By WALTER R. MEARS
The Associated Press
Florida’s secretary of state certified George W. Bush the winner over Al Gore Sunday night in the state’s near-deadlocked presidential vote - but court contests left in doubt which man will be the ultimate victor and 43rd president of the United States. Bush said he had won the White House and asked Gore to reconsider his challenges.
“Now that the votes are counted, it is time for the votes to count,” Gov. Bush said from the state capitol in Austin, Texas, after Secretary of State Katherine Harris, a campaign supporter, announced he had captured Florida by an infinitesimal 537-vote margin.
Bush announced that running mate Dick Cheney will direct his transition operations in Washington, and that former Secretary of Transportation Andrew Card will be his White House chief of staff.
So saying, Bush tried to preempt Gore with a campaign to persuade Americans that the election is over with, and that the outcome announced in Florida should be the last word.
Sen. Joe Lieberman, the Democratic vice presidential nominee, already had declared that it won’t be, declaring that he and Gore had no choice but to challenge the Florida certification.
“The election was close,” Bush said, “but tonight, after a count, a recount and yet another manual recount, Secretary Cheney and I are honored to have won the state of Florida, which gives us the needed electoral votes to win the election.”
Moments after Harris declared Bush the winner of Florida’s 25 electoral votes, Lieberman said she had certified “an incomplete and inaccurate count” and he and Gore would challenge it.
But Bush, in a nationally televised address from Austin, said “I respectfully ask” that Gore reconsider further contesting the hairline Florida count.
If the certification of a 537-vote Bush margin stands, the Texas governor would win 271 Electoral College votes - one more than necessary for victory - to 267 for Gore.
Harris said Bush had 2,912,790 votes and Gore had 2,912,253. That gave Bush the 537-vote lead out of 6 million cast, although Harris rejected partial returns from Palm Beach County. An unofficial AP tally including recounted Palm Beach County votes showed Bush ahead by 357.
The secretary of state’s formal declaration set off GOP cheers outside the Florida capital and at the state capitol in Austin, Texas.
Lieberman said, “The integrity of our self-government” could be cast into doubt without Democratic steps to get the most complete and accurate count possible. Gore’s lawyers were to file their challenge in the courts of Leon County, site of the state capitol at Tallahassee, this morning.
James A. Baker III, the former secretary of state speaking for Bush - who was making his own statement later Sunday night - said that count already has been delivered, repeatedly.
He said Bush “won this election” under the rules set by law before Election Day, Nov. 7 - and under rules changed after the election. Baker denounced Gore’s lawyers for what he called an extraordinary resort to the courts - although Bush has his own set of lawsuits, including the appeal the U.S. Supreme Court, which hears oral arguments on Friday.
“At some point there must be closure,” Baker said. “At some point the law must prevail and the lawyers must go home.”
For all that, Baker said Bush will “absolutely” go ahead with his case in the U.S. Supreme Court, challenging the state supreme court ruling that led to the extended certification deadline and hand recounts of ballots cast by machine in four disputed Democratic-leaning counties.
“We have no assurance that the other side will stop,” he said.
Anticipating the certification, Gore was preparing a speech to be delivered today, explaining his case for the continuing challenge.
Gore, who got 337,183 more votes than Bush nationwide on Nov. 7, said he has an obligation to the people who supported him and Lieberman, more than for any Democratic ticket before them. In an interview with The New York Times, he said “every vote that is legally cast must be fairly and accurately counted in accordance with the law
