Winner unclear

In one of the closest presidential races in history, it was still unclear early Wednesday morning who would become the 43rd president of the United States.\nWith three states -- Florida, Oregon and Wisconsin -- in the balance at 4 a.m., Vice President Gore led Gov. George W. Bush 249-246 in electoral votes. A candidate needs 270 electoral votes to get to the White House. \nAs some analysts predicted earlier in the week, Florida will prove the deciding state in the election. Whichever candidate wins Florida will win the White House.\nThe vice president did win Pennsylvania, Michigan and California, where he had focused much of his campaign effort during the past week. Early reports indicated Florida had been decided and that its votes would go to Gore. But pollsters retracted those numbers when they learned thousands of absentee ballots had not been counted.\nBush supporters expressed confidence they would win Florida, where George W.'s brother Jeb is governor, as a number of the undecided counties have high immigrant populations and the governor has traditionally done well with this voting group. \nGore supporters claimed they would take the Sunshine State because seniors there support Gore's plans for Social Security and Medicare.\nThousands of Gore-Lieberman supporters crammed into War Memorial Plaza in downtown Nashville to watch the results come in. They stayed to cheer for their former Senator even as the evening dragged into morning and a light rain started to fall.\nElection night volunteer Melissa Plesant said she supports Gore because through eight years in office Gore has done what he believes in.\nCher made a brief appearance at one point in the evening, encouraging the crowd that Gore would win and to "have fun tonight, you guys."\nGiant screens in the outdoor plaza cut from network to network showing the latest results, and showcasing reaction to Hillary Clinton's Senate win in New York.\nDemocratic National Committee chairman Joe Andrew took the stage at 11 p.m. and told the crowd, "We're going to win because Al Gore and Joe Lieberman have supported those no one else would." \nAndrew said the Democratic party is the welcoming party, embracing all persons regardless of race, gender, national origin or sexual orientation. \nMany in the Democratic Party said they blamed Green Party candidate Ralph Nader for siphoning off votes that likely would have gone to Gore. Throughout the evening in such states as Florida and Wisconsin, polls showed Bush and Gore within one to two percent of each other, with Nader coming in at two to four percent.\nSome conservative Democrats said they blamed President Bill Clinton and his personal indiscretions for driving voters from the Democratic Party. Bush won Clinton's home state of Arkansas and Gore's Tennessee. The popular vote was 49 percent Bush 48 percent Gore for much of the\nevening.\nGore arrived back in Tennessee from his last campaign stop in Florida around 4 a.m. Tuesday.