ICE PRESIDENT Al Gore understandably took cheer late yesterday from the Florida Supreme Court's ruling that gives him a chance of winning Florida's 25 electoral votes and, with them, the White House. But if Texas Governor George W. Bush is the eventual winner, he also will owe a debt to that court.
In the last 11 days, Bush and his advisers have engaged in an unseemly rush to judgment, attempting to lock in a victory based on the 300-vote margin announced Tuesday. Bush aides have tried to stop the hand recounts under way in several counties, criticizing them as unreliable and potentially open to fraud.
Bush may have thought this strategy made sense as the most direct way of securing a victory that seemed almost in hand. But it has been a political disaster, and deservedly so.
Democracy rests on one bedrock tenet - that every adult citizen has the right to vote. Children are taught that every vote counts, that every vote deserves to be counted, and that every vote can make a difference.
Bush partisans struck directly at that principle when they moved to bar the hand recounts, effectively disenfranchising thousands of voters. Their rationale turned common sense on its head, because it has become clear that the voting machines made some errors. And it was belied by the Texas experience. There, state law specifically allows the hand counting of punchcard ballots with damaged chads, and another law, providing that hand counts are more accurate than machine recounts, was signed by Bush himself in 1997.
Because of this, the Bush camp looked like it was interested only in winning, even if it meant ignoring legitimate votes. This violates the American sense of fair play. It does not sit well with the public.
If the Florida Supreme Court assures that every possible vote is accurately counted, the result, whatever it is, must be accepted by Gore and Bush, and the nation. A few foreign commentators have taken potshots at the United States as a banana republic that can't run an election. But the public calm has demonstrated the great strength and stability of our system. There has been no panic in the stock market, the commodities market, or the supermarket.
Indeed, this drama has proved far more compelling and has generated a far greater sense of community than the campaign itself.
The one great remaining danger is that the next president will be viewed as having won the office illegitimately. The Florida Supreme Court took a large step yesterday toward preventing that tragic outcome. The nation - and both candidates - should be grateful.
