What is actually happening in the journey towards resolution of the US presidential election? The chances are high that, like the citizens of the United States, you are not exactly certain of what is occurring other than a flurry of arcane lawsuits and televised political posturing on the part of two increasingly unappealing men.

The Republican Party's thoroughly modern tactics are finally working. The confusion and complexity from this election is exacting its price in the US, and a consensus is slowly emerging - Vice-President Al Gore should concede.

Not because he lost the election; almost nobody is willing to say that Mr Gore actually lost the election for the simple but ultimately irrelevant reason that he did not lose. The more crucial overriding determination is emerging that George W. Bush probably stole the election, but did so "fair and square" in the best tradition of American politics.

Stealing elections is nothing new in America. From local precinct leaders in Brooklyn to Chicago ward bosses, election shenanigans are a noble tradition that cross ideological and party lines.

Joseph P. Kennedy, the bootlegger scion of the Kennedy clan and father of President John Kennedy, made sure that all Democrats, dead or alive, voted for his son in 1960. Only years later did evidence of serious, um, irregularities emerge in the records of Illinois and West Virginia vote tallies. In the Deep South, election fraud and intimidation kept African-Americans away from the polls for generations.

But this election is a newfangled heist, conducted before the cameras and the courts in Florida, a place run by Governor Jeb Bush, George W's younger brother who has long sought his elder sibling's approval.

The key post-election decisions, including the trashing of 30,000 ballots and certifying the election before all the votes were recounted, was conducted by the Florida Secretary of State, Ms Katherine Harris, a Republican Party leader, close ally of Governor Jeb Bush, and future candidate.

When Republican officials in Nassau County began doing their first legally mandated machine recount days after the election, they saw that Mr Gore was picking up votes. Whoops. On advice from Ms Harris, they threw out the new recount results and stopped the recount altogether.

Nothing untoward has occurred in smoky back rooms. This has all been up front. Last week, for instance, election officials in Miami-Dade County had decided to recount ballots. This could have posed a major problem for Mr Bush; Miami-Dade county is heavily Democratic and an accurate count there might have delivered the entire election to Mr Gore.

Serious tactics - tactics more immediate than the 40 separate lawsuits now clogging the state - were called for.

The Miami canvassing board huddled as a "spontaneous" demonstration by upset Republicans erupted outside the door. It was actually a near riot. Doors were kicked, windows were smashed, and the threat of greater violence was explicit. Suddenly the board reversed course and stopped the recount.

The problem is that the "demonstration" was not spontaneous. Back in Washington DC the previous afternoon, the Bush campaign had offered air fares, hotel accommodations and a $30-a-day food stipend to any Congressional Republican Party staff members who would take a "vacation" day and hop on a plane to Miami.

As the television cameras rolled on the angry demonstrators kicking in doors, only a handful of observers noticed the faces in the crowd; there was Tom Pyle, an aide to Republican Congressman Tom Delay; there was Doug Heye, an aide to California Republican Congressman Richard Pombo.

So while the old-fashioned strong arm strategy was ongoing, the Bush team has invoked the more modern weapon of litigation. In its defence of Mr Gore's contesting of the Florida vote, the Bush team has now said it will subpoena 1.17 million ballots, in addition to the 1.16 million already being transported to the state capital.

And wait for it; the Bush team says it will call 95 witnesses to testify at the trial contesting the election. At this rate, this could go on indefinitely. . .

The Republicans have proved themselves the Hamas of Florida. Individuals like Ms Harris are willing to undertake legal suicide missions. Governor Jeb Bush is willing to risk his own credibility and integrity.

The Republicans know that Americans' patience will wear thin. Polls show that half the country believes Mr Gore won the election. But even a growing number of them believe Mr Gore should stand down.

Yes, Mr Bush may have played dirty, even stolen the election. But he did it openly, explicitly, and cheerfully, just the way we Americans like it.