"The Gore team has to stay strong," the strategist said.

Unfortunately, the Gore team wanted to win without, initially at least, any concern as to how all the votes were recounted.

But the Gore team's newfound euphoria is tempered with caution.

The Gore team says it is having a high-minded policy debate and is not employing negative personal attacks.

Some lawyers on the Gore team privately acknowledged that the ruling was a devastating blow, possibly one from which they would not recover.

Would I rather have a Gore economic team managing our way out of the current mess?

Because the best evidence that legal votes were rejected lies in the disputed ballots, the court must count them, the Gore team said.

But there was no clear avenue for further legal maneuvering by the Gore team.

The Gore team, for instance, wanted its representatives in each county to estimate how many overseas ballots had flaws open to challenge.

But for the Gore team, some of the delay was self-inflicted.

"The Gore team has to stay strong," the strategist said.

Unfortunately, the Gore team wanted to win without, initially at least, any concern as to how all the votes were recounted.

The Gore team says it is having a high-minded policy debate and is not employing negative personal attacks.

The Gore team had nightmares that the president would do a fake handoff, and say "You got it!"

Some lawyers on the Gore team privately acknowledged that the ruling was a devastating blow, possibly one from which they would not recover.

Would I rather have a Gore economic team managing our way out of the current mess?

Because the best evidence that legal votes were rejected lies in the disputed ballots, the court must count them, the Gore team said.

But there was no clear avenue for further legal maneuvering by the Gore team.

The Gore team, for instance, wanted its representatives in each county to estimate how many overseas ballots had flaws open to challenge.

But for the Gore team, some of the delay was self-inflicted.