The presidency of the United States hinged on perhaps as few as 200 Florida votes early this morning, as the most tumultuous election in at least 40 years left the nation in sustained suspense.

At 4 a.m this morning, Bill Daley, campaign chair for Al Gore '69, said the vice president was "prepared to concede to Governor [George W.] Bush," but would not do so until the results of a recount were made known.

"This race is simply too close to call," Daley told Gore supporters in Nashville.

Several times throughout the night and morning, both candidates seemed on the verge of claiming victory. One by one, election returns announced on television showed a very tight contest, with the electoral vote count tied at 242.

The focus turned to five states--Florida, Iowa, Wisconsin, Nevada and Oregon. Florida's 25 electoral votes became the decisive factor, as the other states split their support.

At 2:05 a.m., as Florida officials counted the last 4 percent of precincts in a race Bush was leading by only 30,000 votes, Gore was declared the victor in Iowa, giving him the lead at 249-246--and ensuring that whoever won Florida would win the presidency.

Less than 15 minutes later, as a gospel choir sang before a subdued Bush crowd in Austin, FOX News

declared Bush's Florida victory. As the announcement was broadcast on a huge projection screen, the Austin crowd burst into joyful pandemonium.

After 2:30 a.m., Gore telephoned Bush to concede the election.

Moments later, there was a scramble.

The final returns from Florida showed the margin of victory to be within 200 votes, forcing an immediate recount in Dade County, home to the late totaled precincts.

In Austin, the crowed grew hushed, and in Nashville, a sense of nervous excitement rebounded.

At about 3:35 a.m., Gore called Bush to retract his concession.

Given the tiny margin of an apparent Bush victory, the state of Florida announced a mandatory recount after 3:30 a.m.

Network anchors responsible for communicating the news were often left unable to muster commentary. This was a scenario they had not planned for, 40 years after John F. Kennedy '40 famously squeaked out a victory over Richard M. Nixon by winning Illinois by a margin of less than 9000 votes.

Yesterday, Bush claimed at least 30 states, winning at least 246, while Gore triumphed in 18 and the District of Columbia, giving him at least 249 electoral votes.

Green Party candidate Ralph Nader did not perform as well he wanted, receiving 3 percent of the popular vote and failing to meet the 5 percent benchmark he needed to give his party federal matching funds in 2004. But his margins in several key Western states helped deprive Gore of needed strength.

In early results last night, Bush jumped out to a lead, winning Indiana, Kentucky, South Carolina, Georgia and Virginia while Gore only claimed Vermont.

At 7:50 p.m., a Gore victory was projected for Florida, a crucial and fiercely contested state worth 25 electoral votes. Ten minutes later, television networks declared that Bush won Texas and several small states. Gore won comfortably in several mid-sized states on the East Coast, as well as electoral-heavy Michigan and Illinois.

Those victories led Gore staffers to confidently predict that the election would be the first since 1960 to be decided by the West Coast states--and that the favorable news coverage of Gore's East Coast victories would give them an edge among late voters on the West Coast.

Gore supporters were further bolstered by announcement of a victory in Pennsylvania--where the two candidates campaigned more than in any other state.

Gore aides attributed their Pennsylvania victory to an extensive get-out-the-vote effort, saying that the Rev. Jesse Jackson's appearances in Philadelphia helped them turn out large numbers of black voters.

Bush claimed a symbolic victory in Tennessee--the vice president's home state.

Forty minutes after that announcement, CNN retracted its Florida projection for Gore and made it a toss-up state once more, jolting both campaign headquarters. Networks followed suit.

There were no indications this morning of why the call was retracted.

In Austin, the announcement energized the Bush crowd, whose cheering overshadowed the sound of the big-screen TV monitor for a full 30 seconds.

"I was really feeling kind of nervous until that change," said Bush supporter Miles Ragland.

"If I can bottle [how I felt], I'd make millions," added Bush supporter Nadine Arnet, dressed up as former Texas Gov. Ann Richards.

In Nashville, a silence fell over the visibly shaken partisans at the Nashville Sheraton Downtown, the headquarters of Gore's victory celebration.

The next several hours brought announcement of mostly expected victories, as Bush claimed New Hampshire, Utah, Idaho, Montana, West Virginia, Colorado and Alaska, while Gore won in Hawaii and Washington.

California, where Bush had tried to mount a last minute challenge, fell soundly in Gore's column.

The Final Day

Bush concluded his marathon 18-month campaign, in which he spent $167 million, with a midnight rally at the Austin airport Monday night, and then got four to five hours of sleep before spending a low-key Election Day with his family.

He voted with his wife Laura at around 10:30 a.m. in the Travis County Courthouse, a block from the Texas governor's mansion. He then made a few last-minute get-out-the-vote phone calls--including two to West Coast radio stations--before taking dinner with his extended family, including his father, former President George Bush.

Gore, who spent $99 million in the race, capped a hectic, final 30-hour campaign blitz in Florida, rallying voters even as dawn broke over the Tampa sky.

"It's almost 5:30 a.m. Texas time and George W. Bush is still asleep--and I'm still speaking to people," Gore joked to the crowd.

He then returned home to Carthage, Tenn., voting with his wife Tipper at the Forks River Elementary School in the town of Elmwood in the early afternoon, and then giving an impromptu civics lesson to schoolchildren.

After voting, Gore joined his family in Nashville, spending a day secluded from reporters and supporters.

--With reporting from Imtiyaz H. Delawala reported from Austin and Garrett M. Graff reported from Nashville.