Gore Concession Speech Set

WASHINGTON, Dec. 13 (AP) - Al Gore decided Wednesday to concede the country's overtime election, aides said, clearing the way for George W. Bush to become the 43rd president and leader of a nation sharply divided along political lines. The vice president acted after a split Supreme Court ruled against recounts in contested Florida.

Two senior advisers, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Gore would officially drop out in a nationally televised address Wednesday at 9 p.m. EST. ``The race is over,'' said one official after speaking with the vice president. ``We're done.''

Gore made the decision 12 hours after the U.S. Supreme Court, as divided as the nation, ruled 5-4 against the vice president's bid to recount thousands of ballots in Florida. Gore had sought the recount in hopes he could overturn Bush's 537-vote victory margin in the state whose 25 electoral votes will settle the election.

``The vice president has directed the recount committee to suspend activities,'' campaign chairman William Daley said in a written statement that effectively ended an unbearably close election 36 tumultuous days after the nation voted.

Gore topped his Republican rival by more than 300,000 votes out of 103 million ballots cast nationwide. But Florida's electoral votes, to be cast on Dec. 18 and counted on Jan. 6, would give Bush a total of 271 electoral votes to Gore's 267.

Bush was in Texas, savoring his hard-earned triumph in private, as if to give Gore all the room he needed for a graceful exit. The governor waved to reporters as he strode into the Capitol in Austin at midmorning but merely smiled in answer to questions about the developments.

Republican running mate Dick Cheney was in Washington, meeting with House Speaker Dennis Hastert of Illinois and other GOP lawmakers, part of a transition to power that now could begin in earnest.

Former Secretary of State James A. Baker III, speaking for the Republican camp, had said Tuesday night that Bush and Cheney were ``very pleased and gratified'' by the court's ruling. That was an understatement of historic proportions given the furor since Election Day - a saga of counts, recounts, lawsuits by the dozens and two trips to the highest court in the land.

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