Regardless of who wins, the next president will face a Congress deeply divided by modest Democratic gains, with Republicans holding thinner majorities in the House and Senate.
Saying that neither side could claim a mandate, Senator Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, said, "This was a classic status quo election."
President Bill Clinton, with 10 weeks left in office, pointed to the razor-thin results. "No American will ever be able to seriously say again, `My vote doesn't count.'"
With all precincts reporting unofficial results, Gore had 48,707,413 votes and Bush had 48,609,640 votes -- with just 97,773 votes separating them.
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