The questions and arguments often led viewers into arcane areas of the Florida statutes: when David Boies, the lawyer for Mr. Gore, referred to things like "a protest under 166 and a contest under 168," the proceedings seemed impossible to penetrate without a degree from a Florida law school.
How much money do they need?" At Monday's hearings, the insurance executives were questioned under oath, and the proceedings were broadcast on a state-run cable channel.
Though he was skeptical, looking behind doors and under tables in advance of the proceedings, he quickly fell under the spell of these events, enthusiastically recording what he saw.
Opposition parties, however, continuously disrupted the proceedings under one pretext or another.
Last week, the Republicans on the ethics panel, led by Representative Jo Bonner of Alabama, accused Ms. Lofgren and Democrats of stalling and demanded that Democrats get the proceedings under way.
The proceedings under way in Harris County Probate Court began in late September and at this pace threaten to outlast the 14-month marriage of Ms. Smith and J.
"We're expecting between 5,500 and 6,000 people," said Joe Moscone, a convention coordinator who was helping to get the proceedings under way on Friday morning.
Jill Osiecki, a longtime sales representative at Amgen, was wearing a recording device under her clothes, transmitting the proceedings to agents of the Department of Health and Human Services.
The lights go down, the curtains part and then, just as the seance is about to begin, someone shouts: "Raoul!" This has become a kind of Cannes tradition, a lusty whoop to get the proceedings under way, and it is invariably greeted with an affectionate ripple of laughter.
Under the military system, the proceedings will be led by an army official known as an investigating officer, whose duty will be to recommend at the end of the hearing whether Manning should move on to a general court-martial or face a lesser punishment.
