Ballots by the truckload adding to 'amazing' Florida election battle

The contested ballots are moving, the legal wheels in motion, too, in a presidential election so unimaginable that George W. Bush and Al Gore give every appearance of conducting parallel transitions to power.

''It's an amazing story, isn't it,'' the vice president marveled Wednesday, 22 days after the votes were cast so inconclusively. And one that Gore, struggling in the courts to overturn Bush's certified victory in Florida, suggested could remain unfinished until the Electoral College meets on Dec. 18.

Republicans hoped not. ''The fact is that the election in Florida's been counted, it's been recounted, it's been certified,'' said Bush's running mate, Dick Cheney. ''And we've got to get on with the business of putting together a government.''

While Gore conducted a one-man media blitz Wednesday, going from interview to interview to buy time with the public for his court challenge, Cheney announced that he and retired Gen. Colin Powell would visit Bush at his ranch in Texas on Thursday. That immediately stoked speculation that Powell would become secretary of state in a Bush administration. Powell has told associates that if offered the post he would accept, although Cheney said no announcement was imminent.

Still, the election was in the courts, with unforeseen consequences.

On Wednesday alone, a Florida judge ordered 1 million ballots crated up and shipped 400 miles across state to Tallahassee; the Gore legal team vowed an appeal to the state Supreme Court to force an immediate manual recount; and the Florida Legislature edged closer to naming its own slate of electors, as provided for in the U.S. Constitution.

One ballot convoy was leaving West Palm Beach on Thursday, a separate one from Miami on Friday, both bound for the state capital with a million or more ballots that Circuit Judge N. Saunders Sauls ordered made available in case he decides to order a recount after a Saturday hearing.

Gore's lawyers, mindful of a time squeeze, said they were filing a state Supreme Court appeal Thursday morning hoping to bypass Sauls and win an immediate recount while other issues in their election challenge are decided.

The decision to appeal was prompted by concern among Gore's advisers that he needs a swift court victory to prevent an erosion of public support. So far, though, the country seemed, if anything, a little more patient than it did before the vice president launched his media blitz. In a CBS poll released Wednesday night, 42 percent of those surveyed said Gore should concede, but 48 percent said it was too early for that.

The outcome of Gore's legal challenge likely will settle the race for the White House, since the winner of Florida will be assured of an electoral college majority. Republican Secretary of State Katherine Harris certified Bush the winner on Sunday night, on the basis of a 537-vote lead statewide.

Gore's lawsuit, filed Monday, seeks to overturn that result and declare him the victor.

Gore made plain at the same time that he, too, was preparing to govern, meeting Wednesday with running mate Joseph Lieberman, transition director Roy Neel, Labor Secretary Alexis Herman and Kathleen McGinty, former head of the White House environment office. Both McGinty and Herman are in line for senior positions in a Gore administration.

At the heart of the vice president's legal claim are thousands of questionable ballots in Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties that Democrats say have not yet been counted, and were not included in the manual recount totals submitted to Harris last weekend.

Republicans counter the votes have been counted, but the counting machines didn't find they contained a valid for president.

In a round of evening news interviews, Gore pressed his claim over and over.

''They haven't been counted. It's just like the supermarket checkout line, where that scanner misses some of the items and the clerk has to go back and write it in by hand,'' he said. ''They look at it, see what it says and write it in. We trust the people to make up for the mistakes in the machines.''

The dispute continued as the Republican-controlled state Legislature moved closer to a special session for the purpose of appointing a slate of electors loyal to Bush.

''I'm prepared to go'' ahead, said the new speaker of the Florida House, Rep. Tom Feeney. ''I'm standing on the playing field ready to put my helmet on.''

Bush's brother Jeb, Florida's governor, removed himself from elections issues while the recounts were under way. But he said it would be ''an act of courage'' for lawmakers to meet, and said he would sign the legislation ''if it was the appropriate thing to do.''

The courts and the legislature have been operating under an informal deadline of Dec. 12, since that's the day electors are supposed to be chosen.

But Gore passed up several opportunities during the day to adhere to that timetable.

''Well, you know, under the law, December 18 is the date when the Electoral College meets. And I'm just not going to get into the details, I'm going to leave those to the experts,'' he said.

Under the Constitution, the electors meet in their own state capitals to cast their votes. Congress is scheduled to tally the results formally on Jan. 6, but the Constitution also gives lawmakers the right to challenge any electors.