Awaiting a verdict

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- One phrase summed up how Gore supporters are viewing the rush to secure votes in the last few hours before the polls close. \n"We're going to win."\nWritten in simple, black letters, signs with this phrase lined the walls and desks the Gore-Lieberman headquarters Monday. Making phone calls and canvassing neighborhoods, people are using every minute to make sure everyone eligible votes.\n"It's really one thing right now -- getting out the vote," said Gore-Lieberman volunteer Dave Meyers. "It's so important because we're calling primarily base Democrats and saying to them, 'Tomorrow's Election Day, we need your support, we need a big turnout.'" \nThis election is the closest in decades, and the fight for electoral votes in key states could be influenced by a final campaign blitz.\n"When you look at the battleground states, we're holding very strong. We're very optimistic. Obviously the key here is going to be the get-out-the-vote effort," said Maria Meier, Western communications director for the Gore-Lieberman campaign.\nSupporters say they will not waste a moment to make sure this goal is accomplished.\n"You never know what's going to put you over the top," said Gray Sasser, spokesman for Tennessee Victory 2000. "In an election, it's going to come down to who's working the hardest and who gives up first, and I tell you this place is going to go nonstop until the polls close here in Tennessee at 7 p.m."\nVice President Al Gore was also going nonstop Monday, traveling to 15 cities in 30 hours. He appeared in states with significant influence in today's outcome. Stops included Tampa, Fla.; Miami; St. Louis; and Flint, Mich. \nHe will vote today in his hometown of Carthage, Tenn., and is expected to watch election returns at the Loews Vanderbilt Plaza Hotel in downtown Nashville. Gore will speak tonight at the War Memorial Plaza, in front of a backdrop designed by the Gore camp and Nashville-area artists. Technicians spent about two weeks preparing the set. More than 8,500 are expected to gather to hear Gore's Election Night speech.\nTo ensure that address will be a victory speech, Gore-Lieberman workers believe focusing on turnout will work for Gore.\n"We're going to everything it takes to turn the voters out," said Jamal Simmons, deputy communications director for the Democratic National Committee. "It will definitely make a difference. People liked to be asked, and we're going to ask every single voter we can find."\nAfter so many months of work on this election, many supporters say they have only prepared themselves for the best and are doing everything they can to elect Gore.\n"I want to make sure that there's nothing I could've done that I haven't done," Sasser said.