The Democrats hope that if manual counts in three of the state's counties are included in the overall Florida result they will inch ahead in the popular vote and thus win the 25 electoral votes needed to put Mr Gore in the White House. The Republicans have characterized the court decision as unfair and said it goes beyond the parameters of Florida's constitution according to which the results as tabulated by the weekend should have been officially certified. They have suggested that the state's legislature, which is Republican dominated, may wish to reverse the supreme court's populist judgment. That leaves the issue pretty much unresolved, and the political divisions thrown up by the closely contested November 7 election may in fact be accentuated. The Florida supreme court comprises judges appointed by Democratic administrations, and innuendoes relating to bias are inevitable.
Bad losers make poor winners.
Since both were so bent upon winning an almost tied election, the best course would have been to re-poll the entire state of Florida and set all doubts at rest. But that might have gone beyond the deadlines needed for the inauguration of the next US president in January. The Florida supreme court too has been conscious of this difficulty and laid down that the manual counts should be completed well in time for the assembly of the electoral college on December 18. How the court verdict will eventually shape events is still a question mark. Even if the manual recounts hold, the outcome may still be so close that one candidate may have to yield.