December 12 - Recount

This movie has a scene that happens today – December 12. I hope you will enjoy this film and watch it tonight.

RECOUNT                    

On election day 2000 trouble appears early in Florida regarding ballot difficulties. The television networks flip-flop on calling Florida for Gore, then Bush. Gore telephones a concession to Bush. His staff has to race to stop Gore from publicly conceding because the election is so close a machine recount is mandatory and Gore withdraws his concession. Gore makes a mistake in asking the milquetoast Warren Christopher to lead the fight in Florida. We get a lecture about what a chad is. Bush’s team refuses to negotiate. A hand recount is started in Palm Beach County. Ron Klain takes over the Gore team. A state judge rules a hand recount not needed, but the Florida Supreme Court reverses this.  Clear evidence emerges that the Republicans excluded people from voting as felons when they in fact were not felons and the Repblicans knew they were not felons. Katherine Harris, the Florida Secretary of State and co-chair of Bush’s Florida campaign certifies the election result for Bush. The lawsuit seeking to stop her and get a hand recount loses in circuit court, but again the Florida Supreme Court reverses and orders a hand recount. Bush appeals to the US supreme Court which orders a stop to the hand recount. After a hearing, the US Supreme court, on December 12, 2000 [1:37:42 to 1:43:23] in an intellectually dishonest opinion rules that even though they stopped the recount, since it could not be completed by the deadline for the electoral college to meet it cannot continue. Gore gives up.

A movie about a very sad period in American history. The United States Supreme Court revealed it was willing to cast aside it’s long tradition of impartiality to reach a intellectually dishonest decision to promote a partisan positon.  Gore should have fought on.

The Perfect Tie by James Caesar and Andrew E. Busch (Bowman and Littlefield, Publishers, Lanham, Md., 2001) at page 198 give the date of the decision

Producers - Michael Hausman, Danny Strong, Len Amato, Jay Roach, Sydney Pollack and Paula Weinstein

Director - Jay Roach

Screenplay - Danny Strong

Awards – The movie won the Outstanding Directing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Dramatic Special, Outstanding Made for Television Movie and the Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Miniseries or a Movie Emmys. It was also nominated for the Outstanding Art Direction for a Miniseries or Movie, Outstanding Casting for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie (Spacey), Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie (Wilkinson), Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie (Balaban), Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie (Leary), Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie (Dern) and the Outstanding Writing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Dramatic Special Emmys at the 60^th Primetime Emmy Awards

Runtime – 1 hour 56 minutes

Released – May 5, 2008

Starring –

Kevin Spacey as Ron Klain

John Hurt as Warren Christopher

Laura Dern as Katherine Harris

Tom Wilkinson as James Baker

Denis Leary as Michael Whouley

Ed Begley, Jr. as David Boies

Bob Balaban as Benjamin Ginsberg

Bruce McGill as Mac Stipanovich

Paul Jeanes as Ted Olson

Bruce Altman as Mitchell Berger

Alex Staggs as Craig Waters

Doug Williford as Mark Fabiani

Gary Basaraba as Clay Roberts

Stefen Laurantz as Joe Allbaugh

Mitch Pileggi as Bill Daley

Jayne Atkinson as Theresa LePore

Marcia Jean Kurtz as Carol Roberts

Mary Bonner Baker as Kerey Carpenter

Bob Kranz as Bob Butterworth

Raymond Forchion as Jeff Robinson

Steve DuMouchel as John Hardin Young

Marc Macaulay as Robert Zoellick

Antoni Corone as Tom Feeney

Matt Miller as Jeb Bush

Terry Loughlin as William Rehnquist

Judy Clayton as Sandra Day O'Connor

William Schallert as John Paul Stevens

Bruce Gray as Anthony Kennedy

Michael Bryan French as David Souter

Howard Elfman as Stephen Breyer

Jack Shearer as Antonin Scalia

Benjamin Clayton as Clarence Thomas

Candice Critchfield as Judge Myriam Lehr

Robert Small as George J. Terwilliger III

Patricia Getty as Margaret D. Tutwiler

James Carrey as Chris Lehane

Brent Mendenhall as George W. Bush

Grady Couch as Al Gore

Carole Wood as Tipper Gore