Official count has Bush ahead by 1663

TALLAHASSEE - Texas Governor George W Bush led Vice President Al Gore in Florida by 1663 votes with 45 counties recounted, the state's elections department said on Friday.

The total vote count has Bush with 2,909,461 and Gore with 2,907,798 in Florida's 67 counties, adjusted to include recounted figures from 45 counties so far.

The recount had so far found little difference from the 1784-vote margin for the Republican Bush on election night.

The state's latest tally did not include a swing of 478 votes to Gore found during a recount in Pinellas County, which will reduce the Bush margin to 1185.

Media vote counts have the gap narrowing to just a few hundred votes with more than 60 counties recounted.

Election officials have said they expect to finish the recount by Friday night - but overseas ballots sent through the mail have another week to arrive.

Meanwhile Gore is parked in a Nashville hotel suite awaiting developments.

He is in contact with his newly-formed legal team in Florida, headed by former Secretary of State Warren Christopher.
``I think his mood is good,'' said Gore strategist Carter Eskew, explaining the Vice President has been encouraged by a number of developments breaking his way.

One of the biggest were reports most Florida voters may have favoured Gore in Wednesday's election, but did not vote for him in some areas because of what critics charge were unlawfully confusing ballots that could be challenged in court.

In Tallahassee, campaign manager William Daley announced a demand by state Democrats for a recount by hand of ballots in Palm Beach County and three other Florida counties.

``In addition today, I am announcing that we will be working with voters from Florida in support on some legal actions to demand some redress for the disenfranchisement of more than 20,000 voters in Palm Beach County,'' he said.

At issue were the design of ballots in the Palm Beach area, which allegedly led untold thousands of Gore backers to mistakenly vote for Reform Party nominee Pat Buchanan.

Buchanan ended up with a 3407 votes in Palm Beach County, his strongest showings in the state, and another another 19,000 ballots were tossed out because they had been punched twice.

Appearing on NBC's Today show, Buchanan said, ``It seems to me ... most of those are probably not my vote and that may be enough to give the margin to Mr Gore.''

Daley said the Gore campaign does not intend, at least at this point, to file any suits of its own and instead support legal action by others.

If the state does declare Bush the winner, Daley said Gore would not concede and instead push ahead with challenges.

``We see the recount as a rubber stamp,'' said one Gore aide. ``They need to recanvass to make sure they counted all the votes and look at all the irregularities.''

- REUTERS

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