Tense moments for Sink, Scott camps as votes were tallied

As Florida's Election Day came to a close, hopeful Democrats gathered at the lavish Marriott Waterside on Tampa's dockside marina, anticipating a victory party for Alex Sink, their candidate for governor. Sink looked confident and happy.

``It could be an early night. It could be a late night,'' she said. ``I'm just going to enjoy every single minute. It's a once-in-a-lifetime experience, certainly for me.''

``Late night'' turned out to be an understatement.

Results started pouring out of Tallahassee after polls closed in the Panhandle at 8 p.m. Tuesday. By 8:03 p.m. Marco Rubio's Senate victory was all but official, and by 8:30 the new Florida Cabinet was all but cast.

The new governor -- a different story.

EARLY LEAD

While Sink's camp watched from a bank of hotel suites in Tampa, Rick Scott and his party gathered in the Hilton Fort Lauderdale Marina. The numbers ratcheted up and up, and Scott never trailed Sink. But his lead was precarious. And there were some inklings of trouble.

In an 8 p.m. briefing, a spokeswoman for the state Division of Elections said Hillsborough County had run into a problem with early voting ballots, and had to re-scan 38,000. Reports surfaced of delays in West Palm Beach.

By 9:15, Sink trailed Scott by more than 150,000 votes.

With so few votes separating the candidates, no network or wire service would declare Scott the winner.

The Scott family remained inside a suite at the Hilton, delaying their victory party. A first-time candidate still figuring out the political ropes, Scott learned ritual of Election Night: The winner doesn't declare victory until the loser concedes defeat.

hour after hour passed and Scott didn't show downstairs, as the crowd dined, drank and waited.

Just before 11 p.m., Sink spokesman Dan McLaughlin took the stage. ``There are about 600,000 votes outstanding. Alex trails by 100,000,'' he said. ``Those are our counties so stay with us.''

The crowd appeared unfazed. Some started line dancing

Sink pollster Dave Beattie said Sink was down 90,000 with thousands of votes still uncounted in Democrat-heavy counties of South Florida.

The vote gap between the two candidates kept shrinking.

At 12:15 a.m., Sink finally addressed the crowd. This had been a ``classic Florida election,'' she said, that was ``coming down to the wire in what looks to be a dead-even race.'' With an estimated vote gap of about 75,000 votes at this point, she was not ready to concede.

``We're Floridians, so we know what it means to count every single vote,'' she told the crowd of about 300. ``So, this is what we're going to do. We're going to let the people of Florida -- all the people of Florida -- have their voices heard.''

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DELAYED VICTORY

Ever so often at the Scott party, a public-address announcement would hint the celebration was about to start, but it didn't.

By 1 a.m., 15 percent of precincts still hadn't reported, and the spread was down to about 72,000.

At 2:08 a.m., Scott gave a brief, upbeat speech predicting victory.

``I apologize this has taken so long. Thanks for your patience,'' he said. ``Based on the numbers we're seeing now, after all of the votes are counted, I am absolutely confident I will be the next great governor of the state of Florida. We'll have more to say maybe even later tonight, probably tomorrow.''

Upstairs, Scott's legal team kept a close eye on fluctuating vote counts.

GROUND ZERO

By 4 a.m., Palm Beach had finished counting. The Democratically heavy coastal county had become ground zero in determining the election. With all 789 precincts reporting, Palm Beach reported that Sink had netted only about 2,600 more votes over Scott.

At 10:30 a.m., in a room crowded with staff and supporters, Sink calmly conceded.

At noon Wednesday, Scott claimed the victory he had waited for all night.

``Starting today, I work for every Floridian,'' he said. ``I'm giving you my word: Better days are coming.''

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