Parties turn to courts to settle election

By RON FOURNIER

Associated Press

George W. Bush gave a top adviser authority Friday night to seek a court order stopping Al Gore’s campaign from securing manual recounts of contested ballots in Florida, as both sides of an improbably deadlocked presidential election looked to the judicial branch for help in the make-or-break state.

In a war of nerves, Bush’s camp pressed Al Gore to concede Florida without multiple recounts, yet Democrats pressed ahead with their protests — determined to find enough votes to erase Bush’s advantage in initial counting. "The quicker we get this resolved, the better off it is for the nation," said Bush, even as his camp considered whether to seek the injunction.

Replied Gore campaign chairman William Daley: "This campaign is not over."

That is what worried some Democrats across the country, who sought to carefully balance support for Gore with suggestions that his options were dwindling.

"I think that people’s patience is going to be fairly limited," said Gov. Jim Hodges of South Carolina.

Bush clung to a razor-thin lead in Florida — the crucial White House state with its 25 electoral votes — after county officials completed a machine-counted review of the 6 million ballots cast. Still to come were an unknown number of votes from Floridians living overseas and the state’s official certification, due Tuesday.

In Florida, Gore advisers cited confusing and irregular ballots to press for follow-up recounts by hand in four predominantly Democratic counties. They won approval in three — one recount began Friday, two more begin today — and the fourth request will be heard Tuesday.

In a late-night conference call Friday, Bush gave James Baker, the former secretary of state who’s protecting the Texas governor’s interests in Florida, authority to seek a court injunction barring the manual recounts, according to several GOP officials involved in the discussions. The officials said it was very likely the injunction would be sought, but emphasized that it was up to Baker to make the final decision.

To buy some time, Gore’s lawyers asked the state’s Republican secretary of state late Friday to defer certification of the results until the manual recounts are complete.

Republicans were getting into the act. At Bush’s request, Palm Beach County officials will perform a mechanical recount today of all ballots, while conducting a separate recount by hand for Gore.

"The entire effort that’s going on now in Florida is aimed at making sure that whoever takes office in January as president of the United States will do so with full legitimacy," Gore running mate Joseph Lieberman told CBS.

"As frustrating as this wait may be," Daley said earlier, "what we are seeing here is democracy in action."

Frustrated described Bush to a T.

"We will be prepared" to take office Jan. 20, the governor told reporters, taking a break from planning what he hopes will be a transition to power. He and his aides acknowledged that he can’t claim victory before the overseas votes are counted and certified.

"There are still votes to be counted," Bush said.

And so Republicans moved on several fronts to blunt Gore’s ballot challenges. Bush strategists considered seeking recounts in GOP areas of Florida if Democrats started having success in their recounts, a senior strategist said.

Other responses to Gore’s tactics: