*EPF104 12/18/00
Transition 2001 Update, Monday, December 18, 2000
(Electoral College, Bush Appointments, Time Magazine) (870)

Electoral College Met December 18

It is called the Electoral College, but it offers no educational degrees, has no central location, and only stays in existence for a five-week period every four years. Gathering in the nation's 50 state capitals and the District of Columbia December 18, the 538 presidential electors that comprise the college cast their ballots to elect the next president and vice president of the United States.

The electors -- selected on the basis of party loyalty -- were pledged to support the candidate who won the popular vote within their individual states on November 7. Even though he lost the overall national popular vote, once the disputed Florida ballots were resolved Texas Governor George W. Bush won in enough states to ensure an electoral majority, by a 271-267 margin.

One elector for Vice President Al Gore from Washington, DC, broke her pledge and left her ballot blank, saying it was a protest about the district's lack of representation in Congress.

With one vote uncast, a switch by four electors the other way would give Gore the victory.

While some Democrats have encouraged the Bush electors to defect, the Bush campaign contacted each one of them to stress the theme of loyalty to the Republican Party.

No federal law compels electors to follow the rules but some states require them to do so. There have been less than a dozen instances in history when so-called "faithless electors" vote differently.

Early media reports said the voting was going as expected. The final, official tally, however, will be announced when Congress convenes in a joint session next January 6.

Bush Nominates Powell as Secretary of State, Names Three White House Staffers

Saying he knew of "no better person to be the face and voice of American diplomacy," President-elect George W. Bush December 16 said he was nominating retired General Colin Powell to be the next secretary of state.

"We must conduct our foreign policy in the spirit of national unity and bipartisanship," Bush said. "Our next secretary of state believes, as I do, that we must work closely with our allies and friends in times of calm so that we will be able to work together in times of crises. He believes, as I do, that our nation is best when we project our strength and our purpose with humility."

Powell, a former chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in accepting the offer that while America will be faced with many challenges and crises "that we don't know anything about right now," it also will have "wonderful opportunities" brought about by the end of the Cold War, the global spread of democracy and the free enterprise system, and information-technology revolutions.

Powell, who has bipartisan support in Congress, will have a confirmation hearing in the Senate. If confirmed, he will become America's first African American secretary of state.

One day after his Powell announcement, Bush named another African American, former Stanford University provost Condoleezza Rice, as his national security adviser. Rice served in the White House during the term of Bush's father, President George H.W. Bush, as a Russia specialist.

At the same time, as examples of the president-elect's promise to provide diversity in his administration, he named Texas Supreme Court Justice Alberto Gonzales as White House counsel and Karen Hughes, his director of communications during the campaign, as counselor to the president.

After making these announcements in Texas, Bush left for Washington, DC for meetings December 18 with Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan and bipartisan congressional leaders.

The president-elect said he had a "strong discussion" with Greenspan "about my confidence in his abilities." Greenspan is credited with helping push the U.S. economy to its longest peacetime expansion.

After meeting with the congressional leaders, Bush said he wanted to work with both parties because the closeness of the election "should make it clear to all of us that we can come together to heal whatever wounds may exist, whatever residuals there may be."

The Republican leaders -- Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott and Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert -- said they hoped Bush would improve what has become a partisan tone in Congress.

The Democratic leaders -- Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle and House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt -- agreed that Bush is a "legitimate president." Appearing on television interviews prior to their meeting with the president-elect, the two Democrats had declined to make that pronouncement.

Time Magazine's Person of the Year is President-elect Bush

The editors of Time Magazine December 17 named President-elect George Bush as their Person of the Year for 2000, describing him as a "symbol" of the contested U.S. presidential election.

Each year the news magazine bestows the title on the person who "for better or worse," most affected the news. The widely-watched selection generates plenty of media coverage and debate.

Time said Bush "remade and united the Republican Party and defeated a talented vice president" who was favored because of the nation's strong economy.

(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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