Election may be decided in court

Replied Gore campaign chairman William Daley: "The thing isn't over."

That is what worried some Democrats across the country, who sought to carefully balance support for Gore with suggestions that his options were dwindling.

"I think that people's patience is going to be fairly limited," said Gov. Jim Hodges of South Carolina.

"He needs to rise above it and say, 'So be it.' You deal with the hand you're dealt," said Paul Feleciano, longest serving Democrat in the Kansas Legislature.

Bush clung to a razor-thin lead in Florida - the crucial White House state with its 25 electoral votes - after county officials completed a machine-counted review of the 6 million ballots cast. Still to come were an unknown number of votes from Floridians living overseas and the state's official certification, due next Tuesday.

In Florida, Gore advisers cited confusing and irregular ballots to press for follow-up recounts by hand in four predominantly Democratic counties. They won approval in three - one recount began Friday, two more Saturday - and the fourth request will be heard Tuesday.

In a late-night conference call Friday, Bush gave James A. Baker III - the former secretary of state who's protecting the Texas governor's interests in Florida - authority to seek a court injunction barring the manual recounts, according to several GOP officials involved in the discussions. The officials said it was very likely the injunction would be sought, but stressed that it was up to Baker to make the final decision. A source close to Baker said the former secretary had not decided. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity.

The action, however tentative, underscores the Bush campaign's concern that a widespread manual recount could erode his fragile lead over Gore and perhaps force Bush to seek recounts of his own in Florida and other close-voting states. Baker had said earlier that he's prepared to "vigorously fight" the manual recount because they open the process to mistakes and fraud that are avoided by machine counts.

To buy some time, Gore's lawyers asked the state's Republican secretary of state late Friday to defer certification of the results until the manual recounts are complete. The recounts could drag on, though canvassing board members face fines of $200 a day after Tuesday.

Republicans were getting into the act: At Bush's request, Palm Beach County officials will perform a mechanical recount Saturday of all ballots while conducting a separate recount by hand for Gore.

"The entire effort that's going on now in Florida is aimed at making sure that whoever takes office in January as president of the United States will do so with full legitimacy," Gore running mate Joseph Lieberman told CBS.

"As frustrating as this wait may be," Daley said earlier, "what we are seeing here is democracy in action."

Frustrated described Bush to a T.

"We will be prepared" to take office Jan. 20, the governor told reporters, taking a break from planning what he hopes will be a transition to power. He and his aides acknowledged that he can't claim victory before the overseas votes are counted and certified.

"There are still votes to be counted," Bush said.