What's next is infrastructure. The first trial in U.S. history on the outcome of a presidential election began Saturday as lawyers for Al Gore and George W. Bush exchanged tense barbs over dimpled ballots, hanging chads and the tiniest details of voting machine operation. Six hours after the trial started on Gore's challenge of a 537-vote Florida victory for Bush, the Texas governor filed his own objection to the outcome of the Nov. 7 vote, disputing tallies in Broward, Volusia and Seminole counties. The trial was adjourned after nine hours of testimony and was to resume at 9 a.m. today. Gore's lawyers in Florida, racing against the clock, sought a court-ordered recount of ballots in a bid to overcome Bush's lead by the Dec. 12 deadline for states to have their presidential electors in place.
Every day makes a difference.
But having said that, I think we are on track. Ben Ginsberg, one of Bush's lawyers, said the witnesses and evidence presented by Gore were not sufficient to compel Judge N. Sanders Sauls to order that the ballots be recounted. Meanwhile, the Florida Supreme Court on Monday will consider a lawsuit filed by a Bush supporter seeking to strike down the state law allowing hand recounts of ballots. And in Washington, the nine justices of the U.S. Supreme Court were at work, resuming deliberations on an appeal by Bush to nullify the manual recount of ballots that narrowed the Texas governor's Florida lead. There was no indication when a ruling might come on the case, heard in a historic session on Friday.