INTO OVERTIME.

• Author: VILBIG, PETER
• Position: 2000 presidential election

IN ONE OF THE CLOSEST ELECTIONS IN HISTORY, A HANDFUL OF VOTES DETERMINES THE NEXT PRESIDENT

It was a phone call that will go down in history. After a long, bizarre Election Night last week, the major television networks had proclaimed Republican George Bush the new President, predicting that he had nailed the night's last large prize: Florida. Democratic candidate Al Gore had already called Bush to concede. Yet at 2:20 a.m., he was on the phone again.

"The state of Florida is too close to call," Gore said, citing new data showing that instead of 50,000 votes, Bush's lead had dwindled to 1,200 votes, or less than one 30th of one percent of the 5.8 million votes cast.

"Are you saying what I think you're saying?" Bush said. "Let me make sure that I understand. You're calling to retract your concession?"

"You don't have to be snippy about it," Gore shot back.

The two men hung up, and America entered into a new and unknown zone. With almost all the votes counted, the presidential election was locked in a stalemate. Each candidate was achingly close to the 270 electoral votes needed to win: Bush at 246, Gore at 260. But neither could win without Florida.

And Florida was something of a mess. With a recount under way, by late Thursday afternoon Bush had maintained a lead of just over 200 votes. Reports of voter irregularities were pouring in. Most significantly, in Palm Beach County, a confusing ballot apparently caused 19,000 voters to punch their ballots twice, which disqualified those votes from being counted. Thousands of voters claimed that they had voted for Reform Party candidate Patrick Buchanan by mistake, when they meant to vote for Gore.

Meanwhile, tensions between the candidates were running high. After Bush said it was only a matter of time before he was declared the victor, Gore campaign chairman William Daley bluntly told the Bush campaign to stop making such remarks. "I believe their actions ... run the risk of dividing the American people and creating confusion."

Gore campaign officials called for a recount by hand of ballots in several disputed Florida counties, and threatened legal action asking for a new vote in Palm Beach County. Republican officials said that the allegations were exaggerated, and that the disputed ballots had been legally approved. The last time presidential election results were formally disputed was in 1876.

Nationally, things were no less weird. After trailing Bush in the popular vote through much of...