All of which shows that for all meaningful statistical purposes, the Florida vote was a tie.

One participant described the encounter, which included discussion of the Florida vote, as "freewheeling, blunt."

This bid for Florida votes will hurt consumers through higher tomato prices and sets a bad precedent.

Newspapers conducting recounts of the Florida vote seem to have only added to the confusion.

But the closeness of the Florida vote has strained the system to the breaking point.

It was obvious that the machine counts of the Florida votes were incomplete and faulty.

The need for a fair count that the American people will accept as legitimate is obvious to everyone who has followed the Florida vote.

If the proceedings lacked the cliffhanger quality of the Florida vote, the evening was not without its unanticipated turns.

But whether citizens will accept a series of legal challenges once the Florida vote is certified is an open question.

The Florida vote was supposed to be certified on Nov. 18.