12/05/00 3:10 p.m.
Concede Now
Gore’s last chance to save some face.

By NR’s John J. Miller & Ramesh Ponnuru

f Al Gore wants to retain a scrap of dignity, he should concede immediately. Yes, he should have conceded some time ago. But he may not have another opportunity like the one before him: With Monday's Leon County slapdown and the U.S. Supreme Court telling its Florida counterpart to try again — like a teacher asking her student to do a bit more work on a paper and saying she'll think about giving him another grade — Gore's options are drying up. He still has an outside possibility of success, of course. The Florida supremes could still concoct a ruling that would give him temporary momentum; the Seminole County case could go his way; etc.

But it's precisely because Gore's cause isn't completely hopeless that a concession now makes particular sense. On Sunday, Warren Christopher said, "I can assure you that the vice president, when the time comes, will concede in a very gracious way. He understands his obligations to the people of the country." The key word is gracious. One aspect of grace is mercy. But if Gore waits until concession becomes the thing he must do rather than the thing he may do, there will be no grace in it. History will note whether Gore's concession is forced or chosen, and there's still time — just barely — for Gore to make a choice.

A Message to Lott
Senate Republicans held their leadership elections Tuesday. Larry Craig of Idaho narrowly retained the chairmanship of the Policy Committee, winning 26 votes while Pete Domenici of New Mexico won 24. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania had a more comfortable 30-20 victory over Missourian Kit Bond in the race for conference chairman, the number three position in the leadership.

John Warner of Virginia made the point of Domenici's candidacy clear in his nominating speech. Warner said that it was important that there be changes in the leadership, especially in the aftermath of defeats in the general election. Everyone understood Warner to be taking a shot at majority leader Trent Lott. Warner went so far as to suggest that senators who had made a commitment to vote for Craig reconsider in light of the need to make changes. Craig, as a member of the leadership, became a proxy for Lott. As a result, senators John McCain, Chuck Hagel, and Fred Thompson voted against him.

Domenici's near-win both overstates and understates dissatisfaction with Lott. It overstates it because, as chairman of the budget committee, Domenici would have been able to run a strong campaign in any case. It understates it because many conservatives who voted for Craig are frustrated with Lott, too; they didn't see the point of taking out their frustrations on Craig, who is after all one of them.

Santorum is an ally of Lott's, but his race wasn't much affected by that. Bond isn't as powerful as Domenici, and didn't campaign as hard, either.

Bottom line, says one leadership aide: "If Trent doesn't take this close vote as a message, he's making a big mistake."

Plain English
Some Republicans blame the conservative assault on racial preferences for boosting black turnout in Florida and nearly throwing the state to Gore. Ward Connerly tried to put a Florida Civil Rights Initiative on the ballot. Before the state supreme court blocked Connerly, Governor Jeb Bush tried to pre-empt him by devising his "One Florida" plan, which phases out some preferences. In the latest issue of National Review, Connerly argues that Bush would have been better off if the initiative had been on the ballot, since it would have mobilized preference opponents and blacks were already mobilized (both by opposition to "One Florida" and to George W. Bush).

Another conservative cause may have made a big difference in Florida, had one of the candidates embraced it: bilingual education. Ron K. Unz — the author of successful initiatives in California and Arizona banning bilingual ed — asked Zogby International to poll the matter in Florida at the end of October.

The question: "There is legislation proposed in Florida which would require all public school instruction to be conducted in English and for students not fluent in English to be placed in an intensive, one-year English immersion program." Do you support or oppose this?

The results: 83 percent support it, including 80 percent of Democrats, 78 percent of blacks, 70 percent of Latinos, and 82 percent of Jews.

Maybe in 2004, conservatives should make sure bilingual education comes up for a vote in Florida.

A Message to Gore
There's a petition for Gore to concede on J. C. Watts's website.