Recapping the events of a grueling day in politics. RealVideo (download RealPlayer)

‘Shut Them Down’
Gore’s advisers have accused Harris, a Republican and a Bush supporter, of trying to hand the election to George W. Bush. The vice president’s campaign criticized Harris’ efforts to shut down the recounts and accused Republicans of trying to delay the process that would determine who has won Florida and its decisive 25 Electoral College votes — votes that could decide who becomes the next president of the United States.
     Gore’s campaign has said it will file an appeal to Harris’ decision in court Thursday morning. Gore spokesman Mark Fabiani said, “Ms. Harris’ attempt to steal this election will never stand.”
     Democratic National Chairman and Gore adviser William Daley regretted that Harris made her decision so soon after Gore announced his proposal for a resolution.
     “There’s a desire to try to shut this down … their strategy was delay, delay, delay,” Daley said. “It’s unfortunate this was done in such a quick manner, especilly in light of fact that the vice president had just put out a proposal.”

Gore’s Pitch
Last night, Gore proposed a plan to resolve Florida’s vote controversy. Flanked by his running mate, Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, the vice president proposed:
       Conducting hand recounts to completion in Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties, which he said should not take more than seven days. Those tallies would be added to the absentee ballots to be counted this weekend.
       Agreeing to abide by those tallies and not to legally challenge or support legal challenges of the results there or in other parts of Florida.
        Support a statewide hand recount if the Republicans requested one.
       Two meetings with George W. Bush, once before the results are announced, once after, to “improve the tone” on both sides and call for unity afterward.
     “We need a resolution that will be both fair and final,” Gore told reporters from his private residence in Washington, D.C. “We need to move expeditiously to the most complete and accurate count that is possible. And that is why I propose this evening a way to settle this matter with finality and justice in a period of days, not weeks.”
     Gore said he has encouraged his staff to support the ultimate winner. Bush, and his staff, Gore said, should do the same.
     Bush agreed that he and Gore’s staff should support the winner and work together to reunite the country — but that’s where their agreement ended. Maintaining his opposition to repeated recounts, the Texas governor rejected Gore’s proposal, saying that further tallying would increase the chances for error.
     “We must be fair to the voters in America, we must be fair to the voters in certain parts of Florida,” Bush said. “These votes have been counted. They have been recounted, and in some counties, they have even been counted a third time and fourth time. This process must be accurate. … As Americans have watched on television they have seen for themselves with individuals making decisions on intent. With each recount, the potential for errors multiply.”
     Earlier this week, the Bush campaign proposed that both sides drop all legal action and abide by the Florida vote count once the absentee ballots are counted and added to the current statewide tallies. The Gore camp rejected that proposal.

Florida Refuses to Block Recount
Gore’s announcement came hours after the Florida Supreme Court rejected a request backed by Bush’s campaign to stop the hand recount of ballots in the state, as attorneys for the Republican candidate and Gore pressed on with a flurry of legal maneuvers.
     Shortly before the decision was handed down, former U.S. Secretary of State James Baker, who is overseeing the recount process on behalf of Bush, accused the Gore camp of trying to drag out the election.
     “The Gore campaign’s strategy, I think, is crystal clear,” he told reporters. “Keep filing lawsuits, keep making false charges that divert attention and keep refusing to accept any deadline.”
     In the heavily Democratic Palm Beach County, where dozens of suits have been filed over voter allegations of confusion concerning the “butterfly” ballot, officials began a full recount this morning, but suspended it an hour into the process, seeking a circuit court ruling on whether ballots that are indented but not fully punched should be counted as votes. (Here, 19,000 votes were thrown out because residents double-voted, allegedly because of confusion over the ballot). Palm Beach Circuit Judge Jorge Labarga ruled later that the county can accept or reject questionable ballots at its own discretion.
     Separately in another contested county, Broward County officials yesterday reversed an earlier decision that had come as a blow to the Gore campaign, deciding to proceed with a hand recount of more than half a million votes. The Gore camp is confident it will pick up votes after the ballots are counted there by hand.
     In Miami-Dade County, officials voted Tuesday night against a new tally, after a sample recount in three precincts showed little change from the original vote total. The Gore campaign, eager to pick up every last vote it can, said earlier yesterday it was considering court action to try to force a hand count in the county. Miami-Dade officials are expected to meet Friday to again reconsider their latest decision.
     Volusia County, the fourth county the Gore team had asked to recount its votes, completed its hand tally Tuesday night, submitting its votes just before a 5 p.m. ET deadline imposed by Harris.
     The chairman of Broward’s canvassing board, Robert W. Lee, said there were indications of “an error in the vote tabulation” in the original tally. He said the full recount could be completed by 5 p.m. on Monday and cited “significant periods of delay” due to the Veterans’ Day holiday Friday, the absence of a canvassing board member who was on vacation, and various other reasons for the delay.
     Palm Beach County officials argued more time should be allowed for a manual recount because of the gravity of the situation, saying the recount “could affect the outcome of this very close presidential election.”
     A surprise addition came in from Collier, in southwest Florida. Collier officials are not asking for a recount, but requested an extension to certify 25 ballots that were not counted until after the deadline — 24 absentee ballots that had been left in envelopes and one regular ballot that had simply been overlooked.
    

Election Count vs. Recount
Candidate	Election Night	Nov. 14	Advantage/Disadvantage
George W. Bush	2,909,135	2,910,492	+1,784/ +300
Al Gore	2,907,351	2,910,192	-1,784/-300