As America prepared to celebrate Thanksgiving today, the longdrawn-out Florida recount to determine the next president got further bogged down in competing court actions and threats that local politicians may yet intervene.
It was yet another day of drama in the quest to elect a president which began with Mr Dick Cheney suffering a minor heart attack and ending with Governor George Bush appealing to the US Supreme Court against a ruling of the Florida Supreme Court.
In between, Miami-Dade county stopped its recount which was a blow to Vice-President Al Gore and a Palm Beach judge ordered vote counters there to consider "dimpled ballots" which was a setback for Mr Bush.
Mr Bush denounced the Florida court decision late on Tuesday which has allowed hand recounts to continue until a deadline for results of next Sunday. "Make no mistake. The court rewrote the law." Mr Bush later gave the go-ahead for an appeal to the US Supreme Court in Washington.
Mr Bush has been trying to halt the recounts which are delivering extra votes to Mr Gore. This is helping him to overtake the 930vote lead held by Mr Bush on the basis of a machine recount and overseas ballots.
Addressing the media in Austin, Texas, Mr Bush said: "I believe Secretary Cheney and I won the vote in Florida. I believe some are determined to keep counting in an effort to change the legitimate result."
The court ruling came late on Tuesday night and delighted the Gore campaign as the longer the hand recounts continue, the better the likelihood that their candidate would be declared the winner in Florida. The state's 25 Electoral College votes will decide who will be the next president.
Mr Cheney, who has had three heart attacks and a bypass, entered hospital in Washington early yesterday morning complaining of chest and shoulder pains. After speaking to his running mate, Mr Bush said that he was "pleased to report" that Mr Cheney had not suffered a heart attack. Later yesterday, the hospital in Washington said he had suffered a minor heart attack but would soon be able to resume his normal routine.
Shortly after Mr Bush's attack on the court decision, there was a dramatic development in Miami-Dade county where a laborious recount of its 650,000 votes was under way. The canvassing board decision that only disputed ballots would be recounted so as to meet the Sunday deadline, there was a near-riot by Republican activists protesting that this was unfair to Mr Bush.
Then the canvassing board reversed itself and ended the recount. This delighted Bush supporters but dismayed the Gore campaign as Mr Gore had only picked up 157 votes in the recount so far. Mr William Daley, the Gore campaign manager announced that they would appeal to a local court to make the recount continue.
Republican legislators are now threatening that if the election is not resolved by the deadline of 12th December for appointing the 25 electors, the legislature could use a federal law to intervene and appoint them.
Mr James Baker, former Secretary of State, who is representing Mr Bush in Florida, had suggested such a move in the course of his first angry reaction to the court ruling. He charged that the court had "changed the rules and invented a new system for counting the election results".
Mr Gore had welcomed the court decision as allowing "a full, fair and accurate count of the ballots". He called for a toning down of rhetoric on both sides and again asked Mr Bush to meet him to "demonstrate the essential unity that keeps America strong and free".
Mr Bush has so far refused to meet Mr Gore but says he will do so when the election result has been officially declared.
Political observers are increasingly concerned at the heightening of passions over the disputed Florida vote. The outcry from senior Republican figures over what is seen as a partisan decision by the Florida judges has led Mr Leon Panetta, a former chief of staff to President Clinton to predict a political crisis.
The situation in the three Florida recounts in Miami-Dade, Palm Beach and Broward yesterday was that Mr Gore had gained a net 223 votes during the hand recounts. But there were about 20,000 so-called "under votes" to be examined. These are ballots on which no clear vote for president was recorded but will now be examined to see if they have marks or "dimples" which could indicate an intention to vote.