Even as the proverbial fault line runs through American voters and Congress, the need to mend that fault becomes increasingly obvious.

The fault – that strong division that yielded a nearly 50-50 split in popular vote during the recent presidential election and a more divisive partisan split during the ensuing legal battles – still exists, despite Tuesday’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling which in effect ended the election recounts and left Florida’s electoral votes solidly behind GOP candidate George W. Bush.

And, if left untended, it will certainly grow.

What our country – the voters, the democracy and the Congress – needs now is less divisiveness and more shared efforts and vision.

In a word, bipartisanship.

With Wednesday night’s poignant concession speech by Vice President Al Gore and Bush’s constructive acceptance speech, the stage is set for that combined work to begin.

As Bush said in his speech, &uot;Our nation must rise above a house divided. Our votes may differ, but not our hopes.&uot;

The battle is over, and we as a nation needs to seek common ground.

We all want what’s best for America, and perhaps first, we need to be thankful that we are fortunate enough to live in the greatest country in the world.

In other parts of the world such transitions of power often come with much turmoil and sometimes bloodshed.

We are much more fortunate.

This morning our nation will awaken to a new day, and the potential to make history through working together is right in front of us all.

At this point, it’s simply a matter of making it happen.