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At the Austin American-Statesman, we had planned to have as many as four different front pages throughout the evening. Obviously, with the possibility that the Texas governor could be the next U.S. president, we wanted to get a final result in at least one edition of the paper before the night was done.

The first two editions went the way we planned Ñ at least initially. At 11:30 p.m., we put our first edition on the press as planned. This was a 16,000 copy run sent out to our outlying circulation area with only two and a half inside page of election coverage. Our headline at that time read "Florida leaves race up in air."

At 1:30 a.m. Ñ again, as planned Ñ we went to press with our first home edition with a headline that read "Photo finish." This was intended to be about 150,000 copies Ñ the majority of our home delivery run. We had planned for a street edition to go to press at 3 a.m. And if we weren't able to call the race at that time, we would do an Election Extra to be sold on streets and in stores. This would have had a 5 a.m. press turn.

But, as they say, the best-laid plans often go awry. After national news outlets announced that Florida had put Gov. George W. Bush over the top in Electoral College votes, the Austin American-Statesman rewrote its lead stories under the headline, "Bush!"

Within minutes, Vice President Gore had conceded defeat in a telephone conversation with Bush. After his talk with Bush, Gore was reported en route to the War Memorial in Nashville, where he would make a concession speech.

The American-Statesman printed 59,000 newspapers with the "Bush!" headline before news bulletins indicated that a recount would be called in Florida.

When news of the reversal hit, editors stopped the presses at 2:36 a.m. Wednesday. The stories were re-written under the headline: "History on hold."

Of the 59,000 newspapers printed with Bush's victory, 29,000 had started on their way to homes in suburban Cedar Park and Georgetown and parts of Austin. All 59,000 newspapers were returned to the Statesman by newspaper employees.

However, about 200 "Bush!" newspapers were sold on the streets of downtown Austin near Bush's party before the newspapers were recalled. The changing story and the stop of the presses was expected to delay home deliveries.

G.W. Babb
Design Director Austin American-Statesman