Behind-The-Scenes Of U.S. Election Mess

www.drudgereport.com/cost.htm

XXXXX DRUDGE REPORT XXXXX WED MAY 02, 2001 09:37:28 ET XXXXX

New Book Goes Behind-The-Scenes Of U.S. Election Mess

**EXCLUSIVE**

Vice President Al Gore's lawyers high-fived each other after disqualifying more than 1,000 military ballots from overseas on trumped-up hypertechnicalities during the Florida recount, a new book reveals.

Here comes the book of books on the Florida election standoff: "At Any Cost: How Al Gore Tried to Steal the Election," by Bill Sammon, Senior White House Correspondent for the WASHINGTON TIMES.

"A win's a win," crowed one of Gore's lawyers after tossing out the ballot of Navy Lieutenant John Russell, who at that moment was off the coast of Yemen, where he had just finished rescuing the USS Cole in the wake of a deadly terrorist attack.

Sammon tracked Russell down for the officer's first ever interview.

"I was hot," Russell said. "Here I am, deployed overseas. I've done everything I can to cast my ballot properly. And I find out my vote doesn't count because of a lousy postmark – even though they received it before Election Day. Oh, I was torqued."

Sammon, who spent 18 months covering the Gore campaign and all 36 days of the post-election debacle in Florida, has inked a blow-by-blow of the historic standoff.

The DRUDGE REPORT has secured the first advance copy.

Sammon reveals how Republicans got their hands on the Gore team's secret memo detailing how to disqualify military ballots.

Sammon also gets Democratic strategist Bob Beckel to describe, for the first time, how his quest to flip Bush electors unleashed a backlash of public outrage that frightened him and his family.

MORE

Beckel told the author:

"It got nasty, I tell you. I got 15,000 faxes, 10,000 letters, 2,000 phone calls, 132 death threats. They picked up a guy in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania with my picture and a bullet hole through it – with a gun. So it was just brutal. They got into my garage at my office and wrote 'You're dead.' I had to go into protective custody."

Sammon secured exclusive interviews with Bush and Cheney, asking them to describe their darkest moments during the 36-day standoff.

AT ANY COST is set for release next week; it ranked #4011 on AMAZON.COM's sales list early Wednesday.

-- NewsHound (sniffing@out.the.truth), May 04, 2001