Review
Excerpts from the forthcoming OVERTIME! THE ELECTION 2000 THRILLER! "Most longtime Floridians are familiar with the 1948 classic movie thriller Key Largo, starring Humphrey Bogart as a returning war veteran and hero, with Edward G. Robinson as Johnny Rocco, a mob boss who runs his town like a despot. The two men are thrown together in an oceanfront hotel just as a hurricane bears down on them. In one exchange, Bogart's upstanding character demands to know how Rocco could exert such control over local affairs. Here's Rocco's reply: 'Let me tell you about Florida politicians. I make them out of whole cloth, just like a tailor makes a suit. I get their name in the newspaper. I get them some publicity and get them on the ballot. Then after the election, we count the votes. And if they don't turn out right, we recount them. And recount them again. Until they do." "Has life imitated art?" --Tom Fiedler, page 14 "Aboard the Bush press bus on the hour and 45-minute nighttime drive from Pittsburgh to the November 3 rally in Morgantown, my cell phone rang. 'There's another one,' a normally good source said in an urgent tone. 'Another what?' I asked. 'Bush had another DUI--in Texas' 'Don't get me started,' I said. The rap sheet for that one was already framed on my office wall back in Washington." --Timothy J. Burger, page 87-88 "All things considered, it is remarkable that George W. Bush became the forty-third president. He was fighting the historically potent continuation of peace and a near-golden prosperity. His only major advantages were the Clinton scandals-- generating the age-old, 'it's-time-for-a-change' mood--and an agreeable personality that contrasted sharply with Gore's amalgamated wood-and-plastic persona. The close 2000 decision is reminiscent of the 1960 Kennedy-Nixon contest. JFK also faced long odds and beat an incumbent vice president by a whisper, by means of the same two advantages of TV personality and change-agent image. Al Gore, of course, had hoped for a repeat of 1988, when a wooden two-term vice president capitalized on peace and prosperity to defeat an 'ideologically extreme' governor. But Gore proved not to be Bush Sr., and Bush Jr. refused to play his assigned role as a Republican Michael Dukakis." --Larry Sabato, page 118-119 "Justice Shaw compared our efforts to the labor of Sisyphus, the Greek mythological character, who, when tasked with pushing a bolder up a mountain, found himself slipping back down the mountain just as the summit seemed within reach. Such was our experience in Florida: Each time it seemed that we were on the verge of getting the vote count completed, some setback would push us back to the starting line. Like Sisyphus, our task was never completed-- though we never stopped trying, until the bitter end! "The fact of the matter was that while we had only one way to win-- getting more votes counted-- our opponents had countless means to stymie us. In the 36 days in Florida there were only 3 days when vote counting went on in more than two counties! "The Florida recount was not quite so futile. Yes, our ultimate goal-- a full, fair, and timely count of the votes-- was not achieved. The person for whom more voters believed they had voted was not awarded the state's electoral votes. Most starkly, the wrong candidate became president. As lawyers, our efforts were a failure. As partisans, our candidate was defeated. As participants, we left Florida deflated and disappointed. But in time, it has become clear that our work in Florida was not totally for naught." -- Ronald A. Klain and Jeremy B. Bash (Gore/Liberman legal counsel), page 158, 165, 172 "I connected with Mr. Evans during a cab ride from the Fox studio near Union Station back to my office in downtown Washington. Don asked me what I thought of the situation in Florida. I said I thought it was shaping up to be a mess, but, assuming that there was no fraud or other massive irregularity in the election, a recount would more likely than not still show Governor George Bush as the winner, although the margin might change. I also told him that if they matter went into court, experience told me that Florida would be a difficult forum in which to litigate election issues! "At first blush, the idea of redoing an election because of a ballot design that supposedly resulted in widespread voter confusion and error might seem to have merit. But it did not take long to recognize that no makeup election would be permitted in Palm Beach County in the presidential election of 2000. The Constitution of the United States and the attending federal law make it clear that there is only one day upon which a presidential election will be held every four years. That election is it, warts and all. As I remarked to Secretary Baker, there are simply no 'do-overs' in a presidential election! "I took to saying that the case was all about 'deadlines and dimples.' While the Gore team focused its legal efforts initially on deadlines, the case was really about dimples. I believed that the more subjective the hand-counting process became, the more at risk our interests in a fair election process grew. I cannot say whether dimples should count as votes or not. But I knew then, and believe now, that whatever counts as a vote ought to be decided before the election is held, not after. -- George J. Terwilliger, III (Bush legan counsel), pages 180, 186, 190 "More significant was the inescapable conclusion that both Bush and Gore had led inherently corrupt, and morally bereft, recount efforts. There were approximately 175,000 undervotes and overvotes throughout the state that machines didn't read, ballots that represented Floridians, people, Americans. Quite significantly, as I continued with my research I learned how Gore's team never made any effort to "count every vote"-- how, in fact, the team repeatedly blocked efforts to have the undervotes and overvotes analyzed if they weren't from the four carefully selected Democratic-leaning counties. By not caring about these 175,000 voters, and instead focusing just on their own selfish power-mad scrambles for the presidency, both Bush and Gore proved themselves unworthy of the honor." -- Jake Tapper (CNN and salon.com)
From the Back Cover
Read never-before-published anecdotes, commentaries, and interviews from key insiders about the most exciting Presidential Election in our nation's history!
* Provides unique, riveting insider stories and analyses of the election that will capture readers' attention while helping them to understand why things happened as they did.
* Contributors include: George Terwilliger (Bush legal team); Ron Klain and Jeremy Bash (Gore legal team); Donnie Fowler (Gore campaign advisor); Tom Fiedler (Editor, Miami Herald); Larry J. Sabato and Joshua Scott (University of Virginia); Chuck Babbington (Washington Post); Diana Owens (Georgetown University); Tim Burger (NY Daily News); Jake Tapper (Salon/CNN); and Rhodes Cook (The Rhodes Cook Letter).
* Offers never-before-published information about Election 2000!
Edited by Larry Sabato, this collection of first-hand stories and analyses offers stunning insights into "the election of the century" from the people who were there. George Terwilliger from the Bush legal team and Ron Klain and Jeremy Bash from the Gore legal team provide insider accounts of the Florida ballot recount battle. Tim Burger of the NY Daily News writes a previously unpublished story about the Bush DUI, Diana Owen from Georgetown University provides unique coverage of the media consortium recount, and Tom Fiedler, editor of the Miami Herald -which was at the "center of the storm"- writes the introductory chapter. Overtime stands far out from the crowd of books on Election 2000 because it contains original, never-before-seen material and because it offers a wide spectrum of insider views, providing a balance of journalistic, academic, and campaigner accounts. Because it combines political journalism with solid political science research, it is both highly readable and enlightening. And because Overtime was written and published after the initial rush of post-election books, it includes data and stories that have been revealed since the first wave hit the bookstands. Overtime is not only an entertaining read with a unique insider's view, but will help readers truly make sense of this complex and historic election. It walks readers through the story of the election, offers a context for understanding why things happened as they did, and leaves them with a more meaningful appreciation of the powerful effects this election had, and will continue to have, on our political system.
Larry J. Sabato is at the University of Virginia. According to The Wall Street Journal, Dr. Sabato is "probably the most quoted college professor in the land." The Washington Post calls him "the Mark McGwire of political analysts." He has appeared on dozens of nationally broadcast television shows, including "60 Minutes", "Nightline", "Face the Nation", "The Today Show", "Good Morning America", "48 Hours", "Larry King Live," and "The Jim Lehrer News Hour." Dr. Sabato is the Director of Government Studies at the University of Virginia and is the recipient of more than two dozen major scholarships, grants, and academic awards, and has written 19 books, including: Feeding Frenzy: How Attack Journalism Has Transformed American Politics (Lanahan, ISBN 0965268780); Peep Show: Media and Politics in an Age of Scandal (Rowman & Littlefield, ISBN 0742500101); and Dirty Little Secrets: The Persistence of Corruption in American Politics (Random House, ISBN 0812924991).
