31.   The danger was that going ahead of Bush statewide would lack credibility if it was based on hand recounts in only a few Democratic counties.

32.   The complex makes up almost an entire precinct in this predominantly Democratic county.

33.   The Democrats had asked for the manual recounts, believing that irregularities had deprived Gore of numerous votes in those strongly Democratic counties.

34.   The Florida Supreme Court refused to block the hand counts that his campaign had sought in several predominantly Democratic counties.

35.   The hand counts are being conducted in Democratic counties where the Bush camp believes Gore will have an advantage.

36.   The Florida Supreme Court had refused to block the manual count that his campaign had sought in several predominantly Democratic counties.

37.   The least forgiving voting machines were concentrated in Democratic counties.

38.   The networks were also reporting the incomplete returns from the hand counting in the heavily Democratic counties of South Florida.

39.   The vice president has picked up only a handful of votes in this heavily Democratic county.

40.   There is, of course, no guarantee that Gore will ultimately prevail with the hand count of the ballots in the Democratic counties.