Presidential Elections 2000

The Department of Justice sued the state of New York on Wednesday over its worst-in-the-nation record of complying with the Help America Vote Act, the first time federal officials have sued a state over the new voting requirements. Adopted after the disputed 2000 presidential election, the act was designed to update the nation's voting systems. Supporters of the act have identified New York as making the least progress in complying with the legislation.

As the 2000 presidential recount battle raged in Florida, a Washington lawyer named John G. Roberts Jr. traveled to Tallahassee, the state capital, to dispense legal advice. He operated in the shadows at least some of those 37 days, never signing a legal brief and rarely making an appearance at the makeshift headquarters for George W. Bush's legal team.

Unused butterfly ballots left over from the 2000 presidential election are not public records and can be destroyed, a state appeals court ruled in Tallahassee. A three-judge panel of the 1st District Court of Appeal unanimously denied an appeal by two voters who wanted the ballots preserved. "Nothing could be more obvious than that a ballot becomes a public record once it is voted," Chief Judge Charles J. Kahn Jr. wrote in the ruling.

Democrats have scored one small, belated victory in the 2000 presidential recount. President Bush's 2000 campaign has agreed to pay a $90,000 civil fine for failing to disclose fundraising and spending to the Federal Election Commission for its effort to win the Florida recount, the FEC said Tuesday. The campaign paid the fine to settle the case, which resulted from a complaint by Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe.

Ian Malone, a brain-damaged boy who caught Al Gore's attention during the 2000 presidential campaign because an HMO threatened to cut his coverage, has died at age 4 1/2. Ian died in his sleep Saturday, his parents said. "Ian's short life was a constant battle to improve the system for those who will come after him," Dylan and Christine Malone said. "We will sorely miss his beautiful smile and ready laugh, and are sorry his journey had to end so soon."

Rep. Katherine Harris, the former Florida secretary of state who oversaw the disputed 2000 presidential election, admits she's responsible for a vote going uncounted -- her own. Harris forgot to sign her absentee ballot when she voted in Longboat Key's local election March 9. "I feel terrible," the Republican lawmaker said. "It's a mistake. I regret it." Harris said she was in a rush to catch a flight to Washington, D.C., when she handed the unsigned ballot to her husband to send in.

On a still and hazy afternoon here last week, former Tennessee Gov. Lamar Alexander was doing what he's been doing most days for the last five years: running for the Republican presidential nomination.

Increasingly convinced that House Speaker Newt Gingrich may leave Congress as early as next year to run for president, Republicans already are jockeying for position in the post-Gingrich world. One powerful committee chairman, Rep. Robert L. Livingston (R-La.), has declared his interest in succeeding Gingrich (R-Ga.) as speaker. House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-Texas), Gingrich's heir-apparent, is buttonholing colleagues to consolidate his support. And on Wednesday, a young upstart, Rep.

House Budget Committee Chairman John R. Kasich, in a television interview, indicated that he would announce a bid for the presidency next year, but a spokesman said later that no decision had been made. The Ohio Republican was asked on NBC's "Meet the Press" when he would declare his intentions for the 2000 presidential race. "When is John Kasich going to announce when he is running for president?" NBC moderator Tim Russert asked. "Not until 1999," Kasich said.

Newt Gingrich is like a cat with nine lives. You just never know whether he's on his ninth life or his fourth. Having weathered a grueling ethics investigation, a GOP plot to dump him as House speaker and a steady series of self-inflicted political wounds over the last three years, the Georgia Republican is barnstorming the country to promote his new book--and inviting speculation that he is going to run for president.