For a few moments on Wednesday night I thought Al Gore was going to bow out gracefully and tell George Bush he could have the White House. It just shows what a brain-softening effect this crazy election is having. We were told to stand by for a Gore announcement, so it was obviously going to be important. Gore and Bush were deep into courtroom wrangles. Florida was probably going to be won by Bush on machine recounts, overseas ballots and the determination of his campaign chairwoman, Katherine Harris, who also happens to be Secretary of State for Florida and therefore certifies the final result in the Sunshine State. So it was the perfect time for Gore to concede to Bush for the good of the nation. At a stroke he would halt the spectacle of armies of lawyers parachuting into Florida to pick apart an election which had Bush leading by 300 votes out of six million cast.
If Gore would do what many would see as the honourable thing, he would also do himself a big favour. In four years' time, after an inexperienced Bush had screwed up the presidency big time while he tussled with a bitterly divided Congress, Gore could sweep into power with the blessings of a grateful electorate and send a discredited Bush back to Texas.
Well, those were the crazed thoughts flitting through this correspondent's head, but Gore had other ideas. His crafty plan was to promise Bush - nursing a boil back on his ranch - that if he would just wait for the hand recounting of the votes in three heavily pro-Gore counties, then Gore would accept the decision on the recounts.
For some reason about 12,000 people who voted in one of these counties, Palm Beach, did not vote for a president when choosing their local dog catchers, sheriff and councillor, etc. In other words, there was no hole punched opposite the names of the presidential candidates.
Maybe elderly pensioners could only partially punch out a "chad", the little piece of the card which should have fallen out.
By examining these ballots it could be possible to find how many people wanted to vote for Gore or Bush. If there was an indent ("dimple") or a "pregnant" bulge, then maybe the voter was trying to show a preference.
So that is what a hand recount would be doing. Bush believes that as Democrats would be doing much of the recounting, he would not come well out of the process.
Gore also made a second proposal. Bush could hand recount all Florida's 67 counties and again Gore would accept the results and drop all court actions.
While this might have seemed a generous gesture it was actually an appalling vista, as Lord Denning would have said, with six million ballot cards having to be pawed over again. It was enough to put the whole country round the bend and not just George Bush.
It was a "no brainer" for Bush. He is ahead by 300 votes. He just has to wait for the overseas votes to be counted. Of course, if Gore gets enough of the overseas ballots to put him ahead of Bush, then he is declared the winner.
But if Bush stays ahead and is declared the winner in Florida, that is not the end of it. The recounts in Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties are going ahead and will produce new results next week. They may well show that Gore will win. The Florida Supreme Court has now decided it will take up the case of the hand recount on Monday. But how will the American public take another round of legal arguments while Bush, according to an official machine count and recount, has been declared the winner in Florida?
The Gore camp will make a strong case: we have won the popular vote; we have won Florida if you allow for the hand recounts in three counties and that means we would win the Electoral College and the presidency.
The Bush camp will make a strong case: we are ahead after an election night count, a recount and including the overseas ballots.
Will Americans then let the seven democratically appointed judges of the Florida Supreme Court eventually decide who is their next President? Or will Americans tell Al Gore to accept the apparent voice of Florida and forget about the chads? Or will they tell George Bush to accept that Al Gore won the popular vote and probably won Florida?
If only we knew.