTER: And what happens to all those ballots now?

NORMAN: They will be stored. They will be under lock and key. They will be put aside. However, at this point in time, with the electorate -- electorals being cast, there's no time to go back and do anything else with him.

POTTER: And your recommendation for Vice President Gore? What should he do, in your view?

NORMAN: He should retire.

(LAUGHTER)

NORMAN: I think he should go about his business. He should resign, pull our country back together. But it's just a good day for our country that we can now move on, and I believe Vice President Gore should do the same thing.

POTTER: Susan, are you surprised that we're at this point, this far after the election? Does this ruling from the Supreme Court surprise you?

SUSAN MACMANUS, UNIV. OF SOUTH FLORIDA: Not really. Once that 5-4 stay verdict came down, I thought that the final ruling would very closely resemble, which of course it did. But to me, the more interesting thing in yesterday's ruling was the fact that seven of the justices did see constitutional problems with the hand recount here in Florida, and that resonates a lot with particularly many Floridians, who had seen day in and day out, every television program, every news account, two different standards being used across two different counties, and so I think that the ruling was a little bit more understandable perhaps to Floridians than people outside of Florida.

POTTER: And you think that the public may accept it because that was at the core of the ruling.

MACMANUS: Right. The differential counting and the inability to put one standard just really does somewhat defy the notion of one person, one vote, equal votes, and that's what made the Fourteenth Amendment equal protection of the laws argument much more powerful than the other two very legalistic argument that the public missed.

POTTER: As quickly as you can, what should the vice president do, just in a few words?

MACMANUS: Give a very gracious concession speech and move on.

POTTER: James and Susan, thank you very much.

Daryn, that's the situation here in Tampa. We'll be talking to people throughout the day. Back to you.

KAGAN: All right, we'll let you go and order a short stack of pancakes or something, Mark.

Thank you very much. We'll check in with you later on.

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