Pushkin

It was an unprecedented circumstance.

It was fraught with politics.

I mean, we were in the process of choosing the leader of It was fraught with politics.

I mean, we were in the process of choosing the leader of the free world, and she was not staffed for that.

I had, I mean, I was just there.

I certified the election.

It was kind of a ministerial job.

Hey, Fiasco listeners.

It's Leon Nafak. Welcome back to this run of special bonus episodes of Fiasco, Bush v. Gore.

Today, we're going to focus on a Florida institution that played an absolutely pivotal

role during the recount, the Secretary of State's Office, which, as you know, was in

charge of overseeing the recount and certifying the vote totals

once all the ballots were counted.

Sitting at the controls of the Secretary of State's office was a woman who turned out to be one of the most memorable figures of the recount saga, Catherine Harris.

And in accordance with the laws of the state of Florida, I hereby declare Governor George W. Bush the winner of Florida's 25 elect

world votes for the president of the United States.

Harris was a Republican with ties to the Bush campaign, and because of the power she held

over which ballots got counted in the official tally, Harris became a symbol to Democrats of everything that was

unfair about the Florida recount process. Speculation swirled that Harris was motivated by

partisanship and that she and others in her office were trying to help Bush win. We'll hear

directly from Harris in a little bit. But first, we wanted to play part of our interview with someone who wasn't officially on her

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