Bush, Gore primed for the showdown

WASHINGTON - Lawyers for Republican George W Bush and Democrat Al Gore on Monday filed what could be their last legal papers of the long 2000 election in advance of Tuesday's historic United States Supreme Court hearing.

With the nearly five-week-old bitter election dispute possibly nearing its end, both sides prepared to argue the case of Bush vs Gore before the nation's highest court at 5am on Tuesday with the fate of Florida's 25 electoral votes - and the presidency - in the balance.

``We may agree or disagree with it, but once the court decides, we accept that result,'' David Boies, who has been leading Vice President Gore's often losing legal fight, said.

His legal team has been saying Gore would win if all of Florida's vote was counted and to reach that aim hand recounts were needed in some counties. Bush supporters say the ballots have been counted and recounted already and the Texas governor has been certified as the winner.

The two sides presented roughly the same arguments in the papers filed with the US Supreme Court on Monday.

Gore's lawyers said the next president should not be chosen "without counting all the ballots legally cast in that state" and warned a man could be sworn into office, only to find out later he had actually lost.

But Bush's lawyers said the problems were the type that "inevitably occur in a close election" and the legislative approved system for counting the vote should not be ``thrown aside after the election and replaced with judicially created ... remedies without regard for uniformity, objectivity or finality.''

At the centre of the controversy was the high court's 5-4 decision on Sunday to stop a hand recount of so-called ``undervotes'' - ballots that showed no vote for president.

Both candidates needs Florida's 25 Electoral College votes to put them over the 270 mark needed to finally win the November 7 election.

Gore has pegged his chances of winning the presidency on picking up enough votes in the recount to pass Bush's certified 537-vote lead. But with the Electoral College set to meet on December 18, he was running out of time.

"I think it gives us a hill to climb," said Boies, who will argue the case on Tuesday. "I think that you've got five justices that have decided that there is substantial probability that Governor Bush is right on this."

Supporters for both Bush and Gore spread out over the morning television talk shows to present their arguments to the American public. But at the same time, there was talk of healing the political process soon.

- REUTERS

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