Wednesday November 8 8:21 PM ET
Bush Confident As Florida Recount Proceeds

http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20001108/ts/election_leadall_dc_51.html

By Alan Elsner, Political Correspondent

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican George W. Bush (news - web sites) assured Americans on Wednesday he would be their next president, but his apparent election victory over Democrat Al Gore (news - web sites) was suspended for at least another day while a recount was conducted in Florida.

Vice President Gore, who won the popular vote, said the election should be settled quickly but without a rush to judgement and pledged to abide by the result once it was clear.

Bush, the governor of Texas, said he was confident he would be declared the winner after the recount was completed on Thursday. If the numbers come back as he expects, Bush would win all 25 electoral votes in Florida, giving him more than the 270 electoral votes needed to clinch the presidency.

He dispatched former Secretary of State James Baker to observe the recount, while Gore sent former secretary of state Warren Christopher.

Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who headed his brother's campaign in the state, on Wednesday withdrew from the board that will certify the election result to avoid any appearance of a conflict of interest.

``If that result is confirmed in an automatic recount as we expect it will be, then we have won the election,'' Bush said at the governor's mansion in Austin, Texas, with his running mate, former Defense Secretary Dick Cheney (news - web sites), at his side.

``America has a long tradition of uniting once elections are over. Secretary Cheney and I will do everything in our power to unite the nation, to call upon the best, to bring people together after one of the most exciting elections in our nation's history,'' Bush told reporters.

Gore said: ``We now need to resolve this election in a way that is fair, forthright and fully consistent with our Constitution and our laws.''

``Because of what is at stake, this matter must be resolved expeditiously but deliberately and without any rush to judgement,' Gore said.

Bush Seems To Hold Advantage

Independent analysts agreed Bush, holding an advantage of around 1,800 votes in the Florida race, was more likely to emerge the victor unless Gore or other Democrats decided to pursue legal challenges based on numerous allegations of electoral irregularities.

Gore actually won more total votes than Bush, carrying the popular vote by less than one percentage point -- around 150,000 votes out of almost 100 million cast.

But the popular vote was irrelevant since U.S. presidential elections are decided on a state-by-state basis by the Electoral College, which came down to Florida.

President Clinton (news - web sites) said the election proved how important it was for citizens to vote and congratulated both candidates on their campaigns. He said he had spoken with Gore and found him in good spirits.

``The American people have now spoken, but it's going to take a little while to determine exactly what they said. The process for that is in motion and the rest of us will have to let it play out,'' Clinton said.

After a vote-counting marathon, many Americans had finally gone to bed in the early hours of Wednesday convinced the Texas governor would be their next president, but woke up to find the issue still in doubt.

Republicans retained control of both houses of Congress by wafer-thin majorities. In the Senate, with one race still to resolve, Republicans had a guaranteed 50 seats. Democrats had 49 but Republicans would stay in charge.

If Bush is confirmed as president, his running mate, Cheney would cast the deciding vote in any Senate ties. If Gore is elected, his running mate, Joseph Lieberman (news - web sites), would have to relinquish his Senate seat from Connecticut. The state's Republican governor would then appoint a successor.

Reuters Photo

Gore, who had called the Texas governor early on Wednesday morning to congratulate him after television networks declared Bush the winner, called him back an hour later and retracted his concession. He was in his motorcade on the way to publicly concede when the caravan made a U-turn.

Bush Favored, But Nothing Certain

A Florida election official said the recount would not be complete ``until the close of business on Thursday,'' and ballots cast by voters living abroad could take 10 more days to tally.

Although the odds seemed to favor the Texas governor, nothing was certain.

``We expect it to be done by tomorrow afternoon,'' Clay Roberts, director of the Florida Division of Elections, said in the state capital, Tallahassee.

Roberts said the only Florida ballots that were not counted in the election-night tally of nearly 6 million votes were those cast by Florida-registered voters living overseas who were required to have their ballots postmarked by Tuesday.

Those ballots might take up to 10 days to arrive and to be added to the vote count. In 1996, about 2,300 such ballots were received. There were also reports of election irregularities and misleading ballots that flummoxed some elderly voters.

Gore campaign chairman William Daley appeared before Gore supporters standing in pouring rain in a Nashville, Tennessee, square early on Wednesday to say the election was not over.

``I've been in politics a very long time but I don't think there's ever been a night like this one,'' Daley said. ``Just an hour or so ago, the television networks called this race for Gov. Bush. It now appears that their call was premature.''

Nader Denies Spoiler Role

With a race that close, questions were certain to be raised about the 94,000 Florida votes that went to Green Party nominee Ralph Nader (news - web sites). Democrats had worried the consumer activist would take votes away from Gore but Nader on Wednesday rejected suggestions he cost the vice president the election.

Daley said the vice president was ready to concede and support Bush ``if and when he is officially elected president. But this race is simply too close to call.''

The extraordinary twist of an extraordinary night came after Bush seemed to have the 270 Electoral College votes he needed to win the presidency even though Gore took the lead in the popular vote early on Wednesday morning.

After a nail-biting night of results that went well into early Wednesday morning, TV networks said Bush went over the top at 2:18 a.m. EST (0718 GMT) by carrying Florida.

Aside from Florida, the only other state still undecided was Oregon, which has seven electoral votes. By dawn on Wednesday, Gore had 260 electoral votes and Bush 246, with the 25 votes in Florida and seven in Oregon still up for grabs.

At noon EST (1700 GMT), Gore held slightly over 48 percent of the popular vote against Bush's 48 percent.

The final outcome was certain to be the closest in the Electoral College in almost a century and the popular vote was as close as the Kennedy-Nixon race of 1960.