Counters Try To Stay Calm as Storm Gathers
By Kathy Sawyer; Serge F. Kovaleski, Page A01
Vote-counting volunteers here and in two other Florida counties settled into their laborious work today mostly with an air of calm--leaving the partisan bickering for observers and the political parties' lawyers.

Delay May Undermine Presidential Transition
By Al Kamen, Page A01
The delay in pronouncing a winner of the presidential election is cutting into the already limited time for the eventual president-elect to conduct the massive task of launching a new administration, causing problems that experts said could last well into his first year in office.

Consultant Praises Progress of HUD Management Reform
By Judy Sarasohn, Page A02
A consultant's follow-up assessment of the HUD 2020 management reform plan highly praised the Department of Housing and Urban Development's progress.

Clinton Predicts More Cuts in U.S., Russian Arsenals
Page A02
President Clinton said today it is "quite possible" that the United States and Russia will agree to deeper cuts in nuclear arsenals and that he would support a missile defense system if it could reliably block weapons from striking American soil.

Old Texas Mercury Mines Attract Tourists, Danger; Fatal Falls, Dynamite, Rattlesnakes--and Still the Visitors Come
By Esther M. Bauer, Page A03
Some of the hundreds of abandoned mercury mines honeycombing this part of the Chihuahua desert are gaping holes that endanger tourists and other unwary humans.

NATION IN BRIEF
Page A05
SEATTLE--Federal investigators believe a critical part of the tail-control mechanism of an Alaska Airlines MD-82 broke off in flight, making it impossible to pull the jet out of its fatal dive, the Seattle Times reported yesterday. Flight 261, en route from Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, to San Francisco and then Seattle, crashed into the Pacific Ocean in January, killing all 88 aboard.

For Bush, Each Day Has Brought New Trials
By Mike Allen, Page A07
Lured back from the tranquillity of his ranch when aides believed this would be his weekend of triumph, Texas Gov. George W. Bush was sleeping at the governor's mansion for the first time in eight nights when five shots rang out outside the iron gates.

Gore's Sunday
By Ceci Connolly, Page A07
Vice President Gore and wife Tipper, after canceling a trip to Nashville, visited Washington National Cathedral yesterday as their battalion of lawyers gird for today's crucial hearing before the Florida Supreme Court.

Varied Legal Opinions Vie for Court Time
By Peter Slevin, Page A07
The ballot-by-ballot recount of presidential votes in South Florida should end immediately if the rule of law and standards of fundamental fairness are to be honored, lawyers for Texas Gov. George W. Bush wrote today in pleadings filed with the Florida Supreme Court.

GOP Protests Closing Of Miami-Dade Recount To Members of Media
By Howard Kurtz, Page A07
From dueling news conferences to televised court hearings, each twist and turn of the Florida election saga has been chronicled by the press--until now.

An Angry GOP on Hill Would Confront Gore If He Won
By Eric Pianin; Juliet Eilperin, Page A08
Growing GOP anger about the recount in Florida could make it much more difficult--if not impossible--for Vice President Gore to forge consensus on Capitol Hill even if he were to gain the presidency, according to lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.

Requiem for an Asylum; At a Deserted Mental Hospital, Finding Closure With Bach
By Tim Page, Page C01
Northampton State Hospital, a vast Victorian brick structure that is in equal parts imposing, dreary, frightening and magnificent, has stood on a hill high above Smith College for more than 140 years. One of the oldest of American mental institutions, the hospital, which eventually grew into many buildings, reached a peak population of about 2,500 in the 1950s. Since 1992, it has been deserted altogether, a genuinely haunted house, and it is now slated for demolition.

The Results Are Finally In
By Howard Kurtz, Page C01
The media may want to demand a recount.

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