It was just like The Beast at Kings Island a clanking climb through the courts, stomach-flopping dips and turns, then a sudden lurching stop. The creaky old scaffolding of boards and nails was safe after all. Our Constitution can still scare the cotton-candy out of us, but it hasn't thrown us off the rails yet.

        And the two men who rode right in front stepped off looking pretty good.

        I've seen Al Gore reinvent himself as Jimmy Hoffa and Jesse Jackson. But I've never seen the Al Gore I saw Wednesday night. Endearing. Humble. Natural. Not the plastic-in
flatable Al, but a real person who made me proud of America. If I'd seen that Al earlier, I could have voted for him. Almost.

        I don't know if the sore losers were listening, but this Al Gore made them look irrelevant and small by standing taller than his harsh enemies and zealous allies.

        Something else surprised me: The heroes of this story were Democrats.

        Judge N. Sanders Sauls stuck to the law and did the right thing, then stepped aside when four Florida Supreme Court justices made fools of themselves to reverse him.

        Florida Chief Justice Charles T. Wells wrote a brimstone dissent defending Judge Sauls and the Constitution.

        Judge Nikki Clark, a black woman who had been passed over for promotion by George W. Bush's brother, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, was supposed to be in Al Gore's tent. Conservatives feared her bias; liberals counted on it. But she surprised us all.

        Judge Terry Lewis worked more hours than an automatic teller, as he was repeatedly thrown into the pressure cooker with the burner on “HIGH.” He ruled with fairness, without a wisp of acrid partisanship.

        These are the names to remember when people who are drunk on the bitter wine that comes from sour grapes make inebriated claims that the courts are all infested by politics.

        And remember Dwight Stansel and Will Kendrick — Democrats who joined Republicans in the Florida House to save their state's electoral votes from litigation limbo, acting with grace and civility.

        I'm not exactly Captain Manners, but I wonder when the media will get a clue? What purpose will it serve for the Miami Herald to rip off the bandages weeks from now and rub salt in the wounds with another unreliable recount? When will reporters who openly rooted for Mr. Gore give Mr. Bush a fair deal?

        When will talk-TV stop staging chicken-fights of rabid partisans?

        The long view is disturbing. Bill Clinton's tawdry scandals severely damaged the presidency. Then he smashed up the legislative branch to save his neck from impeachment. Mr. Gore completed the Me-First trifecta with a corrosive stubbornness that peeled away the veneer of respect from the judicial branch.

        But in the close-ups Wednesday night, I found real hope in the way Al Gore and George W. Bush made heartfelt, soul-baring appeals to God, as if each has been driven to his knees in prayer, and stood up again stronger, humbled, more finished.

        Mr. Gore named God six times, and talked of our national ordeal as one of “God's unforeseen paths” that “can point us all to a new common ground.” It was poignant.

        Mr. Bush asked us to pray for our leaders, for Mr. Gore and his family, and for himself and his family. And he alluded to his faith “I believe things happen for a reason.”

        Maybe the reason this happened was to forge two stronger leaders in the refiner's fire of a national crisis. They stood close enough to molten history to be singed. And both showed Wednesday night that they are much better men than the ones we voted for on Nov. 7.

        But I would not want to get on that ride again.

        Peter Bronson is editorial page editor of The Enquirer. If you have questions or comments, call 768-8301, or write to 312 Elm Street, Cincinnati, Ohio 45202.