Gore calls for statewide recount

"This process must be fair, this process must be accurate, and this process must be final," Bush said from the governor's mansion in Austin.

Their evening addresses capped a whirlwind day of legal activity that gave both weary camps tasted of victory and defeat - but no clear road to completion.

The Florida Supreme Court, all Democratic appointees, rejected a request from Republican Secretary of State Katherine Harris to block any manual recounts while the courts decide whether the process is legal.

The high court's ruling, though far from the final word, gave Democrats new vigor in their ballot-by-ballot bid to trim Bush's 300-vote lead in the state. Officials in Broward and Palm Beach counties hunkered down for an excruciating hand count of 1 million ballots.

The secretary of state also announced she would not accept the hand-counted ballots, calling the counties' reasoning "insufficient." Harris vowed to certify the Florida election results Saturday without the hand recount totals. Gore's lawyers said they will challenge her decision Thursday.

In another front, Bush's lawyers filed a 182-page appeal in a federal appeals court in Atlanta. Legal matters aside, both presidents-in-waiting launched fierce public relations campaigns in the court of public opinion. They wanted to look prepared to serve, but not hungry for power. "This is the time to respect every voter and every vote," Gore said from his official residence, framed by pictures of his family.

Gore pledged that, if Republicans allow manual recounts to continue in Florida's Broward, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties, he would accept without challenge whatever tally those recounts should yield - added to certified results from 64 other counties and overseas absentee ballots due by midnight Friday. "I will take no legal action to challenge the result, and I will not support any legal action to challenge the result," Gore said, offering to drop the threat of major Democratic litigation that has hung over the proceedings for days.

He suggested a meeting with Bush before state officials certify the results "not to negotiate, but to improve the tone of our dialogue in America." And he said both candidates should meet again after a winner is declared "to close ranks as Americans."

Bush dismissed the notion. "The outcome of this election will not be the result of deals or efforts to mold public opinion," he said. "The outcome of this election will be determined by the votes and by the law."

Democrats said precious time was wasting while Republicans tied up the recount drive in court. "They stop and start and stop. And the clock is running out," Gore campaign chairman William Daley said of the recounts, then added in a slap at the Republican secretary of state: "Her clock anyhow."

An NBC-Wall Street Journal poll showed a small majority of voters said they are willing to wait for the recounts if the choice is between naming a victor now or rechecking the ballots. But seven out of 10 said a winner should be declared once the overseas ballots are added to the totals this weekend.

By a 2-1 margin, voters told pollsters they thought Bush would be the next president.

Even the vice president's advisers conceded his options would dwindle this weekend if he couldn't claim a lead — or dramatic progress toward one — with the hand recounts.

Gore holds a popular-vote lead of about 230,000, and has a narrow lead in electoral votes — with Florida the prize that would put either man over the 270 votes required to win the White House.