ORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - The campaigns of Al Gore and George W. Bush are commanding hundreds of troops in Florida, with orders sifting down from Washington, D.C., and Austin, Texas, through Tallahassee and out to Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties.
A combination of lawyers, locals, and loyal campaign operatives has filtered into counting rooms and war rooms during the recount, carrying on their candidate's campaigns in ways they hadn't expected before Election Day.
Some of the soldiers are enthusiastic volunteers, flying in on their own dime. Others are hired guns brought in to win court cases. Some are a combination of both, dispatched throughout the state to help with the recount.
''We're being forced to battle off attacks on all fronts,'' said Jenny Backus, a spokeswoman for the Democratic National Committee. The DNC, with the Gore campaign, part of which has now morphed into the Gore-Lieberman Recount Committee, and the Florida Democratic Party are overseeing the recount for the Democrats, Backus said.
Tucker Eskew, the Bush-Cheney campaign spokesman who has settled in in Palm Beach County, said he takes his orders from Tallahassee and Austin, where the bulk of the Bush-Cheney leadership is hunkered down. In Broward, County Republican Chairman Ed Pozzuoli has taken over as media spokesman and become the voice of Republicans there.
''No one's giving marching orders, politically, but there's some coordination going on obviously with the Bush-Cheney people,'' Pozzuoli said, estimating that about 30 percent of those workers involved in Broward are local Republicans.
''A lot of these people are fresher than we are. This has been a long, grueling process. It's taken longer than anybody expected.''
The heavyweights have thus far stayed in Tallahassee, including Republican James Baker III and Democrat Warren Christopher, the former secretaries of state who are leading their warring parties' efforts in Florida.
Several hundred observers and workers from each party have been cycled through Palm Beach County.
Kartik Krishnaiyer, a local Democratic observer, has helped compile a list of more than 200 people. They are from as far away as New Hampshire, Virginia, Maryland, and Michigan. Republicans have estimated that as many as 27 states are represented.
Even the nature of the organizations is an issue for argument in the supercharged partisan atmosphere.
Backus characterized the Republicans as a bunch of agitators brought from outside to inflame and delay the process.
''They're trying to do this as a Bush-Cheney campaign rally, and we're trying to conduct a recount, get the totals and finish this election,'' Backus said.
Eskew said Democrats, who brought in Nebraska Senator Bob Kerrey to Palm Beach on Tuesday, were being hypocritical.
''Let's not have a double standard,'' Eskew said. ''Both parties have sought to make their case in the courts, and in the court of public opinion.''
Almost always, local lawyers are on hand, and some of them have been very effective. In Dade, for instance, Kendall Coffey, who became known during the struggle for Elian Gonzalez, is part of the Democrats' legal team. Former US Attorney Roberto Martinez is pitching in for the Republicans.
Palm Beach County is stocked with volunteers from Massachusetts, many of them veterans of a 1996 Democratic congressional primary, in which William D. Delahunt defeated Philip W. Johnston by 108 votes after the original outcome was reversed in a judicial review of challenged ballots. Delahunt still holds the congressional seat.
In that race, Dennis Newman, who has taken over legal duties for the Democrats in Palm Beach, actually argued against the inclusion of dimpled ballots - exactly the Republican position in this race - and lost.
''You want people who are experienced in recounts, and know what the process is,'' Backus said.
For some, the excruciating process could be a career-maker.
Eskew, 39, who became press secretary to South Carolina Governor Carroll Campbell at the age of 25, is already on the rise. Eskew was moved to Bush campaign headquarters after he helped Bush overcome Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, in the South Carolina primary.
Now, Eskew has become the face of Republicans in West Palm and across the country.
Eskew said the recount is both an extension of the campaign and something entirely different.
''It's as though you work your heart out for months and months,'' Eskew added. ''And when the tape gets moved farther and farther back as you get closer to the finish line, it's draining and exhilarating at the same time.''
