The White House

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First things first. “Are you sure about this?” I asked.

“Yes, sir! All the networks have called it!” The two staffers started hustling me inside, with Stormy happily leading us on her leash.

A minute later I was in our campaign suite, with people alternately congratulating me and asking where I had been. Stormy jumped up on a couch with the girls and allowed herself to be fussed over. On the television Tom Brokaw was making a report that there were unconfirmed reports that Vice President Gore was calling George Bush to concede.

Which meant absolutely nothing. I had been through this once before, on my first go. Florida was so close a race that before the night was over, all the networks reversed their calls and ruled it too close to predict. Gore retracted his concession. For roughly a month we had dueling lawyers fighting over recounts and ‘hanging chads’ on the ballots, until George’s brother Jeb, the governor of Florida, had his handpicked election boss declare George the winner, and the Republican Supreme Court confirmed the victory. George also lost the popular vote count, and managed to create a constitutional crisis along the way. It did not bode well for his future.

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