From top litigators to no-name attorneys who have risen from relative obscurity to seize their 15 minutes of fame, the election-battle attorneys are earning high marks from their colleagues and have suffered relatively few missteps.

"These are superstars who have done super work," said Haskell Kassler, a Boston lawyer who specializes in election law and assisted the Democrats in the Florida litigation.

But a final outcome is sure to bring second-guessing over the legal teams' strategies. On the Gore side, for instance, some already are questioning the vice president's decision not to join in a pair of lawsuits that seeks to throw out thousands of absentee ballots because the applications were allegedly tampered with by Republicans. Rejecting the advice of some of his own lawyers, Gore has distanced himself from the Seminole and Martin County lawsuits, apparently because he does not want to be seen as trying to throw out votes.

the Bush side, the Texas governor's lawyers may have failed to do some basic investigating of one of their star witnesses in last weekend's trial in Circuit Court in Tallahassee.

And many are making sure to get maximum visibility for doing so.

But Bush's lawyers succeeded by pressing a subtle point, Weidner said, arguing before Leon County Circuit Court Judge N. Sanders Sauls that Gore had to show a "reasonable probability" that voting irregularities had changed the election outcome.

George Washington University law professor Paul Rothstein also considered it "foolish" for Bush to take the issue to the U.S. Supreme Court because his lawyers "seemed to be acting contrary to what they said they were going to do--that is, keep the matter out of the courts."

Answering his own question, Barcella said: "As many as both campaigns can afford."

Some common words found in the essay are:
John Ahmann, Headquarters Building, Al Gore, Jr Washington's, Democrats Florida, Beach County, Microsoft Napster, Sauls Gore, House Florida, Supreme Court, circuit court, observers agree, lawyers country, white house, bush lawyers, george bush,
Approximate Word count = 1124
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)