Bush takes poll lead but 'it's not over'.

Byline: ANDY LINES, US EDITOR

VICE president Al Gore insisted the race to the White House was "not over" yesterday as unofficial results of the Florida recount gave victory to George W Bush by just 327 votes.

Gore's campaign team vowed to press ahead with a controversial legal challenge in Palm Beach, Florida, where thousands of voters claimed they mistakenly did not vote for Gore because of the confusing "butterfly" ballot paper.

The official results of the recount will be made public on Tuesday but absentee postal votes don't have to be in until Friday, so the drama could run until then.

With the eyes of the world on the "sunshine state," a transfixed nation has dubbed the race to become America's 43rd president the "Florida flip flop" because of the extraordinary twists and turns.

Thousands of protesters are still on the streets of Palm Beach demanding a new election.

Palm Beach county is in turmoil. The terrified election supervisor has gone into hiding and at least eight people have filed lawsuits.

Former president Jimmy Carter said: "The American people should, I think, join me in being patient."

But yesterday, the Bush campaign team said Gore should accept defeat and stop "politicising" events at the expense of democracy.

They also raised the possibility of recounts in three other States which Gore won by tiny majorities.

Bush remained confident but Gore campaign chairman William Daley said: "We want the true and accurate will of the people to prevail and that means letting the legal system run its course."

Florida's 25 electoral votes hold the key to Tuesday's election as neither candidate can win the Presidency without them.