-Caveat Lector- http://www.wildrockies.org/buffalo/press00/112100.html
Racicot's Soft-Spoken Authority Puts Best Face on Bush's Cause By Mike Allen and David S. Broder ; Washington Post Staff Writers Tuesday , November 21, 2000 ; Page A18 ------------------------------------------------------- Dining with George W. Bush at the Texas governor's mansion on Friday night, Montana Gov. Marc Racicot couldn't stop talking about what he considered the bizarre ballot goings-on in the counting rooms of South Florida where the presidential race could be decided. Bush, who asked detailed questions about Florida law, was impressed by the colorful and passionate description of the frustrations being experienced by Republican recount monitors. The next day, Racicot (pronounced like Roscoe) was before the cameras at Bush headquarters, describing ballots being read by flashlight, used as fans, and contaminated by tape and Post-it Notes. Bush, who had tried to keep clear of the Florida rough and tumble, was fighting back. Racicot's tale was widely used on weekend newscasts, helping turn the public relations tide for Bush, who had his legal strategy pulled out from under him Friday when the state Supreme Court blocked the immediate certification of Florida's presidential vote. Campaign officials said Racicot's soft-spoken authoritativeness has made him an ideal messenger at a tense and chaotic time. In an interview today, Racicot, 52, said he realized right after Election Day that a recount process would be "a very slippery slope if we didn't have principles and standards that would bring integrity to the process." "Now, it's a quagmire," he said. "It's a process that involves so many exercises of discretion. You have hundreds of people involved, each affected by partisan feelings, inadvertent mistakes and exhaustion." The Montana governor, whose second and final term ends in January, is filling a need that had become obvious to other Republicans. As Utah Sen. Robert Bennett put it today, "The general consensus was that the Gore side was overwhelming the Bush people with the sheer volume and viciousness of their rhetoric. There was a lot of grumbling among Republicans that we were being too nice. People were asking: Where's our junkyard dog?" Racicot, a former state attorney general and army prosecutor, focused his fire on the exclusion of many absentee ballots received from military personnel serving overseas. He hit a nerve. Democratic vice presidential nominee Joseph I. Lieberman, who appeared opposite Racicot on many of the Sunday morning talk shows, said he and Vice President Gore never intended to keep servicemen and women from having their votes counted. Today, Florida Attorney General Robert Butterworth, a Gore ally, asked county officials to consider counting more of the military ballots. It was a welcome political-public relations victory for the Bush side. For the first 10 days of the recount campaign, the public voice for Bush was that of former secretary of state James A. Baker III, who framed his comments with lawyerly-diplomatic restraint. But Baker went home to Houston for the weekend and there was a vacuum to be filled. The campaign had offered Racicot to television networks as a surrogate for Bush for many months, but he had not been a popular guest because of his relative obscurity. What few people outside the campaign knew was the integral behind-the-scenes role he had played for more than two years. Racicot has been one of Bush's main conduits to other governors and was the only governor who was at the table for the campaign's strategy meeting each day during the Republican National Convention. Now, Racicot is nearly as ubiquitous as the chad. On Sunday, he went before cameras to update his complaints about ballot-handling in Florida, this time wearing cowboy boots, jeans and a flannel shirt. Pretaping allowed him to appear on all three network news shows at the same time this morning. This afternoon, he provided commentary on the Florida Supreme Court arguments for an NBC News special anchored by Tom Brokaw. Wyoming Gov. Jim Geringer said the Bush campaign has long counseled GOP governors to keep their comments measured and elevated, as befits the tone Bush has promised to set in Washington. Geringer said that as he watched Racicot on television this weekend, he saw a new and needed toughness from the campaign. "Marc was saying, 'There's a lot that's not being said. Wake up, America,' " Geringer said. After their Friday dinner, Racicot jogged with Bush on Saturday and had dinner with him again on Sunday. Racicot, the father of five, first met Bush at a National Governors' Association meeting in 1995, just after Bush had been inaugurated. In June 1997, Racicot called Bush and urged him to "think about the upcoming election." "I'm not thinking about re-election yet," Bush replied, as Racicot recalls it. "No--not that election," Racicot replied. Racicot said he realized Bush's unusual connection with people when they went to the White House as part of a governors meeting and servers, who had known Bush during President George Bush's administration came up and hugged him, some with tears in their eyes. North Dakota Gov. Edward T. Schafer said the two men have built an ideal partnership. "Governor Bush knows where he wants to go, and sets a philosophical direction," Schafer said. "Governor Racicot translates the big picture into the actual working model and can give you the reasons why this would be good for your state." When Racicot is in Helena, he drives himself in a green Ford Taurus, and his home number is listed in the white pages. Republican insiders say that if Bush goes to Washington, Racicot could be considered for interior secretary, White House counselor on domestic matters or even attorney general. Racicot said his years of persuading juries had prepared him for the days ahead. "I learned to be patient, and to have faith in my fellow Americans," he said. "If they get the right information--from all sources, not just from me--when the time comes, they can make precise and thoughtful judgments." __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Send your FREE holiday greetings online! http://greetings.yahoo.com <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! 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