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Officials Begin Florida Recount

NASHVILLE--Here in Music City, U.S.A., Elvis lives and so does Vice President Al Gore '69--at least for now.

More than 24 hours after the last polling places closed, the results of the presidential election still remain very much undecided. Gore decidedly won the popular vote, amassing about 192,000 more votes than challenger Texas Gov. George W. Bush.

But the Electoral College vote was more split, with everything hinging on the all-important recount of nearly six million votes in the state of Florida, where the current margin of victory separating the candidates is less than 1,800 votes.

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Gore numerically amassed more popular votes in Tuesday's election than any Democratic presidential candidate in history, besting even the high support of President Clinton in 1992 and 1996.

After months of frenetic activity, the Gore campaign spent yesterday quietly watching the historic recount develop. A team of 70 volunteers, including a large contingent of lawyers, was dispatched to the Sunshine State to monitor the recounting.

Nineteen Florida counties reported the first recount results late yesterday afternoon, accounting for 2,909,465 votes for Bush--a gain of 205 votes over previously estimated levels--and 2,907,722 for Gore, gaining him 238 votes. Florida suspended the recount for the night around 6 p.m. last night.

By mid-morning yesterday, the campaign announced that former Secretary of State Warren Christopher would head up the team--joining one of President George H.W. Bush's former secretaries of state, Jim Baker, from the George W. Bush campaign. All involved were quick to downplay the election's mystery factor.

"We're not on the edge of a constitutional crisis," Christopher said at the Loews Vanderbilt Plaza Hotel, where Gore and top aides spent the day studying the election and its ramifications.

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