Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, January 7, 1993 TAG: 9301070036
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A4 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
ELECTORAL COLLEGE FOLLOWS SCRIPT
President-elect Clinton's election victory was stamped official on Wednesday when Congress tallied the ballots of the Electoral College.The joint session of Congress in the House chamber carried as little suspense as the reading of a laundry list.
But the result was the last step in the long election process and certified Clinton and running mate Al Gore as eligible to take their oaths of office Jan. 20.
Vice President Dan Quayle presided with no apparent emotion over the announcement of President Bush's defeat - and his own, as well.
The results brought no surprises to the sparsely attended House and Senate session.
Clinton and Gore received the 370 electoral votes they won on Election Day. The Bush-Quayle ticket got the expected 168.
Clinton, after viewing the results on television at the governor's mansion in Little Rock, Ark., said he hopes to get his administration off to a fast start.
The Electoral College was devised by the drafters of the Constitution to choose the president and vice president. It often has been denounced as antiquated, cumbersome and unnecessary. Each state has one elector for each its members of the House and Senate; the District of Columbia has three.
With rare exceptions, the electors vote for the candidate who carried their state but they are not obliged by law to do that.
So, shortly after the electoral tally ended, Rep. Robert E. Wise Jr., D-W.Va., proposed that the Electoral College be abolished and that the selection of presidents be decided by direct popular votes.
But that day has yet to come.
This day, large manila envelopes in two wooden boxes were carried into the House chamber by congressional pages, followed by Quayle and members of the Senate.
The sealed envelopes inside were slit with penknives and the contents handed to Quayle, state by state in alphabetical order.
The vice president glanced at the contents, then passed the papers, each emblazoned with a state seal, to House and Senate members who announced the results.
As each was read, it was announced that it "seems to be regular and authentic."
And when the roll call ended, Quayle, reading from notes, declared that the totals represented "a sufficient declaration of the persons elected president and vice president of the United States."
Clinton won 43.2 percent of the popular vote on Nov. 3, carrying 32 states. President Bush carried 18 states and 37.7 percent of the vote. Ross Perot got 19 percent of the vote but won no state and no electoral votes.
After the results were announced, Clinton called C-SPAN, the public affairs cable network, and said he is well aware of the burdens he is about to assume.
"There are a lot of difficulties out there," the president-elect said.
He noted the tensions in Russia and other former Soviet republics and also said he hoped to be able to do something about "the slaughter in Bosnia," while remaining "mindful of our responsibilities here in this hemisphere."
Clinton noted that Presidents Franklin Roosevelt, Kennedy and Reagan had all gotten off to a fast start after their inaugurations.
"And I hope that we can, too," he said.
Memo: shorter version ran in the Metro edition.