"This is the first time I didn’t vote absentee," Doug Kutlove told MODE. Now a Washington, D.C. resident, Kutlove grew up in Florida’s Broward County where at press time yesterday votes were still being counted in that toss-up state. Gore was ahead in the county by 1,210 votes.

This, after an election night that had the media name a president, revoke the honor in the wee morning of the following day, and still, hours later, wonder just how — and who — the next president would come to be. At press time, Gore had clearly won the popular vote and was leading the electoral college by a slight margin — so slight, in fact, that the candidate who earned the state’s 25 electoral votes at the finish of the recount in Florida would become the 43rd man in the White House.

"Broward County is a Democratic stronghold. It is easy to see why Gore would win big there. The rest of the state is another question," Kutlove observed. With people still waiting in line to vote when the 7 p.m. closing time for the voting polls arrived, George W. Bush’s brother Jeb, governor of the state, declared that polls could remain open. "What a tightrope to walk. Imagine Jeb asking himself ‘If my brother’s ahead now, I should cut off the voting by enforcing the deadline. If he’s behind, I should keep them open.’ I wondered last night if he called mom and dad for advice,’" Kutlove said, chuckling.

"We were all focused on Pennsylvania here last night. Imagine Tom Ridge not being able to deliver his own state," Kutlove noted, commenting on Gore’s securing of the Commonwealth’s electoral votes. The state produced other surprising election results. With a 319,000 margin over his opponent Ron Klink, Republican U. S. Senator Rick Santorum won re-election even though Gore carried the state by 202,000 votes.

Republicans gained a Congressional seat in Pennsylvania’s U.S. House of Representatives delegation. State Senator Melissa Hart beat Democratic State Rep. Terry Van Horne. They were battling over Ron Klink’s Pittsburgh area Congressional seat.

Pat Casey, son of former Governor Robert P. Casey, was defeated a second time by Scranton-area GOP Congressman Don Sherwood in a hotly fought race. As recently as a few days ago, the junior Casey introduced Gore at a local rally. In all, the GOP will hold 11 of the 21 Pennsylvania Congressional seats. The former governor’s other son Auditor General Bob Casey easily defeated his rival GOP challenger Katie True by a whopping 779,000 votes. This week’s conventional wisdom is that should Gore win, then he will campaign (payback isn’t always a bitch) for former Philadelphia mayor and current Democratic National Committee chairman Ed Rendell in his primary bid for the governor’s office. That makes it a dogged fight for Bob Casey who also wants to run for governor the next round. Beer mug observers note that it’s all over for Casey if Gore wins and Rendell decides to run. "With Bush in White House, then it’s even up who could win the governor’s mansion."

What ever happened to Lynn Yeakel? (They use to call her troops Yeakel-ites.) She lost a close race to State Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Dick Tilghman from Montgomery County. Not all the Philly heavies weighed in for a victory. Longtime Philadelphia State Senator Hank Salvatore, GOP Caucus Secretary, suffered a stunning loss by Democrat Mike Stack. "Money," was the one word answer given to MODE on the nature of the upset. With GOP senate heavy Joe Leoper gone, there are chinks in the Republican army of control over the state senate. We know what happened to State Senator Bill Slocum. He resigned after pleading guilty to Federal environmental charges. He lost to opponent Joe Scarnati in a three-way race with Democrat Joe Calla. On the House side, Republican Leader John Perzel survived a credible scare from Democrat Mark Chilutti, although at press time voting machines in his District were impounded and a recount is brewing in the wind. Perzel was described by some lobbyists and hill rats as the one House member most in need of a personality transplant upon his ascendancy to leadership. Otherwise, House Representatives Joe Battisto and Tim Pesci were the only members to lose re-election. Neither of their defeats speaks well for long incumbencies. Republican Jeff Coleman defeated five-term Pesci in his strongly Democratic district. Republican Kelly Lewis beat nine-term veteran Battisto. Republicans remain in control of the House 104 to 99.

With no real surprise, Attorney General Mike Fisher trounced by 455,000 votes his Democratic opponent Jim Eisenhower. State Treasurer Barbara Hafer defeated former Democratic gubernatorial candidate and state treasurer Catherine Baker Knoll by 55,000 votes.