Following is the transcript of Gore campaign chairman William Daley's reaction to the Florida Supreme Court decision ordering manual recounts.

DALEY: Today's ruling by the Florida Supreme Court is an important victory for what has been Al Gore and Joe Lieberman's basic principle since Election Day, and that is a full and a fair count of all the votes.

This decision is not just a victory for Al Gore and his millions of supporters. It is a victory for fairness and accountability and our democracy itself.

Let the count begin, not just of the votes yet to be counted in Miami-Dade, but, as the court wisely ruled, in every Florida county where undervotes have yet to be counted. Then Florida, and America, will know with certainty who has really won the presidency.

We urge everyone to let the counting, supervised by the independent judiciary, proceed without interruption to a speedy conclusion.

All of these matters should be resolved by the Florida's judiciary, not by the politicians.

Al Gore and Joe Lieberman pledge to respect the results of this court-supervised vote counting. We urge everyone to respect the will of Florida's voters and honor the results of the count.

I want to thank our legal team for their great job, our supporters for their hard work, and especially the American people for their patience as our nation makes sure that every vote is counted.

Thank you very much.

QUESTION: Are you confident this will withstand a Supreme Court appeal?

DALEY: We feel very good about this decision.