Gore rejects Bush remedy

WASHINGTON, Tuesday George W. Bush (news - web sites)'s campaign floated a compromise plan to bring an end to the contested presidential election on Tuesday, but a top aide to Al Gore (news - web sites) swiftly brushed it aside. The two White House rivals sweated out the uncertainty of Florida court rulings and slow-moving hand recounts in the campaign that refused to die. Former Secretary of State James A. Baker III said Republicans would agree to accept the results of any hand recounts completed by a 5 p.m. deadline set by the secretary of state if the Democrats would drop their insistence on prolonging the counts. At the same time, he envisioned the two sides agreeing to drop duelling lawsuits. Otherwise, he said, "When is it going to end? I ask you, when is it going to end?'' But within an hour, Gore campaign chairman William Daley spoke dismissively of Baker's suggestion. "It truly was not a proposal. It was strictly, in my opinion, an inaccurate description of the laws of Florida," he said at the Capitol, where he met with Democratic leaders of the House and Senate. "I think we've got to not try to usurp the courts of Florida,'' he added. The rejection swivelled the focus of the controversy to a state courtroom in Tallahassee, where Florida judge Terry Lewis was preparing a ruling on a lawsuit challenging the 5 p.m. deadline for vote certification set by Secretary of State Katherine Harris. Bush held a 388-vote in an unofficial tally by the Associated Press, although the vote totals will change with the recounts as well as with the tally of overseas absentee ballots. Ends