The Florida recount
roller-coaster ride that was Tuesday night and this morning's U.S. Presidential race ended in even more ambiguity as Texas Gov. George W. Bush and Vice-president Al Gore wait with the rest of the nation for a Florida vote-recount.
Gore, who was prepared to give his concession speech after the majority of Florida's votes were announced, retracted his concession in a phone call to Bush, under the advisement of his campaign staff.
Florida state law mandates that any election won by less than half a percent merits a recount. The final reports from the Florida Election Committee showed that only about 200 votes separating the two candidates.
There are still about 5,000 absentee votes to be counted for Florida.
Earlier in the day, initial reports pointed towards Gore winning the state. The information gained from early exit-polls was deemed inaccurate and the state was unofficially claimed by Bush.
Early Wednesday morning, after all the votes were counted, however, the discrepancy fell under 1 percent, thus calling for the state-mandated recount.
At last count, after Florida's electoral votes were removed from Bush's grasp, Gore was leading by three electoral votes, 249 to 246.
Although Bush claimed most of the southern states, including his opponent's home state of Tennessee, Gore captured the electoral votes in the big states of California, New York, and Pennsylvania. Florida, with 25 electoral votes, was the prize to be won.
This marks the closest race since 1876, when Rutherford B. Hayes defeated Samuel J. Tilden by one electoral vote. Along with the Florida recount, the still-pending absentee votes will also play an important role in deeming the winner. The results of the roughly 5,000 absentee votes are expected to be announced in the next few days.
Adding even more drama to race are the states of Oregon and Wisconsin have not announced the results of their elections. With Oregon's 7 electoral votes and Wisconsin's 11, both states may play a key role in deciding the who will win the election.
Regardless, Florida is still the main factor in the decision. It may be a number of days until both the recount and the absentee ballots have been totaled and the next president elected.
