Time For Tie Talk

Senate Democrats are mulling the prospect of a 50-50 tie with the Republicans if George W. Bush prevails over Al Gore in the battle for the White House.

"Whether people like it or not, whether they want it or not, we're going to have to learn to get along, come up with bipartisan solutions and have power-sharing in the United States Senate," Sen. Robert Torricelli (D-N.J.) told CBS News' Face The Nation on Sunday.

Over the weekend, Democrat Maria Cantwell made the tie a reality - for the moment - by clinching her narrow defeat of GOP incumbent Slade Gorton in Washington State's hard-fought U.S. Senate race.

If Bush wins the White House, Republicans would still maintain nominal control of an evenly-split Senate, since Dick Cheney as vice president could cast a tie-breaking vote.

If Gore wins, then his running mate, Sen. Joe Lieberman, becomes vice president. Connecticut's Republican governor would likely appoint a fellow Republican to a vacated Lieberman seat, putting the GOP back into a 51-49 advantage.

But between January 3 when the new Congress is sworn in and January 20 when the new president takes the oath, the Senate faces an even more curious twist, since Gore - as the current vice president - will be the one to break any tie votes during that time.

On Face The Nation, Torricelli said Senate Republicans have no choice but to share power with Democrats under a 50-50 tie.

"The division of these committees is going to have to be equal. There's going to have to be a co-majority leaders. The leadership of the Senate is going to have to reflect the voting of the people of the states, and that was an evenly divided Senate," he said.

Sen. John Breaux (D-La.) has been talking to both the Bush and Gore camps lately. But on Face The Nation, he dismissed speculation that he might be offered the job of Energy Secretary in a Bush administration as part of an effort to reach out to Democrats.

"I don't particularly think that I would be a very good secretary of anything. I enjoy the Senate, particularly with a 50-50 tie. Nothing was offered, and besides I was kind of holding out for ambassador to Chad, but I don't think that's going to happen either," said Breaux, who was referring to the Florida ballot dispute instead of the African country.

Torricelli added that an evenly-split Senate is "both a problem and an opportunity".

"It is a problem if it is not dealt with properly and every day is a fight for majority. It is an opportunity if it forces bipartisanship, and causes a power-sharing arrangement where we discover that we have joint solutions on health care and rebuilding our schools, on a prescription drug benefit plan, on campaign finance reform. And I hope we approach it that way."

Over in the House, Republicans hold a slight nine-seat lead over the Democrats.

Another topic for the two Senate Democrats on Facethe ongoing legal and political battle over the winner of the closest presidential election in four decades - and the most disputed in more than a century.

Breaux took aim at the dire economic warnings made by the Bush camp recently.

"I don't think right now with the dispute going on, that that is particularly helpful talk," he said.

But Torricelli said some of that talk - whether it's about the economy or the volatile Middle East - is "justified."

"This country cannot afford to have a presidency of George W. Bush or Al Gore without legitimacy, with questioned authority, where we spend four years debating this election, he said. "This matter must get resolved for the national interest, and it must get resolved soon."

So how much can - and should - Gore keep fighting in Florida? Currently, the vice president is challenging Bush's certification as Florida's winner - plus the vote totals in three largely Democratic counties - in state circuit court. Whatever the outcome there, that case is expected to be appealed to Florida's highest state court.

"The loser in the Florida Supreme Court, after they give specific directions, either one of them, I think, that's the time to call it a completion," said Breaux.

Torricelli cited next week's deadline for all states - including Florida - to name their presidential electors.

"... On December 12, those partisan distinctions need to change. Then we are starting to deal with the orderly transfer of civilian government and power in this country," he said.

"And then we all cease to be Democratic and Republican members of Congress. And Al Gore and George W. Bush, at that point, should lose partisan allies, and we start to deal with the reality of the situation and the impact on our Constitution and government."

Where things could get really dicey is if Congress gets drawn into deciding the presidential election. According to law, the House chooses the president, but the Senate chooses the vice president. Would Al Gore cast a tie-breaking vote?

If Gore did, you could conceivably see a President Bush and a Vice President Lieberman. But the likely scenario is Gore would excuse himself, leaving the Senate in a complete deadlock.

The Constitution gives Congress the power to choose an acting president if there's no declared winner by next January 20th. But if the two houses are split down the middle, that may be small consolation.