But if the vice president wanted the minimum of drama for this chore, not everyone felt the same. There were a dozen Democrats.com-ers shivering several yards in front of the Capitol, chanting "Jail to the thief!" for the new president. A stone's throw away, an equal number of die-hard Clinton bashers from the Free Republic Web community waved their suddenly antique "Sore Loserman" signs.

The real rumble, however, was inside the House of Representatives, where members of the Congressional Black Caucus followed through on their threat not to let Bush win without a fight. The gathering of senators, representatives and, perhaps most importantly, television cameras proved more than adequate as an audience for their political theater.

After the electoral choices of the states, Alabama to Delaware, were read into the record -- uneventfully, save Gore's raised fist when California's 54 votes had been awarded to him -- the moment of truth came with Florida's announcement.

Once Florida Democratic Rep. Peter Deutch piped up with the first objection to his state's electoral votes, several black Democrats lined up, one after another, attempting to put up last-minute roadblocks. Without the affirmation of a single senator, however, each objection went nowhere.

That didn't stop the scene. Floridians Alcee Hastings, Corrine Brown and Carrie Meek were up to bat first, each objecting to the irregularities of their state's balloting, each getting silenced in moments by hissing Republicans and the persistent gavel of Gore himself. CBC chief Eddie Bernice Johnson claimed to have "hundreds of thousands of telegrams and e-mails" to support her objection, but without a senator, no dice.

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