Bush returned to Austin, Texas, on Sunday afternoon after spending time at his ranch in Crawford. He and his wife, Laura, hosted a holiday party at the mansion Sunday night for his campaign and state staffs. They later hosted two holiday parties for Secret Service agents and their families. However the U.S. Supreme Court rules, Bush still enjoys support from the Republican-controlled Florida Legislature, where House and Senate committees will convene today to continue a special session. The state House is scheduled to approve a joint resolution Tuesday approving the slate of electors, and the Senate is expected to follow suit Wednesday.
Republicans lead both chambers by comfortable margins.
The special session is designed to give Florida's 25 electoral college votes to Bush, even if Gore prevails in court. Florida Republicans say they have the constitutional right, and perhaps the obligation, to name their own slate of electors if there is a chance that court battles might keep Florida's vote from being counted in the nation's electoral college. But Diaz-Balart and other Republican leaders said there are too many variables beyond the U.S. Supreme Court. Several lawmakers pointed to the legal appeals of two lawsuits claiming that election supervisors in Martin and Seminole counties colluded with the state Republican Party to correct defective absentee ballot applications. Those cases, which seek to give Gore as much as an 8,000-vote swing by throwing out 25,000 absentee votes, were rejected late last week by two Leon County Circuit Court judges.