BOND SAYS ELECTION IS OVER

Vice President Al Gore should concede he has lost the election, U.S. U.S. Sen. Christopher "Kit" Bond, R-Mo., said in Cape Girardeau Friday.

"As far as I am concerned, the election is over," he told reporters during a visit to Cape Girardeau. "The votes have been counted and recounted and recounted."

Said Bond, "George Bush has won. It is time for the lawyers and Al Gore to go home."

Unlike Gore's continuing demand for vote recounts in Florida, U.S. Sen. John Ashcroft of Missouri accepted defeat in a narrow loss to Jean Carnahan in the November election, Bond said.

He said his Republican colleague was a "national model" for how a candidate should act. Bond said he supported Ashcroft's decision against seeking a recount in the Missouri race.