First, consider the Republicans. They have a simple message: gay marriage is all about "judicial activism" ? that is, judges who overstep their bounds. A February report from the Senate Republican Policy Committee is representative of the strategy. Called "Judicial Activism Forces Same-Sex Marriage on Nation," it uses the title phrase five times. (Memo to Republicans: the mayor of San Francisco is not a judge.)

But Americans should realize that when politicians talk about activist judges or states' rights, they shouldn't be taken too seriously. They don't really care about that stuff. They just think no one will vote for them if they speak their minds.

The Central Election Commission declared that President Chen had 29,518 more votes than Mr. Lien out of 13.25 million ballots cast. But Mr. Lien called for the election's annulment an hour before the commission finished its count, and the commission did not actually declare a winner.

The commission declared 337,297 ballots to be invalid more than 11 times President Chen's apparent margin of victory. In a development echoing the controversy four years ago over the vote count in Florida, there was uncertainty tonight over whether polling places had followed consistent standards in declaring votes to be invalid.

The shooting had odd elements. Among them was the seemingly relaxed security around the president. He stood in a roofless vehicle driven through a crowded, two-lane street. Neither he nor Ms. Lu wore bulletproof vests. Spectators freely exploded firecrackers along the route, and police said no one, including the president's bodyguards, had heard shots being fired.

Among other unanswered question were why both the president and vice president suffered light surface wounds the president near his abdomen and the vice president on her knee despite being struck by bullets. The bullet that hit the president ended up lodged in his clothing and was discovered after he arrived in the hospital, medical officials said.

Lin Chun-hong, who runs a small sundry shop fronting the spot in the road where police believe the shooting took place, said his 20-year-old son, Chia-rong, discovered two spent cartridges on the road more than three hours after the shooting, allowing police to pinpoint the suspected spot where the shots were fired.

"The cartridges were sitting under a police car that was parked there," Mr. Lin said Saturday morning. "Later they drove the car away and we found them."