George W. Bush’s lead over Al Gore in all-or-nothing Florida presidential race slips beneath 300 votes in a suspense-filled recount. Vice President Gore telephones Bush to concede but then calls back about an hour later to retract his concession.
Bush’s camp presses Gore to concede without pursuing multiple recounts. The unofficial tally gives Bush a 327-vote lead. A statewide recount begins in Florida the next day. Over the next two weeks, some 19,000 votes were disqualified.
Gore then takes the presidential election to the courts, claiming “an injustice unparalleled in our history.” Bush’s team goes to court, seeking an order to block manual recounts. When Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris announces she would end the recounting at 5 p.m. on November 14, it prompts an immediate appeal by Gore lawyers.