Byron Dorgan: “the American people last evening heard a concession speech by Vice President Gore and a speech by Gov. George W. Bush…”

“the American people last evening heard a concession speech by Vice President Gore and a speech by Gov. George W. Bush, who is now the President-elect. I supported Vice President Gore. I wish the result had been different in this election. But we have a process for contesting elections, and that process was finalized by the actions of the U.S. Supreme Court. I accept those actions, and we now have a new President-elect. We went through some difficult times after the election day, and those times inflamed the passions of many Americans. The fact is, the American people created almost a dead even tie in casting votes for the Presidency. It wasn't just the Presidency. It was a 50-50 split in the membership of the Senate, and nearly a 50-50 split in the House, and as I indicated, a near tie vote for the Presidency. That is not likely to happen again in our lifetime. It is not unusual for the person on the losing end to want to make certain that all the votes are counted and counted correctly. So that is why we went through that process. I know many passions were inflamed as a result of it. In fact, some of my colleagues--not so much in this body but in the other body--were using words such as ``stealing elections,'' and so on. I regret that those words were used. I don't think it contributes to what we ought to be doing. That is all gone and done.…”