Fla. GOP Seeks to Draw 5 Across

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. —  The bold decision Wednesday by Florida lawmakers to call a special legislative session has fueled a hunt for traitors in the Capitol--a political maneuver shrouded in Southern charm and patriotic bunting.

For weeks, Republicans who dominate state politics have threatened to seize control of the presidential election by naming their own set of electors to the electoral college. But uncertainty in the courts and concerns about public opinion delayed those plans until Wednesday.

With time now running short, Republicans must find Democratic lawmakers willing to turn their back on the Democratic Party.

The GOP holds commanding majorities in the state House and Senate but falls just short of holding a so-called supermajority, or two-thirds majority. That is needed to waive a number of procedural rules and allow lawmakers to move quickly to give Florida’s 25 electoral votes to Texas Gov. George W. Bush.

Legislative Leaders Set Wednesday Deadline

The electoral college is scheduled to pick the nation’s 43rd president Dec. 18, and state Senate President John McKay and House Speaker Tom Feeney, both Republicans, want to name Florida’s electors by Wednesday. That gives them, assuming they work this weekend, just seven days.

To pull that off, the GOP, which holds a 77-43 majority in the House and a 25-15 majority in the Senate, needs to recruit two Democrats in the Senate and three in the House.

The numbers have given way to a flurry of behind-the-scenes jostling. Republicans are waving choice committee assignments in front of Democrats they might be able to lure to the other side of the schoolyard, said GOP state Sen. Charlie Clary of Destin.

Democrats are circling the wagons with late-night conference calls, quick chats in the Capitol halls, intimate meetings in nearby restaurants where menus offer “lettuce-lative” salads. It is an aggressive campaign for solidarity--something that has eluded Democrats in recent years as Republicans have taken control.

“There’s been a lot of sitting around singing ‘Kumbaya,’ ” said Rep. Bob Henriquez, a Tampa Democrat. “If they know they can steamroll this through, these are going to be long, lonely days. And it’s going to be close.”

There is evidence that Republicans, targeting Democrats from conservative districts in northern Florida, are making headway.

Rep. Will Kendrick, a banker and a Democrat from a sprawling district that encompasses portions of 10 rural counties in the Florida Panhandle, said he is ready to defect. Like dozens of other freshman representatives, Kendrick was sworn in for the first time last month. The vote to cast Florida’s electors would be the first substantive vote he would cast.

“Sometimes we have to do things that we don’t like to do,” he said. “But when you get in this arena, sometimes you have to do what’s right. I’ve been cornered and asked to change my vote and everything else. But you’ve got to do what the people sent you to do.”

The GOP has been bolstered since Monday, when Leon County Circuit Judge N. Sanders Sauls rejected Vice President Al Gore’s efforts to overturn Bush’s narrow lead in Florida. If Gore loses in the courts, Republicans won’t need to go through with the special session that some believe will be a public relations disaster.

But the legal war isn’t over. Democrats have appealed Sauls’ ruling to the state Supreme Court. And two lawsuits claiming that Republican election supervisors in two counties colluded with GOP officials to alter flawed absentee ballot applications went to trial here Wednesday.

In short, McKay and Feeney are convening the special session as a safety net. Awarding the 25 votes to Bush is designed to give him the election even if Gore wins in court. It would effectively make the state’s vote moot and would mark the first time that a legislature has ever passed a measure to cast its own set of electors.

Time and Political Constraints Weighed

A two-thirds majority would allow lawmakers to waive procedural rules, such as a requirement that a bill be introduced into the public record several times before it becomes law.

Without a two-thirds majority, the Senate also would be unable to implement time limits on debate. Democrats would be happy to take their time lambasting the GOP in front of a national television audience.

“The whole world will be watching--and they won’t want people to sit there and wale on them,” Henriquez said. “It will be time-sensitive.”

It will be politically sensitive too, and for now, Republicans are working with Democrats to come up with a peaceful game plan for the special session. For Republicans, it offers an opportunity to put the best public face on the proceedings. For Democrats, the offer to work on the plan represents something of a concession--a method of reminding voters that Florida remains a two-party state.

Democrats say that next election there will be reckoning for lawmakers who settle such a close vote with what they see as a partisan maneuver. Kendrick knows that, as a Democrat, he would be a primary target.

“The people I represent are mostly conservative, and you’ve got to do what the people sent you to do,” Kendrick said. “I didn’t come to make this a career.”

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Times staff writer Jeffrey Gettleman contributed to this story.