At Gore's Ground Zero, Confidence Rules On Election Eve

NASHVILLE--In a presidential campaign where every tour, every day and every week has had a different theme, today's theme is self-evident: "the day of reckoning."

With Americans selecting their president today, this city is busy preparing for what Al Gore '69 hopes will be a victory extravaganza. Ground zero is the War Memorial Plaza at the foot of the state capitol.

The presidential race remains the closest in a generation, and the enthusiasm--and nervous energy--of Gore aides are palpable. "We're excited for the home stretch of this campaign," Gore spokesperson Doug Hattaway said. "Momentum is going our way."

Aides pointed to higher-than-usual turnout for Democratic absentee ballots in Iowa and a large number of early returns in Washington State's first-ever mail-in balloting, much of which is coming from Democratic strongholds.

Nonetheless, the frenetic pace of the finals days, combined with the unpredictability of the electorate have stressed campaign.

"I'm very tired and very optimistic," senior advisor Bob Shrum said. "We're going to win."

Gore himself, according to Shrum, is hardly having doubts either.

He says the candidate has prepared only one address for tomorrow--a victory speech.

Gore will arrive in Nashville around 8:30 a.m. today, ending an exhausting

30-hour tour of battleground states. He began at 5:30 yesterday morning in Waterloo, Iowa before leaving for Missouri, Michigan and Florida.

Between Gore, vice presidential candidate Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (D-Conn.) and their wives, the Democratic ticket will have visited 11 cities in 15 states in the final day of the campaign--in addition to appearing via satellite in a score of others.

Once in Nashville, Gore and his wife Tipper will vote in their hometown of Carthage at the Fork Rivers Elementary School.

Lieberman will begin today with two events in Florida--a state where the polls have vacillated between Gore and Republican nominee George W. Bush and where both candidates have poured in time and money in the last week.

Long considered a sure Bush win--mainly because George W.'s brother Jeb is the state's governor--Gore has managed to make inroads in the state's large senior citizen population by attacking Bush's Social Security plan. Recent polls have shown the race within two or three percentage points.

"George W. Bush has to carry Florida if he's going to win," Shrum predicted.

Gore, he said, could lose Florida, but by winning large Midwestern states like Missouri, still win.

After Florida, Lieberman will fly to his home in New Haven, Conn., before joining Gore in Nashville mid-afternoon today. Then, there's nothing left for the Democratic candidates to do but wait.

The Democratic Party is launching an "unprecedented" get-out-the-vote effort, according to John Geiser, the general election director of the Democratic National Committee.

Over 100,000 volunteers will make 20 million phone calls in the last 24 hours to encourage supporters to vote.

Polls are still showing the race incredibly tight. Nearly every national poll shows Bush ahead--but within the margin era. Estimates of which candidate would win the electoral vote are essentially split.

Political analysts have come up with a plethora of possible scenarios, from an unlikely tie in the Electoral College, to one candidate winning the popular vote and losing the electoral vote, to Ralph Nader robbing Gore of a victory.

Not surprisingly, Gore aides reject the scenarios.

"All indications we have suggest that Gore will win both the electoral vote and the popular vote," Shrum said.

There was much talk yesterday of Ralph Nader's impact, whether his grassroots support might pull votes from Gore, thus throwing key states to

Bush--another scenario the Gore campaign rejects.

They argue that once Nader supporters actually step into the voting booth today, they will realize that Gore's ideology is similar to Nader's.

"The issues those people care about, like health care, campaign finance reform and the environment, will be protected by Gore and harmed by Bush," Geiser said.

Nashville International Airport was deluged yesterday by media arriving to cover the event. Over 1,400 members of the media, including a large contingent of international press, will be on hand for tonight's events.

Starting around 8 p.m. CST, the War Memorial Plaza will be filled with

Gore supporters who will watch the election results tabulated on a big screen television and be entertained by comedians, choirs and--in the

Nashville tradition--country music stars like Sawyer Brown.

The Plaza holds special significance to Gore: he gave the eulogy at his father's funeral here and this summer used the space to announce his ground-breaking selection of Lieberman as a vice presidential candidate--the first Jewish candidate selected for a national ticket.

Under a light rain yesterday, workers rushed to finish the stage and the eight levels of risers for television cameras that have been under construction for a week.

Dan Gerstein '89, a spokesperson for the Lieberman campaign, told reporters that today would bring better weather for Gore's evening victory party.

"Don't worry, it'll be sunny," Gerstein told reporters yesterday. "That's how optimistic we are; it'll be sunny even at night."

--Staff Writer Garrett M. Graff can be reached at ggraff@fas.harvard.edu.