That does seem unlikely. Gov. George W. Bush and Vice President Al Gore are both convinced that they won, and neither is apparently willing to back down.

Gore supporters roll their eyes as Crawford, one of the three-person Elections Board unanimous in its support for Bush, turns the floor over to Elections Division chief Clay Roberts, who then turns it over to Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris. These are all Bushies, the Gore team thinks. So it's no surprise to them when Harris "hereby" declares that "our American democracy has triumphed once again," and also gives the certified vote results for Florida: Bush beats Gore by 537 votes -- 2,912,790 to 2,912,253.

At 9:30 p.m. EST, bookended by American flags, a somewhat presidential-looking Bush appears before the cameras and waxes bipartisan. So much of the Bush strategy, dating back to before the primary season, has been about inevitability, about declaring himself the winner. And tonight -- despite reports that he's been sulking about his 300,000-person popular vote loss -- Bush is on top of his game.

He wants to work with Democrats and Republicans alike, he says, on education, tax reduction, Medicare reform, a prescription drug benefit for seniors. "I will work to unite our great land," he says. "Now that the votes are counted, it's time for the votes to count." He says that his running mate, former Defense Secretary Dick Cheney, will set up the transition team in Washington, and former Transportation Secretary Andy Card will be his chief of staff.

Bush says that he's heard Gore's lawyers are talking about contesting the election. "I respectfully ask him to reconsider," Bush says. "Now that we are certified, we enter a different phase." Protesting votes before the certification is one thing, Bush argues, but "filing a contest to the outcome of the election -- that is not the best course for America."

After all this, the last thing you might expect to hear from Gore's camp is the proclamation that Gore, in fact, is the winner. But that's exactly what Gorebies say. "We won!" one declares.

And all night long, the Gore team is doing the math for all who will listen, explaining how if you count the votes their way, their man is really, really the winner. As expected, they are planning to contest the election Monday morning at Leon County Circuit Court in Tallahassee, to try to bring their math to bear on the task of closing the 537-vote gulf.

Of course, the strength of the Gore team's conviction that its man won is equaled by the Bush team's faith -- as is its tenacity, as is its legal brainpower.

"It's impossible to overstate the importance of having the certificate," a Bush attorney says Sunday night. "Governor Bush and Secretary Cheney have been declared the winners of this contest," and now the burden is on the Gore team to overturn that -- not an easy task.

But as of Sunday night, the Gore team plans to try. So here are the pools of votes the Gorebies will be charging for, with the Bushies blocking, one by one:

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