K-Lo, last time around, the Bush team was set up on November 26, and the anchors dismissed that as too preliminary. Reported Peter Jennings after Bush’s speech: “If by chance, you joined us late, you may not know that the Secretary of State in Florida today certified the election results for that state, even though in some respects they were not fully complete. Palm Beach County, one of the most contested counties in the state, did not fulfill or did not finish its complete count on time, and so the Secretary of State chose the election numbers from November the 14th, the time she tried to certify the election once before. So though Governor Bush quotes Thomas Jefferson and says every difference of opinion is not necessarily a difference of principle, names a transition team led by Dick Cheney, names Andy Card to be a chief of staff and says he wants to open a transition office and work with President Clinton, this is certainly not over…”
Dan Rather opened the November 27 CBS Evening News by giving equal weight to the claims of both candidates, though only Bush was certified the winner the night before: “The battle moved into a new phase today. Believing he is now President-elect, and claiming to be, Texas Governor George Bush kicked his transition team into high gear. But Vice President Al Gore said, not so fast. He is challenging the election on the basis that there are thousands of votes that have never been counted and he will address the nation this evening to explain why he is in the courts to contest the certification.”