By SUSAN TAYLOR MARTIN and DAVID BALLINGRUD
Times Staff Writers

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Thirty-five days, 14 hours and 3 minutes. From the time the polls opened Nov. 7 to the moment Vice President Al Gore conceded to Texas Gov. George W. Bush, the 2000 presidential election was the longest – and most remarkable – in modern American history.

As the rest of the world watched with confusion, concern and no small amount of smugness, a campaign that had stirred only modest voter interest turned into one of high drama and stop-the presses rulings.

It was a contest that revealed all the weaknesses of the U.S. electoral system – antiquated equipment, confusing ballots, and most of all, a ponderous method of selecting the ultimate winner. Who will ever forget “pregnant chads,” the sudden fascination with the Electoral College or the sight of Florida canvassing board members squinting at thousands of punch-card ballots?

But Election 2000 also showed the strength of the U.S. democracy – a system in which citizens of sharply divided political views can resolve their disputes nonviolently and according to the rule of law.

Flo

[AP photo] “The American people have spoken, but it’s going to take a little while to determine exactly what they said.” – BILL CLINTON

rida was a star of Election 2000 – a state where the bizarre is commonplace. A few months ago, Florida was a sure-thing for Bush; who would have thought it would determine the outcome by the tiniest of margins.

Today, finally, the United States has a president-elect, the 43rd man to hold the world’s most powerful ofice. Here’s a day-by-day look at how we got here.

TUESDAY, ELECTION DAY, NOV. 7

After a heated presidential campaign, U.S. voters go to the polls – and encounter problems that will taint and delay the election’s outcome.

6:20 a.m.: Capping 25 hours of non-stop campaigning, Vice President Al Gore and running mate Joseph Lieberman stop at the Florida Bakery in Tampa for Cuban coffee. This is Gore’s 15th appearance in Florida.

7 a.m.: Polls open. Almost immediately, the Gore campaign gets complaints about “confusing” ballots in Palm Beach County, a Democratic stronghold.

10:30 a.m.: In Nashville, Tenn., Gore spokesman Doug Hattaway briefs reporters on five reports of irregularities in polls across the nation, including Palm Beach.

11 a.m.: Howard Phillips, a precinct clerk in Boynton Beach, realizes there’s a problem. Some 50 people already have said they fear they might have voted for conservative Reform Party candidate Pat Buchanan instead of Gore.

The problem appears to be with the “butterfly” design of the ballot, with the candidates’ names appearing on either side of a single row of punch holes. Voters say it’s not clear which hole correpondents to the Gore-Lieberman ticket.

“Which hole do I punch for Gore?” retiree John Lazet, 66, asks a poll worker.

“The second hole,” she says.

“This is too confusing,” Lazet complains.

3 p.m.: Ron Klein, a Democratic state senator from Boca Raton, goes to see Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Theresa LePore.

“Who designed this ballot?” he asks.

“It was me,” LePore replies.

Klein gives her a look that says, “What on earth were you thinking?”, and persuades her to print up a memo advising poll workers about possible problems with the ballot. Klein takes 500 copies and heads south. But traffic is so bad he manages to reach only 15 precincts.

3:05 p.m.: From Nashville, where he is awaiting the returns, Lieberman starts calling radio talk show hosts in Florida. He reads a script urging Floridians to make sure they punched the correct hole on the ballot and to consider protesting if they thought they had made a mistake.

In the final hour before the polls close, callers reach about 100 people who have not yet voted. They log in the names of 2,400 more who said they might have mistakenly voted for Buchanan.

6 p.m.: Polls close in Kentucky and Indiana, giving an early electoral lead to Texas Gov. George W. Bush.

7:50 p.m.: The five major TV networks say Gore has won Florida, based on exit poll interviews by Voter News Service.

Word is passed by note to Bush, dining with his family at the Shoreline Grille in Austin, Texas. Everyone looks at Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who was supposed to help deliver the state to his brother.

Jeb Bush receives the news like “a fighter’s punch to the gut.” He apologizes and immediately starts calling talk radio shows in California, Oregon and Washington state, where the polls remain open.

9:30 p.m.: At Bush headquarters in Austin, chief political strategist Karl Rove is stunned by the predictions about Florida. They don’t jibe with his own reports from the state saying Bush is ahead of vote projections in many counties, including heavily populated Duval.

9:38 p.m.: Voter News Service flashes its clients that it is “canceling” its vote count in Duval County because of sampling problems with the voters it chose to interview in exit polls.

9:50 p.m.: “It’s too close to call,” says Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris, noting 500,000 votes are still uncounted in the Panhandle, which tends to go Republican in national elections.

9:55 p.m.: CNN moves Florida back into the undecided category. Other networks soon follow.

[AP photo] NOV. 6: George W. Bush greets supporters in Chattanooga, Tenn., Bush visited Tennessee, Gore’s home state, and Arkansas, Bill Clinton’s home, the day before the election, and won them both.

WEDNESDAY, NOV. 8

Gore concedes, then changes his mind. The nation’s attention turns to Florida’s recount, as Bush clings to a small lead.

1:30 a.m.: By now most states have fallen into one camp or the other, leaving Bush and Gore tied with 242 electoral votes each, 28 short of the total needed to win.

2:20 a.m.: The networks show Bush surging to a 50,000-vote lead in Florida, They declare him the winner of the state and the election. “It’s Bush in a tight one,” says the Boston Globe.

2:30 a.m.: Gore changes into a suit, then phones Bush. He concedes he has lost the election and congratulates his opponent.

“You’re a good man and I respect you,” Bush replies. He says he realizes how difficult the call must be for the vice president and sends his regards to Tipper Gore and the Gore children.

2:45 a.m.: Although Gore is unaware of it, he is getting a bump of 18,000 votes in Palm Beach County. Results from 60 precincts — almost all from Democratic areas like Century Village, a suburban Boca Raton retirement community — are among the last to be counted in the state.

3 a.m.: Gore’s motorcade moves through downtown Nashville toward the War Memorial, a huge building bathed in blue floodlights.

By the time the motorcade reaches the War Memorial, the spread in Florida dwindles to fewer than 1,000 votes. Gore and key staffers huddle in a basement room of the building to discuss the situation.

A decision is made. Gore will call Bush and retract the concession.

3:45 a.m.: As his daughters Karenna and Kristin sob in the background, Gore phones Bush again. He says he is withdrawing his concession until the winner of Florida can be positively determined.

“You mean to tell me, Mr. Vice President,” says Bush, “you’re retracting your concession?”

He says that his brother, the state’s governor, has assured him Florida’s 25 electoral votes are his.

“Let me explain something,” Gore replies. “Your younger brother is not the ultimate authority on this.”

Gore again: “You don’t have to be snippy about it.”

Outside, in a rainy plaza, a waiting crowd shouts “Recount! Recount!” when CBS reports the latest from Florida.

4:05 a.m.: William Daley, chairman of the Gore campaign, emerges from the War Memorial.

“I’ve been in politics for a long time,” he tells the crowd. “But there’s never been a night like this one.”

4:30 a.m.: Bush has gone to bed. Don Evans, his campaign chairman, takes the stage outside the Capitol in Austin.

“We hope and believe he will be elected the next president of the United States,” he says. “They’re still counting. And I’m confident when it’s all said and done, we will prevail.”

4:45 a.m.: In Florida, Ron Klein, the Democratic state senator, gets a call from a Gore campaign official. Ballots in Palm Beach County could very well determine the next president, he is told.

The consequences of the confusing ballot suddenly hit Klein. This is a surreal experience and we were right in the middle of it, he thinks to himself.

5 a.m.: One Florida reporter sends an e-mail to Jeb Bush for an assessment.

“What a night,” the governor replies.

Behind the metal doors of the Division of Elections, director Clay Roberts is trying to get a handle on things.

The margin between Bush and Gore in Florida is less than 0.5 percent, triggering a mandatory recount of nearly 6-million votes. Roberts begins calling county election supervisors at home, alerting them to an imminent recount.

President Clinton is prophetic.

“The American people have spoken,” he says, “but it’s going to take a little while to determine exactly what they said.”

[AP photo] NOV. 8: GOP vice presidential candidate Dick Cheney, right, waits late into the night for election results in his Austin, Texas, hotel suite with family and friends.

9 a.m.: Citrus County begins its recount. Other counties soon follow suit.

10 a.m.: At a breakfast meeting in Nashville, Peter Knight, a longtime Gore fundraiser, secures $3-million in pledges for the newly formed Gore-Lieberman Recount Committee.

10:30 a.m.: “I’m feeling some pressure,” Palm Beach Supervisor of Elections Theresa LePore tells a reporter.

Noon: At a news conference in Palm Beach County, Rep. Robert Wexler criticizes the confusing ballot and laments the 19,000 ballots thrown out because voters picked more than one presidential candidate.

“The presidency of the United States hinges on the 19,000 people who have been disenfranchised in Palm Beach County by an extremely confusing ballot,” says Wexler, D-Boca Raton.

Midafternoon: Bush and running mate Dick Cheney emerge from the Governor’s Mansion in Austin. Bush says he expects the Florida recount to affirm his victory. He says he has asked former Secretary of State James A. Baker III to travel to Tallahassee to look after his interests.

In Nashville, Gore and Lieberman appear before a backdrop of American flags.

“Because of what is at stake,” Gore says, there must be no “rush to judgment.”

Gore announces he is dispatching another former secretary of state, Warren Christopher, to lead the team of lawyers representing him in Florida.

4 p.m.: A 53-year-old chiropractor and two other Palm Beach County voters file a lawsuit asking that the county’s presidential election balloting be declared null and void and a new election be held in the county.

11:35 p.m.: Jay Leno starts his monologue on NBC’s Tonight Show: “I’m not saying Bush is getting confident he is going to win, but today he spent all day trying to pronounce ‘inaugural.’ ’’

THURSDAY, NOV. 9

While the Bush camp continues to act as if the Texas governor were president-elect, the Gore campaign warns the election is far from decided.

7 a.m.: On eBay, the Internet auction site, bidding is up to $25 for the New York Post’s Nov. 8 edition headlined “BUSH WINS!” Sample Palm Beach ballots are going for $50 each.

7:20 a.m.: Pat Buchanan agrees the Palm Beach County ballot must have been confusing.

“If the two candidates they pushed were Gore and Buchanan, almost certainly those are Al Gore’s and not mine,” Buchanan says on the Today show.

8 a.m.: Reports from Texas indicate Bush is preparing for his transition to the presidency. Aides say Dick Cheney will head the transition team.

Other likely appointments: retired Gen. Colin Powell as secretary of state; Andrew Card as chief of staff; and Condoleezza Rice as national security adviser.