Vice-president Al Gore saw his hopes of defeating Governor George Bush in the seesaw battle for Florida and the Presidency sharply reduced last night when a court rejected his demand for new hand recounts.
The circuit court ruling by Judge Sanders Sauls was so comprehensive that legal experts said it would be very difficult but not impossible for Mr Gore to win his appeal to the Florida Supreme Court.
Mr Bush has been certified the winner in Florida with a lead of 537 votes pending the result of Mr Gore's appeal.
Whoever wins Florida wins the Presidency as he will get the state's 25 Electoral College votes needed for victory.
The US Supreme Court yesterday also made a ruling that weakened Mr Gore's situation. It annulled the Florida Supreme Court's ruling last month which had extended the time for recounts and produced several hundred extra votes for Mr Gore.
This double blow to Mr Gore will increase political pressure on him to concede the election, although Mr Gore immediately decided to appeal the Florida court decision to the state supreme court.
His leading lawyer, Mr David Boies, said last night that Mr Gore would accept whatever ruling comes from the Florida Supreme Court.
Senior advisers to Mr Gore telephoned Democratic politicians on Capitol Hill to explain the court decisions and urge them not to break ranks with the Vice-President.
Public opinion polls are indicating that patience with the protracted counting in Florida is running out.
Mr Bush, when asked if Mr Gore should concede, replied carefully that this was a "very difficult decision to make. I understand that."
Mr Bush went on to say that: "I know that the interests of the country will be important in his decision, just like it would be in mine."
But Mr Bush has said that it would still be premature for him to claim outright victory pending appeals. He is pressing ahead, however, with preparations for assuming the Presidency on January 20th.
The Gore campaign is dismayed by yesterday's rulings but insisting that it is still possible the Florida Supreme Court will rule that hand counts should take place in Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties, where about 12,000 votes have been disputed.
The Gore lawyers claim that these were "under votes" where no votes for President were punched through but indents or "dimpled chads" would show that enough of them were meant for Mr Gore to make him the winner in Florida.
Time for court hearings is running up against a December 12th deadline for choosing Florida's representatives to the Electoral College, which will actually elect the President on December 18th.
Two other court actions are pending in Florida in which Democratic activists are trying to have thousands of absentee ballots thrown out for alleged irregularities by Republican officials on application forms.
If these actions succeeded all the way up to appeal courts, they would damage Mr Bush more as they concern counties with a Republican majority.