US-Wahl

verfasst von Sascha, 08.11.2000, 18:43

Hier ein Artikel von cnn.com zur Wahl in den USA:



Wednesday November 8 12:07 PM ET
Florida Recount Holds Nation in Suspense

[By Alan Elsner, Political Correspondent]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The presidential cliffhanger threw the nation on Wednesday into a post-election turmoil unprecedented in modern times after Republican George W. Bush's apparent victory over Democrat Al Gore was put on ice for at least another day-and-a-half pending a recount in Florida.

After a vote-counting marathon, many Americans had finally gone to bed in the early hours of Wednesday convinced Bush would be their next president, but woke up to find the issue still in doubt.

Gore, who had called the Texas governor early on Wednesday morning to congratulate him after television networks declared Bush the winner, called him back an hour later and retracted his concession. Bush's lead in Florida had slipped to fewer than 1,800 votes and the state became too close to call.

<font color="FF0000"> A Florida election official said the recount would not be complete ``until the close of business on Thursday,'' and overseas ballots could take another 10 days to tally. </font>

Although the odds seemed to favor the Texas governor, nothing was certain.

``We expect it to be done by tomorrow afternoon,'' Clay Roberts, director of the Florida Division of Elections, said in the state capital, Tallahassee.

Roberts said the only Florida ballots that were not counted in the election-night tally of nearly 6 million votes were those cast by Florida-registered voters living overseas who were required to have their ballots postmarked by Tuesday.

Those ballots might take up to 10 days to arrive and to be added to the vote count. In 1996, about 2,300 such ballots were received. There were also reports of election irregularities and misleading ballots that flummoxed some elderly voters.

To some, the confusion seemed more reminiscent of Third World elections than of the world's richest, most wired democracy at the beginning of the 21st century.

Republicans kept control of both houses of Congress but barely. Democrats cut their majority in the Senate to 51-49 with one race still outstanding. In the 435-member House, the Republican majority was seen in single digits.

Bush and Gore were in seclusion on Wednesday awaiting firm word of the outcome.

Addressing what was meant to be a victory celebration for Bush in Austin, Texas, Bush campaign chairman Don Evans said he hoped and believed Bush would be the next president of the United States, telling them the Republican carried Florida by more than 1,200 votes.

``I'm confident when it's all said and done that we will prevail,'' he told Bush supporters, who had waited for hours in the rain to hear their candidate give a victory speech.

Gore campaign chairman William Daley appeared before Gore supporters standing in pouring rain in a Nashville, Tennessee, square to say the election was not over.

``I've been in politics a very long time but I don't think there's ever been a night like this one,'' Daley said. ``Just an hour or so ago, the television networks called this race for Governor Bush. It now appears that their call was premature.''

Daley said the vice president was ready to concede and support Bush ``if and when he is officially elected president. But this race is simply too close to call.''

Bush campaign spokesman Ari Fleischer said in morning television shows that the governor was ``confident.''

``I think we've gone into extra innings but we're still about to win this contest,'' Fleischer told ABC.

Daley described Gore's mood as ``up,'' saying at this point Gore and his running mate Sen. Joseph Lieberman were ahead both in the popular vote and in electoral votes.

``There's no reason to concede when you are winning an election,'' Daley told NBC.

The Democrats brought in former Secretary of State Warren Christopher to oversee the recount in Florida. ``He's going to make sure it's done in a professional way,'' said Daley.

Extraordinary Night

The extraordinary twist of an extraordinary night came after Bush seemed to have the 270 Electoral College votes he needed to win the presidency even though Gore took the lead in the popular vote early on Wednesday morning.

After a nail-biting night of results that went well into early Wednesday morning, TV networks said Bush went over the top at 2:18 a.m. EST (0718 GMT) by carrying Florida, where his younger brother Jeb is governor.

But then confusion set in as the vote unexpectedly tightened in Florida.

Aside from Florida, the only other state still undecided was Oregon, which has seven electoral votes. By dawn on Wednesday, Gore had 260 electoral votes and Bush 246, with the 25 votes in Florida still up for grabs.

At 10 a.m. EST (1500 GMT), Gore held 49 percent of the popular vote against Bush's 48 percent.

The final outcome was certain to be the closest in the Electoral College in almost a century and the popular vote was as close as the Kennedy-Nixon race of 1960.

A number of foreign diplomats rushed to congratulate Bush on his election, but some had second thoughts. The Dutch officially retracted their congratulations.

Despite the confusion, Bush still seemed the more likely to end up in the White House. He carried 29 states, mostly in the nation's conservative heartland and in the South, including President Clinton's home state of Arkansas and Gore's home state of Tennessee.

Gore dominated most of the big industrial states, winning New York and the key state of California.

If confirmed as president, Bush, 54, will succeed Clinton next Jan. 20. He will enter the highest office in the land eight years after his father, former President George Bush, left office. He would become the first presidential son since John Quincy Adams in 1825 to follow his father's footsteps into the White House.

Bush would be the first Republican president since Dwight Eisenhower in 1953 to 1955 to hold office while his party also controls both houses of Congress, albeit with razor-thin majorities in each chamber.

The late Democratic governor of Missouri, Mel Carnahan, who died in a plane crash three weeks ago, also made history of a kind as the first dead man to win election to the U.S. Senate. The state's acting governor said he would appoint Carnahan's widow to fill his seat, although Republicans were expected to challenge the results.



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• US-Wahl - Sascha, 08.11.2000, 18:43