Word: closed
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Dates: during 2000-2000
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...elusive, imperfect as the election that produced it because when you are shuffling through 6 million votes and double-punched ballots and hanging chads and missing postmarks and the whole archaeology of human frailty, every count by machine or by hand yields a different result, each so close as to be all but meaningless. So the combat went hand to hand, both men clawing for every last vote. Ballot boxes were wrapped like presents in crime-scene tape; guards protected overseas ballots around the clock; and both sides all but accused each other of trying to steal the election...
...cause seems just. An old Republican well into his 70s telephoned an even older Democrat last week in Washington. Both men had flirted with the presidency; one had even survived a primary or two. The Republican asked his old friend, Could you do it? If you were this close, could you turn away? The other guy, now past 80, laughed and said, I couldn't, and neither could...
...neither could George Bush or Al Gore. It is more our fault than theirs that the race is instant-replay close; neither could be expected to quit while the law lets him think he can win. Bush is a baseball guy; he understands extra innings. But under the rules, he's sure he's the victor; a few foul balls and close calls are just part of the great game. Last week's recounts all put him ahead, even after hundreds of unpostmarked overseas military ballots were thrown out, and the only thing that could change that was a hand...
...trust people to count the votes fairly, he said; and that just didn't sound right coming from a man who spent a year talking about how much he trusts the people. To compound the problem, it emerged that in 1997 Bush signed a law saying that in close Texas elections, manual recounts are preferable to electronic recounts; Texas law even specifies that hanging and dimpled chads--punch-card holes still partly attached to the ballot or merely dented--should be counted. Gore would be delighted to abide by Texas rules in Florida...
...laptops and phones--Gore also has time to think about what might have been. If he had carried his home state, Florida wouldn't matter. If his get-out-the-vote people in Duval County hadn't given faulty ballot instructions to thousands of voters, Florida wouldn't be close. But the hand count is his focus; once it is finished, he will be able to move on. "Gore needs this," says a senior adviser. "He needs to know, win or lose." Reid recognized the Veep's sense of isolation. "People feel awkward talking to you. They don't know...