But the 53-year-old personal trainer doesn't buy Gore's line that he's putting the rights of voters before his own ambitions.

You're doing it for yourself, not for the voters, Gilkes said Tuesday as he lounged on a bench in Liberty City, the heart of Miami's black community. Let's face it. When you get down to the nitty gritty, it's just self preservation ' the first law of nature.

The ballot-by-ballot recounting has stopped, at least for now. The sign-toting partisans are gone. While the presidential cliffhanger goes on, Floridians have returned to their routines.

An informal check with Florida voters found some support the vice president's efforts to overturn the certified vote that would give Florida and the presidency to Republican George W. Bush, and to revisit ballot recounts that were tardy in Palm Beach County and abandoned in Miami. Others say Gore is wasting the nation's time and tarnishing his image.

Monica Branham, a registered Democrat from Tampa, voted for Bush.

I don't think a lot of people have confidence in him, she said. And if he does win, I don't think they'd vote for him a second time.

The final state tally certified Sunday gave Bush the victory over Gore by 537 votes out of some 6 million votes cast.

According to exit polls from Nov. 7, Gore did well among women, blacks and the poor and Bush did well among men, whites and the wealthy. The election was largely left in the hands of swing groups such as older voters, political moderates and independents.

In Miami's Little Havana, where Republican-leaning Cuban-Americans are still angry over the Clinton administration's handling of the Elian Gonzalez saga, the election is still a hot topic.

It's absolutely ridiculous, Bush supporter Oscar Perez said over breakfast at a Cuban restaurant. I believe everything is going to wind up in the Supreme Court. It's not the right process. The machine count should stand.

Not so, said Cecil Bells, who sells religious figurines and Cracker Jacks from a booth at Liberty City's social services center. Bells estimates he registered 300 voters from his booth before the election.

A lot of people died to have the right to vote, Bells said. Right now, I can't honestly say if my vote was counted or not.

Paul Truitt of Jacksonville isn't taking things so seriously. He told his Gore-supporting wife he voted for Libertarian Harry Brown, but actually voted for Bush. He said the presidential drama is too much fun to end now.