Since the beginning of politics, never has our country seen such a close presidential election. It has been almost two weeks since the election and there is still so much controversy going on in Florida, the state that will more than likely determine the winner of this election. There is a lot of spin in this election between the candidates, their campaign advisors, the media, and the political analysts. Each candidate, along with their campaign advisors, have a completely different outlook as to what is going on in this election. New information and legal battles keep surfacing everyday from both sides. It has been hard to keep up with the information and then decide which side is telling the truth and/or taking the legal battles too far. So, what is the spin given by the involving parties? When is this election going to end and what will the impact be on future elections? While no one will be able to accurately predict the ending, America does hope it ends soon. The other two questions, although almost impossible to answer simply, can be answered by looking what has been going on in the past week and a half and analyzing what spin the media has put on this election.

Throughout this election, the media has played key roles in how information is delivered and to what extent viewers receive that information. On election night, all of the major media stations made many mistakes in announcing who won which state. Those mistakes were felt by all of America, including the candidates themselves. Because of their mistakes, there has been a lot of discussion and analysis as to what happened and what the impact will be on America as far as how much they will trust the media to get the facts straight. The media, recognizing the negative impact they made, has been doing a good job in covering the on-going election process without pre-declaring a winner. The media has shown viewers the spin on the Florida recount from the Republican and Democrat sides.

About four days after the election, it was noted that a few Democrats were (are) encouraging electors pledged to Republican, George W. Bush, to switch their votes to Al Gore when they meet in December. There is much controversy between the state electors and the Democrats trying to change Bush electoral votes. It is something to think about that some will come under pressure to peel away from their candidate. (5)

While The Republicans and Democrats are fighting to see who gets to live in the White House, some other Democrats and Republicans are more removed from the hustle and bustle. They are quietly rooting for the candidate of the opposing party to win. Some officials think that whomever finally wins the presidency will be so weakened politically that the opposing party will have a clear advantage heading into the 2002 and 2004 campaigns. Some of them believe that whoever wins will have it very difficult for the next four years. They say the economy is likely to slow and that neither will have a sense of mandate. Well, whoever wins the presidency will face the dilemma of having to meet potentially bitter political environment in which nothing will be accomplished without some measure of bipartisanship. (Wash Post)

Secretary of State, Katherine Harris, has been cleared by a circuit judge from the allegations made by the Democrats. However, if they decide they want to appeal Judge Terry Lewis' decision, they can take it up to the Florida Supreme Court. The decision to appeal may be determined by the outcome of Florida.

"Governor Bush has objected to the manual recount. Vice President Gore has objected to today's 5:00pm deadline required by Florida law. Governor Bush is therefore proposing to accept the manual recount up to today's 5:00pm deadline if Vice President Gore agrees. This is fair proposal that will bring this divisive process to a reasonable conclusion."(george)

The day after election night Al Gore portrayed that Florida's recount should be conducted "without any rush to judgment." While George W. Bush very cautiously declared victory in the presidential race. The Democrats indicated that it could be days or weeks before the nation knows its next president. Bush was preparing to announce key roles in his administration. Gore noted that the Constitution "awards the presidency to the Electoral College winner, not necessarily the leading vote-getter." Except the Vice President's aides were privately making the case that Gore's popular-vote lead gives him standing to contest the recount if state officials overlook voting irregularities. (5)

Some common words found in the essay are:
Al Gore, Moment Democracy, Bush Gore, Terry Lewis, Supreme Court, Palm Beach, ABC Throughout, Democrats Republicans, Duval County, Fox Watch, palm beach, al gore, gore team, voters palm beach, whoever wins, hand counts, doing doing, media viewers, george bush, thousand ballots, florida law, bush team finally, ballots palm beach, team finally realized, vice president gore,
Approximate Word count = 3045
Approximate Pages = 12 (250 words per page double spaced)