New York

Clinton to Democrats: Don’t whine, improve

Former President Clinton has a message for Democrats inconsolable after President Bush’s re-election: Buck up. It’s not that bad. You need to improve your image.

“This election presents a great opportunity for President Bush and a great opportunity for Democrats, and the two are not necessarily in conflict,” Clinton said in his first public remarks since Democratic Sen. John Kerry’s defeat Tuesday.

The last two-term Democratic president said the party needed to rework its image and it would be “a mistake for our party to sit around and … whine about this and that or the other thing.”

Florida

Recount declares victory for black sheriff

A black candidate was declared the winner Friday after a recount in the racially charged campaign for sheriff in Florida’s only majority black county.

Morris Young became Gadsden County’s first black sheriff since Reconstruction.

Young, who had a 70-vote lead going into the machine recount, defeated Chief Deputy Ed Spooner by 115 votes. He said he would work to unite the racially divided county and convince supporters of Spooner, who is white, that he can do the job.

“The main thing is earning their respect,” Young said. “I’ve got to show them Morris Young is capable.”

Washington

Governor still unknown

Three days after Election Day, Democrat Christine Gregoire clung to a narrow lead Friday in the nation’s last undecided race for governor — a cliffhanger contest that could drag on for weeks while the votes are counted.

With most of the state’s 39 counties reporting additional votes, Gregoire, Washington’s attorney general, led Republican former state Sen. Dino Rossi by 5,500 votes, a difference of less than a quarter of 1 percentage point.

Iowa

Bush wins Iowa

President Bush won Iowa on Friday, claiming the last three states of the 2004 election.

Although Democratic Sen. John Kerry had already conceded the race Wednesday, the counting of absentee ballots continued in Iowa, which had been too close to call.

By Friday, Bush had 745,980 votes and Kerry had 732,764 with the number of outstanding ballots too few to change the outcome.