By Mark Davis
    It seems to be a bad, faded memory, like flunking an American democracy class in high school. But a year has passed since the United States was engaged in one of its biggest and nastiest political wars. And the stakes couldn't have been
higher.

    November 7, 2000, may not resonate with most Americans like the dates of September 11, 2001 and December 7, 1941. But it will forever mark the beginning of the no-holds-barred battle to capture the presidency in one of the hair-raising elections in U.S. history. When the dust cleared, Republican candidate and Texas Gov. George W. Bush edged Democratic candidate and Vice President Al Gore by the hair of his chinny-chin-chin -- 537 popular votes in Florida.

    History students know the rest. Despite losing the popular vote nationwide, the tally gave Bush enough electoral votes to send him to the White House. He became the second son to follow in his dad's footsteps to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. (Forget the other already? Son John Quincy Adams and father John Adams). Of course, the Supreme Court intervened by the narrowest of margins, 5-4, to stop the recount in the Sunshine State. That was only the tip of the iceberg in terms of the war's utterly bizarre nature.

    The story has enough subplots and colorful characters to compete with the best of Dickens. It's that wild, unpredictable
element that the Washington Post captures perfectly in its post-election drama, "Deadlock: The Inside Story of America's Closest Election." It should be considered the definitive story of the 37-day nightmare that ensnared even
the most nonchalant voters.

    Published last spring, "Deadlock" was the collaboration of a large contingent of Post journalists. Author David Von Drehle combined all of their work and wrote a seamless, reportorial narrative that reads like a political thriller. Even though I was cognizant about the facts and events surrounding the electoral crisis, "Deadlock" was difficult to put down. Drehle builds the suspense in a sleek, deftful manner by combining honest reflections with descriptions of surreal moments.

    Unbeknownst to many (and yours truly), Gore and some of his advisers flew into Tallahassee the morning of Nov. 8 to sort
out the mess and hopefully begin a recount. They were hoping to sneak into the capital undetected.

    "Recount One, as the flight attendants referred to the plane, touched down, rolled to a stop - and in came a spiffy
private jet 50 feet away," Von Drehle writes. "The steps went down on the littler plane. A big man with a boy's head of hair ducked his head as he came blinking into the sunlight. Jeb Bush. The Republicans waved at the Democrats: Hi, fellas! So much for low key     That's how the fight for Florida began."

     "Deadlock" originally appeared, in a much shorter version, as an eight-part series in the Post after the election
chaos susbsided. What gives the book some punch are the exclusive interviews Post reporters conducted with some of the key participants before and after the chaos. The results are interspersed throughout the narrative and provide
much-needed commentary of critical moments. Some of those interviewed were Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris and Connecticut Sen. Joseph Lieberman, who was Gore's running mate and
the first Jewish candidate on a major-party ticket.

   William Daley, chairman of Gore's presidential campaign, proved to be one of the most astute and down-to-earth politicians during the November and December blitzkrieg. As the son of legendary Chicago mayor Richard Daley, he knew about the quirky machinations of politics and quickly figured out that Gore was fighting a losing battle. He was hesitant toward a recount and was skeptical of legal efforts to get one.

    In one of the most strangely prophetic moments in "Deadlock," Daley asked House Democratic leader Dick Gephardt on Election Day what he thought about a possible scenario: a victory by Gore in the electoral college coupled with a loss in the popular vote.

    Von Drehle writes: "Gephardt offered a counter scenario: a Gore victory in the popular vote and a Bush victory in the electoral college. What do you think about that, he said? Daley dismissed it as out of hand. 'Never going to
happen,' he said."

    Even though the election crisis was analyzed to death by political pundits, "Deadlock" gives enough insider-type
observations to keep the reader enlightened and amused. The book is not the most comprehensive and analytical
piece out in the market. It doesn't dive too deep into the complexities of Florida election law and all of the legal wrangling that occurred in the state and elsewhere. Thank goodness. There's so much to be told, it could take extensive volumes written over several years to do the election crisis justice.

    Then again, who would read something like  that? I'll stick to "Deadlock."

 Mark Davis  is the books editor of the Daytona Beach News-Journal