CDR: Al Gore is only 630 votes away from winning the election

[Declan McCullagh]

With 99.9 percent of the votes in Florida counted, Al Gore is only 630 
votes away from winning the presidency. The Florida Department of State 
reports -- in numbers updated in the last five minutes -- that George W. 
Bush won 2,898,865 votes with Gore scoring 2,898,235.

You can see the stats for yourself at:
http://enight.dos.state.fl.us/SummaryRpt.asp?ElectionDate=11/7/00&RACE=PRE

If Bush does not win Florida he cannot win the presidency, based on the 
numbers calculated by CNN and the networks. Oregon and Wisconsin, the two 
states still labeled as tossups, have a combined total of 18 votes, not 
enough to propel Bush to the necessary 270 electoral votes without Florida.

A win in Florida would guarantee Gore a victory.

Third parties in Florida made a difference. Libertarian Harry Browne won 
15,609 votes, and the Green Party's Ralph Nader received 94,201 votes in 
the state. Nader occasionally claims that he lures voters who would not 
otherwise go to the polls. But if even one percent of Nader's voters had 
turned to Gore -- a certainty -- the presidential election would have 
turned out differently.

With only a 630 vote difference out of some 6 million votes cast in 
Florida, a recount could go a different way. As I write this, Gore has made 
a concession call to Bush, but I'd imagine the Dems would want a recount. 
That's what Gore's supporters are chanting in Tennessee, anyway.

-Declan