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Skriven 2004-11-03 23:33:32 av Whitehouse Press (1:3634/12.0)
Ärende: Press Release (0411031) for Wed, 2004 Nov 3
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Wednesday Press Briefing
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For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
November 3, 2004

Wednesday Press Briefing
Press Gaggle by Scott McClellan



11:41 A.M. EST

MR. McCLELLAN: All right, good morning, everybody. Let me go through the
President's morning, I think that's probably the best way, and give you a
little bit of color, as well.

Q Did the President have his usual briefings this morning? (Laughter.)

MR. McCLELLAN: Not first, though. Let's see. I think you all are aware,
last night he went to sleep around 5:00 a.m. He woke up around 7:00 a.m.,
and he arrived in the Oval Office this morning at 8:00 a.m. Former
President Bush was with him this morning. I know Dan Bartlett stuck his
head in there shortly after that to visit with the President.

Then in that time period he had -- he had his usual briefings at 9:30 a.m.,
his intelligence briefing, followed by his FBI briefing. And in between
that time he was visiting with some of the senior staff -- Andy Card, Condi
Rice, Karen. He visited with the Vice President during that time period.
And the congratulatory calls he made prior to the 9:30 a.m. briefings were
to Richard Burr, in North Carolina; David Vitter, in Louisiana; Mel
Martinez, in Florida. Then he met some with -- then he had the 9:30 a.m.
briefings. Then he visited with Karen and Andy and Condi and the Vice
President and Dan for a brief period.

He made some more congratulatory calls after the briefings to John Thune,
Jim DeMint, Jim Bunning, and Tom Coburn. And one of those calls, when he
was talking to the new senators, he talked about -- and this is a quote
from the President -- "Now is the time to get it done," talking about his
agenda.

Q Who was that to?

MR. McCLELLAN: I believe it was Jim DeMint. And, let's see, what else do we
have? Karl got some well-earned rest. He came in somewhere in that time
period, I think around 10:00 a.m. this morning.

Q Do you know what time he left?

MR. McCLELLAN: I think it was shortly before I did, so probably in the 5:30
a.m. time period.

Oh, then some of the senior staff that was around between that time period
and the time when he spoke with Senator Kerry included Karl, Karen, Mike,
Bartlett, myself. Secretary Rumsfeld -- we were visiting with the President
in the Oval Office -- Secretary Rumsfeld stopped by the Oval for a visit
and congratulated the President.

Then at approximately 11:02, that's when Ashley Estes, the President's
assistant, informed the President that Senator Kerry was calling. The
President was standing in the Oval at that point, so he returned to his
desk. And let me give you a couple of quotes from that phone call -- it was
probably about three or four minutes. The President said, "I think you were
an admirable, worthy opponent." He also said to Senator Kerry, "You waged
one tough campaign." And he also said, "I hope you are proud of the effort
you put in, you should be." And the President, when he got off the phone
call, said Senator Kerry was very gracious.

Q Is that a quote?

MR. McCLELLAN: I know he used those words to Senator Kerry, too, "very
gracious," but he told us after he got off the phone that he was very
gracious -- that he was very gracious in the phone call.

Q What was that one, "I hope you're proud of your effort?"

MR. McCLELLAN: "I hope you are proud of the effort you put in, you should
be."

And following that, he hugged all the senior staff members that were in the
Oval with him during the phone call. Then he hugged some others that came
in -- I know Andy Card was there pretty quick, Joe Hagin, Blake Gottesman,
and Ashley Estes. I'm probably leaving a few out.

Then he went down the hall and he and the Vice President congratulated each
other.

Q Was he in the Vice President's office?

MR. McCLELLAN: It was down the hall, they were outside the Vice President's
office. And then he was headed over to the residence to see Mrs. Bush, who
I know had placed a call to him. And he was going to get in a workout,
which he probably has finished about now.

He will deliver remarks at 3:00 p.m. at the Ronald Reagan Building. That's
really what I've got for now, in terms of

the --

Q Will you give us a preview of his remarks?

MR. McCLELLAN: One, the President was humbled by the outpouring of support
for his candidacy. This was a record turnout and, you know, I think you can
expect the President will talk to the American people about how we move the
country forward together, to get things done. That's what you can expect
from him.

Q What are the logistics for getting in over there? Do we need the
credential from last night, or what's --

MR. McCLELLAN: We'll figure that out. I think it's still the RNC event
planning it, but we'll try to get you all that information.

Q Can you go over in a little bit more detail last night? Was there a point
at which the President wanted to go over to the Reagan Center, even in the
absence of a call from Senator Kerry?

MR. McCLELLAN: I don't know that it ever got to that point. I mean, there
was a discussion about it. The senior staff made a recommendation that we
proceed with Secretary Card going over there to make a statement, and the
President agreed with that recommendation. We wanted to -- you know, the
President wanted to give Senator Kerry time to reflect, and it was a sign
of respect, I think.

Q When was that decision made, Scott?

MR. McCLELLAN: On the time?

Q Yes.

MR. McCLELLAN: Gosh, it was probably about -- I mean, just before 5:00
a.m., or right around 5:00 a.m., because that's when the President retired
for the evening for his few hours of sleep.

Q What was his mood when he went to bed?

MR. McCLELLAN: Oh, he was in very good spirits because I think it was clear
that the American people had spoken, as you heard from Secretary Card.

Q Was there a moment last night when the President really felt that this
had pivoted from the anxiety generated by the exit polls to a feeling that
he really was going to win?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, I think early on when some of the states started
coming in, you saw that the exit polls were off-base. Some of the early
states, from the Virginias and South Carolina, as I recall, showed that it
was moving in a different direction from the exit polls.

Q When was the first time he was told about those early exit polls?

MR. McCLELLAN: I think he got some indication first when, I think it was
about the time we were landing, before he was headed back to the White
House, as I recall. You can check --

Q Karl called him about some of those?

MR. McCLELLAN: Yes. Yes. He was in close contact with Karl throughout the
night. Karl had the Old Family Dining Room set up with computers, TVs, so
he was monitoring results from there, and the President was in close
contact with him by phone a number of times, and he came down a couple
times to the Old Family Dining Room.

Q Was Karl skeptical about those exit poll numbers right away?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, the early ones that we were hearing, I mean, I think
that most experts say don't put too much stock in the early ones. But then
when some of the later ones were coming out, we were watching -- and we
watched closely when the results were coming in. I think the campaign can
probably talk to you probably more --

Q When was the last time the President stayed up this late? (Laughter.)
Would it be during his irresponsible years? (Laughter.)

MR. McCLELLAN: The night before.

Q Until --

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, close.

Q What, 1:00 a.m.?

Q Scott, does the President feel he has a mandate for --

MR. McCLELLAN: I think he'll talk about that, but I think it's clear that
the -- by the results that he does. I mean, you have -- he received, as
Andy said, more votes than any President -- presidential candidate in our
nation's history. And he's the first President -- first candidate since
1988 to receive a majority of the popular vote. And I don't know what's
been officially declared by the media, but Iowa and New Mexico, you know, I
think that puts us right --

Q Scott, jobs and economy were priorities of Kerry supporters. But that
wasn't listed as a top priority for Bush supporters. And I'm just
wondering, does the President feel he has an economic mandate?

MR. McCLELLAN: Are you talking about all the exit polling analysis?

Q I'm talking -- do you feel the President has an economic mandate, given
that a lot of the new voters were drawn to wedge issues, like marriage, gay
marriage --

MR. McCLELLAN: He's going to talk to this later. First of all, there are a
lot of people on the campaign and here at the White House that deserve a
lot of credit for the organization that they put together, the ground game
they put together, I mean, from Karl to Ken Mehlman to Matthew Dowd. I
mean, I can't go through all the people. And this is a time for them to
enjoy in this victory, as well. I mean, I think they can talk a lot about
the analysis. I'm not sure that I'd put a lot of stock in the exit poll --
exit polling saying this is what voters thought here and there. We'll have
to look at it. They can probably talk to you more about the analysis.

Q -- one of the main reasons that many of these voters came out to vote?

MR. McCLELLAN: No, I'm not -- there's going to be plenty of time to do a
post-election analysis of all these issues. There was a very clear choice
in this election, and the American people spoke at the ballot box with an
overwhelming -- with overwhelming support for the President and his agenda.
That is clear from the results.

Q Does the President understand why Kerry wanted to wait overnight?

MR. McCLELLAN: He did. I mean, starting the day yesterday, you go from the
early exit polls, which pointed in one direction, and then by the evening
it was pointing in a different direction, so he understands what Senator
Kerry was going through, as well.

Q Do you have a length, Scott, how long the speech is going to be?

MR. McCLELLAN: It's not long. I mean, it's brief. I'd call it more of a
statement, a statement to the American people.

Q When the President spoke with Senator Kerry, was the President seated at
his desk in the Oval Office?

MR. McCLELLAN: Yes -- well, he was standing when Ashley came in and said,
Senator Kerry is calling. He went to the Oval -- went to his desk, sat down
at the desk, picked up the phone.

Q What about the unusual situation of a losing presidential candidate now
returns to the Congress? These two men said some very harsh things about
each other. Can the President work with Senator Kerry after --

MR. McCLELLAN: Absolutely. And they talked about that, as well, in the
phone call.

Q Was there ever a point last night when the President thought he might
lose the election? Or yesterday?

MR. McCLELLAN: No. I mean, not that I recall. Obviously, we were looking at
the exit polls, like everybody else, but you don't count on the exit polls.
And it's a good thing we didn't.

Q Scott, was the call a surprise, or had he been alerted that the Senator
was going to call?

MR. McCLELLAN: No, we heard -- I mean, we were hearing things, just like
you all were, that the Kerry campaign was meeting and that we might be
getting a call soon. But we didn't know until it came in.

Q And, also, is there going to be a victory lap, maybe Thursday, Friday,
for the President?

MR. McCLELLAN: We'll try to update you on the schedule, but I do expect
there will be some quiet time.

Q Oh, some quiet time. (Laughter.) I thought you were going to say --

Q So the ranch, to the ranch then?

MR. McCLELLAN: He wants all of you to get some rest, too, and all the
volunteers, all the campaign people.

Q Can we say we got that from you, that you wouldn't expect any travel for
the rest of this week?

MR. McCLELLAN: What's that?

Q You wouldn't expect any travel for the rest of this week?

MR. McCLELLAN: No. Not beyond Camp David.

Q Was the President's father in the Oval when Senator Kerry called?

MR. McCLELLAN: No.

Q Still here?

MR. McCLELLAN: Yes, I believe they're over in the residence. But
double-check that. I know he was here earlier.

Q So Camp this weekend?

Q Camp David?

MR. McCLELLAN: I expect so. We'll update the schedule, but I do expect --

Q Will he go to the ranch this weekend?

MR. McCLELLAN: No. No.

Q Scott, anything on the First Lady, her reaction, her thoughts?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, she -- like I said, when I left, the President was
headed -- I know she had called over to the Oval Office, and that was when
he was headed down to see the Vice President, and he was then headed back
to the residence. And I suspect that they had a good visit when he got back
there.

Q So will all of the Secretaries tender their resignations today, as is
tradition? (Laughter.)

MR. McCLELLAN: Let's get through the President's statement at 3:00 p.m.,
and there will be plenty of time to talk about everything.

Q Who's going to stay, who's going to go?

MR. McCLELLAN: Are you leaving? (Laughter.)

Q I don't know. What've you got for me?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, I don't know, you tell me. You tell me. (Laughter.) Is
Ken Herman going to go home to Austin, or maybe stay? (Laughter.)

Q Does the President feel like he has to mend a divided nation at this
point?

MR. McCLELLAN: He's going -- look, he's going to talk -- that's why I said,
he's going to talk to this in his remarks this afternoon. As I said, he's
going to be talking to the American people about how we move forward
together to implement the agenda that he outlined for the next four years.

Q Does he have any inclination to speak with us any time in the near
future? (Laughter.)

MR. McCLELLAN: You, personally, or everybody as a group?

Q As a group. I speak for a nation. (Laughter.)

MR. McCLELLAN: Okay, you're here with everybody -- you don't want an
individual interview or anything.

Q Scott, why does the President think he won? Is there an issue, or part of
the platform, or some reason that he thinks particularly --

MR. McCLELLAN: Some of this will be in his remarks. Listen to his remarks.
But the choices were very clear. The American people knew where the two
candidates stood on the big priorities facing this nation. They knew where
they stood on the war on terrorism and the economy and health care. And
you'll hear more from him --

Q Were you surprised that moral issues came to such a forefront in people's
preferences?

MR. McCLELLAN: No, I -- look, let me leave it to all the campaign team that
did such a great job in this campaign to talk about the post-election
analysis. That was an important part of the election, as well. I mean,
there were a number of issues that the President highlighted and that were
debated throughout the campaign -- from the issues I mentioned to the
values that we share.

Q But did you ever expect moral issues to be number one among voters?

MR. McCLELLAN: Again, let me leave the post-election analysis to the Ken
Mehlmans and Matthew Dowds and the Karls, and there will be plenty of time
for that.

Thank you all.

END 11:55 A.M. EST
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