Check in at www.dailyemerald.com for all the latest election results.
An independent newspaper
Wait until next year 4
The Oregon soccer team never found solid ground
against top teams, but 2001 looks strong PAGE 8
Oregon makes history
The nation’s first all mail-in ballot and remarkably
high turnout turns all eyes to the West PAGE 7
Wednesday
November 8,2000
Volume 102, Issue 51
Weather
today
RAIN LIKELY
high 50, low 31
Race thrown into limbo
Tom Patterson Emerald
Brendan Kaswell makes his support for a ticket obvious.
By David Bauder
Associated Press Writer
NEW YORK — It was the ultimate
in reality television for grateful net
works Tuesday: a presidential elec
tion with the final survivor a true mys
tery as the night wore on.
After a nail-biting night, shortly after
2:15 a.m. EST, the TV networks de
clared George W. Bush the winner over
Al Gore in Florida — and thus the na
tion.
But that didn’t end the drama. By
3:30 a.m. EST, NBC’s Tom Brokaw
continued to wonder aloud if Florida
was a lock for Bush. Only several hun
dred votes separated the two men, he
noted, with 30,000 uncounted absen
tee ballots.
“That would be something if the
networks managed to blow it twice in
one night,” he said. Before too long,
CNN started to waver, too — especial
ly after neither candidate appeared in
public as expected.
Brokaw’s rueful remark referred to
the networks predicting earlier in the
evening that Gore would win Florida.
Two hours later, they took that predic
tion back, saying the race was too close
too call.
It made for gripping television. The
networks spent millions of dollars on
polls and vote-gathering efforts in an
attempt to find out the results as
quickly as possible. Instead, they got
something better — old-fashioned
Turn to Limbo, page 5
Nader to supporters:
‘You did the right thing’
By Darren Freeman
Oregon Daily Emerald
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Green Party presidential candidate Ralph Nader
told his supporters in an eleventh-hour speech Tuesday evening that they
did the right thing by “voting their conscience” and supporting the third
party.
Since Nader began campaigning, Democrats have been warning liberals
that votes for Nader would benefit Bush by taking support away from Vice
President A1 Gore.
But it is debatable whether Nader’s supporters would have voted for Gore
had Nader not been on the ballot. Gore supporters said that Nader voters are
liberal and would therefore have voted for Gore. On the other hand, Nader
Turn to Nader, page 5
Jon House for the Emerald
Bush supporter Joan Chipman attends Election Central 2000.
Democrats carry
day in Lane Co.
■The run-off for the District 41 seat was arduous
By Lindsey Bucheie and Jeremy Lang
Oregon Daily Emerald
The race between former Eugene Mayor Jeff Miller and in
cumbent Vicki Walker, D-Eugene, for the District 41 seat was
too close to call as of press time, but other local and state De
mocrats made a clean sweep of their contests Tuesday.
At 1 a.m. Wednesday morning, the last update before
deadline, Miller was leading Walker with 50.7 percent of the
vote. With 64.8 percent of the vote counted, Miller led by
only 329 votes.
The predominantly Democratic crowd at the Lane County
Fairgrounds watched its local hero slowly gain ground
against Miller throughout the night. Until 10 p.m., Miller held
52 percent of the vote, with 44 percent of the precincts report
ing. But Walker remained optimistic as election officials re
leased early results and assured her supporters at the fair
grounds, “You watch, they’ll change.”
Miller left the fairgrounds about 11 p.m. and couldn’t be
reached for comment before deadline.
The other local Democrats had an easier time in their con
tests, crushing their Republican opponents by large margins
even though all the votes haven’t been counted.
Democrat Phil Barnhart won decidedly against Republi
can Dr. Bill Young and Socialist Karl Sorg.
Barnhart, who said he felt confident about his race from
the start Tuesday, was more concerned about the number of
Tu rn to Candidates, page 4
Dan Brunell Emerald
Early Wednesday morning, networks rescinded their earlier projection
giving the state of Florida to Texas Gov. George W. Bush.
uium m m
Many measures
tightly contested
■ Oregon has a host of inflammatory issues; future
of state funding remains up in the air
By Rebecca Newell and Beata Mostafavi
Oregon Daily Emerald
With a presidential election indeterminately close, Oregon’s
ballot measures are following suit with a string of narrowly
failing, too-close-to-predict measures. With almost 1,300 of
Oregon’s 2,195 precincts counted, final results have yet to be
decided.
With a multitude of controversial measures on the ballot,
Oregonians held their breaths as they awaited the results,
which may have drastic consequences on Oregon’s future.
A mob of anxious individuals pushed and shoved Tuesday
night at the Lane County Fairgrounds to get a glimpse of the
updated election summary sheet put out by Lane County Elec
tions or to get a spot in front of the big-screen televisions broad
casting the changing results.
Tax Measures
STATE MEASURE #8
Measure 8—which would reduce state government spend
ing by an estimated $5.7 billion for the 2001-2003 biennium —
is failing by a 10 percent difference at press time.
Opponents of the measure had said the cut would drasti
cally affect services including education, health care, pub
lic safety, services to seniors and disabled people and pro
Turn to Measures, page 4