-Caveat Lector-
Friday November 10 2:11 PM ET
Bush's Margin Drops in Florida Election Drama
By Michael Peltier
TALLAHASSEE, Florida (Reuters) - Republican George W. Bush (news
- web sites) on Friday led Democrat Al Gore (news - web sites) by
a slim margin in the latest official vote recount in the decisive
state of Florida aimed at resolving an epic crisis over who will
be the next president of the United States. The count of 65 of
Florida's 67 counties scored 2,910,074 votes for Bush and
2,909,114 for Gore, giving the Texas governor a lead of 960 in a
state of about six million -- a little more than half his lead on
Tuesday night -- the elections department said in a statement.
The controversial vote has spawned a firestorm of legal suits
demanding a fresh ballot, angry street protests from Gore
supporters, defiant declarations of victory from the Bush
campaign with Gore aides saying the election is far from over.
``It appears that the Gore campaign is attempting to unduly
prolong the country's national presidential election through
endless challenges to the results of the vote here in Florida,''
James Baker, a former secretary of state and Bush's emissary at
the recount, told a news conference.
Gore campaign chairman William Daley said earlier the Republicans
had declared their man victorious prematurely after an unofficial
recount gave him a razor-thin lead of 327 votes in the entire
state. Daley said the Democrats would not concede anything until
the legal system had run its course.
The state's latest official tally did not include recounts in
Hernando and Palm Beach counties, officials said.
Palm Beach County was scheduled to begin a second recount of
votes on Saturday. Its first recount found a swing of 643 votes
to Gore, according to media reports, which would take the Bush
margin down to just over 300 votes.
Overseas ballots sent through the mail have until Nov. 17 to
arrive so an official final count cannot be released until then.
High Drama In The Final Act
The Sunshine State has become the stage for the final act of an
extraordinary drama to choose the 43rd president to succeed
President Clinton (news - web sites) which has turned the 109th
election into one of the biggest brouhahas in American political
history.
Florida's 25 electoral votes hold the key to Tuesday's election
as neither candidate can reach the 270 votes required to win the
keys to the White House without them. A recount was ordered when
the state race became too close to call.
In Palm Beach County, about 200 demonstrators gathered on Friday
in front of the building housing the elections office for a
second day of noisy protests over the disputed vote.
The protesters were on both sides of the issue, some saying the
election was over, others saying their fundamental right to vote
had been denied.
``High-tech America, low tech voting system,'' one sign said.
''Voters should have read their sample ballot,'' said another.
Protests broke out after elderly voters filed lawsuits saying the
layout of the ballot sheet confused them so much they punched the
wrong hole.
Courts in West Palm Beach, focal point of the disputed
presidential election, were officially closed on Friday for a
Veteran's Day holiday, but a federal court judge was prepared to
handle cases related to the disputed vote.
Theresa LePore, Palm Beach county's supervisor of elections who
designed the ballot, spent much of Thursday in tears, one county
aide said, after she was named in lawsuits that criticized her
ballot design for misleading them and sought a new election.
Legal Firestorm
U.S. District Judge Kenneth Ryskamp, who on Thursday presided
briefly over a vote-related lawsuit that was quickly withdrawn,
was on stand-by, ready to hear pleadings.
``The only pleadings we're handling is anything in connection
with the vote issue,'' a U.S. District Court clerk's office
spokesman told Reuters.
Hundreds of voters in Palm Beach County have protested against
what they said was a confusing ballot layout sheet that led them
to cast votes by mistake for Reform Party candidate Pat Buchanan
(news - web sites) rather than their preferred candidate Gore.
Some 19,000 Palm Beach ballots were disqualified because voters
mistakenly punched their ballot sheet twice, effectively casting
votes for two candidates. With Gore and Bush only a few hundred
votes apart in Florida, the disputed Palm Beach vote could be
pivotal to the outcome of the presidential election.
Howard Weiss, a Boca Raton attorney who filed one of the suits on
behalf of three disgruntled Palm Beach County voters, said the
action seeks a new election in the county on the grounds that the
ballot layout violated Florida law.
The lawsuit seeks a declaratory judgement ordering a new
election. Weiss said all of the lawsuits filed in Palm Beach
County Circuit Court may be consolidated with his on behalf of
all voters who want new elections.
Florida Frenzy Brings Echoes Of Elian
The frenzy of lawyers, journalists and politicians once again
flocking to Florida brought comparisons with the saga of Cuban
shipwreck survivor Elian Gonzalez, who was grabbed from his Miami
relatives by U.S. agents amid a legal battle and who was
eventually returned to Cuba with his father.
The furor brought troops of lawyers for both candidates as well
as aides. Civil rights leader Jesse Jackson also flew in.
Allegations of poll irregularities in Florida have been so rife
that U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno (news - web sites) has
agreed to review a request by the National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People to investigate reports that there
had been discrimination against blacks at some polls.
The NAACP also planned a public hearing in Miami on Saturday to
investigate the alleged voting irregularities.
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FROM THE DESK OF:
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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