Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

Interview with Katherine Harris

Aired October 08, 2002 - 09:48   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Who could forget the photo finish two years ago of presidential election, Tallahassee, Florida, George Bush and Al Gore? It certainly made household names of a number of people, but perhaps no one became more closely identified with that election fight than the Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris. She was an absolute lightning rod for both sides, and now she is running for Congress against Democrat Jan Schneider. She has also written a book called "The Center of the Storm," aptly titled.
I talked with her about life then and life now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HEMMER: Given the events of the world, have you ever stopped and thought what kind of president Al Gore would make?

KATHERINE HARRIS, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE, FLORIDA: Actually, I've just tried to focus on the president. I'm very grateful President Bush is there.

HEMMER: You've never rewound the hands of time and thought, what if it came out a different way?

HARRIS: Well, a lot of people have rewound it. I guess -- I suppose after the recount, many people thought about it, and certainly after 9/11 I've had more Democrats come up to me and say how grateful they were President Bush was in office.

HEMMER: I want to talk about a lot of things. Let's get Tallahassee out of the way from two years ago. You essentially make the argument in your book that Al Gore doth protest too much. In other words, if he didn't protest the vote so long, he would have had a longer time to contest the results in court.

HARRIS: That is right.

HEMMER: Has it been determined -- I know there have been a number of recounts and studies -- had he been able to contest everything he wanted in court, could he still have won the presidency?

HARRIS: You know, the media spent a year, and...

HEMMER: Indeed they did.

HARRIS: ... a year and a million dollars researching that, and there were some issues that had to occur for him to even get close. One, we knew the uniform standard, and two, I needed to certify, according to the law, on time.

What's interesting was, a week -- less than a week after the elections, I petitioned the Florida Supreme Court to create a uniform standard as only they could, and they denied that request.

And then, when, I tried to certify on time, as the law stated, they obviously, as you know, delayed that -- that deadline.

Consequently, it compressed a lot of time. Dexter Douglas, Al Gore's Florida attorney, had said that he had recommended to let us certify on time so there, indeed, would be time for a state-wide recount.

HEMMER: During that time you were really a lightning rod. I know you've heard this an awful lot, but there were some really nasty things said about you. Either there were some political cartoons that came out and compared you to the Grinch. I think someone referred to you as Cruella De Vil.

HARRIS: Cruella De Vil, yes.

HEMMER: Did you learn something from that experience? Maybe not just about politics, but maybe human kind in general?

HARRIS: You know, actually, I think following the law was pretty simple, but those personal attacks were tough. I learned a lot. I learned a lot about myself, and some of this I reflect in the book. Character -- difficult times don't create character, but it certainly tests it, and -- I think it really helped me clarify what matters most. I really had to dig deep. My husband was immensely supportive. He was the one that set the tone for the way we would determine how the recount would flow from the Department of State.

HEMMER: Really?

HARRIS: He had just become a citizen, actually...

HEMMER: How did he set the tone?

HARRIS: I asked him a rhetorical question two days into it, when no one wanted to make a decision. I said, Sweetheart, what should I do? And he said, Oh, that's simple. Simple. He said, you just have to ask for the most extraordinary integrity, because you have to live with yourself the rest of your life, and you have to protect your staff. Now, this was at a time when everybody was trying to strategize and it was so intriguing, and so that really -- that set the tone (ph).

HEMMER: Now, what about this -- the state of Florida goes off and spends $30 million to reform its election, then a month ago, they can't get it right for the primary. I know you had a hand in that, so too did everyone else in the state of Florida.

HARRIS: Well, I was thrilled...

HEMMER: Why can't they get it right? HARRIS: Actually, 65 counties got it right. Two didn't. The same two. But what happened, and we were really thrilled about this in the state of Florida, the legislature, in a bipartisan effort, passed virtually every aspect of my bill, and the governor signed it.

Consequently, it became a model nationally. So when we are implementing of the $32 million -- $6 million in voter education and training, there are some changes that needed to occur. Unfortunately, in those two counties, I think they had incidents of not only not providing keys to the poll workers to get into the polling place, not plugging equipment in to the outlet.

HEMMER: And the folks didn't show up for work.

You are running for office, we know that. A Republican out of Sarasota, a heavily Republican district. You are extremely popular in your home state among Republicans. This is a shoo-in for you, is it not?

HARRIS: Absolutely not. We are running like we're a million miles behind. We have over 800 people have signed up to help us with our grass roots, and we are walking door to door, holding up signs on street corners, and coffees with Katherine, so we're not taking anything for granted. I'm actually anxious to get right back.

HEMMER: Quickly on the book here, "Center of the Storm." Great title, by the way. Coming from a hurricane state like Florida in the first place. You have a number of quotes throughout this entire book. Where did you get them, and do you have a favorite?

HARRIS: My favorite quote is probably Edmund Berg's quote that -- when he said, "He who wrestles with us strengthens our nerves and sharpens our skills. Our antagonist is our helper." So, as one who has been widely helped, I can certainly attest to his prescient.

HEMMER: Good to see you.

HARRIS: Thank you.

HEMMER: Katherine Harris, thanks for your time today.

HARRIS: Thank you very much.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired October 8, 2002 - 09:48   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Who could forget the photo finish two years ago of presidential election, Tallahassee, Florida, George Bush and Al Gore? It certainly made household names of a number of people, but perhaps no one became more closely identified with that election fight than the Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris. She was an absolute lightning rod for both sides, and now she is running for Congress against Democrat Jan Schneider. She has also written a book called "The Center of the Storm," aptly titled.
I talked with her about life then and life now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HEMMER: Given the events of the world, have you ever stopped and thought what kind of president Al Gore would make?

KATHERINE HARRIS, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE, FLORIDA: Actually, I've just tried to focus on the president. I'm very grateful President Bush is there.

HEMMER: You've never rewound the hands of time and thought, what if it came out a different way?

HARRIS: Well, a lot of people have rewound it. I guess -- I suppose after the recount, many people thought about it, and certainly after 9/11 I've had more Democrats come up to me and say how grateful they were President Bush was in office.

HEMMER: I want to talk about a lot of things. Let's get Tallahassee out of the way from two years ago. You essentially make the argument in your book that Al Gore doth protest too much. In other words, if he didn't protest the vote so long, he would have had a longer time to contest the results in court.

HARRIS: That is right.

HEMMER: Has it been determined -- I know there have been a number of recounts and studies -- had he been able to contest everything he wanted in court, could he still have won the presidency?

HARRIS: You know, the media spent a year, and...

HEMMER: Indeed they did.

HARRIS: ... a year and a million dollars researching that, and there were some issues that had to occur for him to even get close. One, we knew the uniform standard, and two, I needed to certify, according to the law, on time.

What's interesting was, a week -- less than a week after the elections, I petitioned the Florida Supreme Court to create a uniform standard as only they could, and they denied that request.

And then, when, I tried to certify on time, as the law stated, they obviously, as you know, delayed that -- that deadline.

Consequently, it compressed a lot of time. Dexter Douglas, Al Gore's Florida attorney, had said that he had recommended to let us certify on time so there, indeed, would be time for a state-wide recount.

HEMMER: During that time you were really a lightning rod. I know you've heard this an awful lot, but there were some really nasty things said about you. Either there were some political cartoons that came out and compared you to the Grinch. I think someone referred to you as Cruella De Vil.

HARRIS: Cruella De Vil, yes.

HEMMER: Did you learn something from that experience? Maybe not just about politics, but maybe human kind in general?

HARRIS: You know, actually, I think following the law was pretty simple, but those personal attacks were tough. I learned a lot. I learned a lot about myself, and some of this I reflect in the book. Character -- difficult times don't create character, but it certainly tests it, and -- I think it really helped me clarify what matters most. I really had to dig deep. My husband was immensely supportive. He was the one that set the tone for the way we would determine how the recount would flow from the Department of State.

HEMMER: Really?

HARRIS: He had just become a citizen, actually...

HEMMER: How did he set the tone?

HARRIS: I asked him a rhetorical question two days into it, when no one wanted to make a decision. I said, Sweetheart, what should I do? And he said, Oh, that's simple. Simple. He said, you just have to ask for the most extraordinary integrity, because you have to live with yourself the rest of your life, and you have to protect your staff. Now, this was at a time when everybody was trying to strategize and it was so intriguing, and so that really -- that set the tone (ph).

HEMMER: Now, what about this -- the state of Florida goes off and spends $30 million to reform its election, then a month ago, they can't get it right for the primary. I know you had a hand in that, so too did everyone else in the state of Florida.

HARRIS: Well, I was thrilled...

HEMMER: Why can't they get it right? HARRIS: Actually, 65 counties got it right. Two didn't. The same two. But what happened, and we were really thrilled about this in the state of Florida, the legislature, in a bipartisan effort, passed virtually every aspect of my bill, and the governor signed it.

Consequently, it became a model nationally. So when we are implementing of the $32 million -- $6 million in voter education and training, there are some changes that needed to occur. Unfortunately, in those two counties, I think they had incidents of not only not providing keys to the poll workers to get into the polling place, not plugging equipment in to the outlet.

HEMMER: And the folks didn't show up for work.

You are running for office, we know that. A Republican out of Sarasota, a heavily Republican district. You are extremely popular in your home state among Republicans. This is a shoo-in for you, is it not?

HARRIS: Absolutely not. We are running like we're a million miles behind. We have over 800 people have signed up to help us with our grass roots, and we are walking door to door, holding up signs on street corners, and coffees with Katherine, so we're not taking anything for granted. I'm actually anxious to get right back.

HEMMER: Quickly on the book here, "Center of the Storm." Great title, by the way. Coming from a hurricane state like Florida in the first place. You have a number of quotes throughout this entire book. Where did you get them, and do you have a favorite?

HARRIS: My favorite quote is probably Edmund Berg's quote that -- when he said, "He who wrestles with us strengthens our nerves and sharpens our skills. Our antagonist is our helper." So, as one who has been widely helped, I can certainly attest to his prescient.

HEMMER: Good to see you.

HARRIS: Thank you.

HEMMER: Katherine Harris, thanks for your time today.

HARRIS: Thank you very much.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com