BY MARK SILVA

 The seven-month saga of Elián González has left a lasting mark on an American
 presidential campaign -- making it difficult for Democrat Al Gore to count Florida
 in any electoral formula for victory in November.

 From the start, the Clinton administration's insistence on the boy's return to Cuba
 has been contrasted by candidates of both parties arguing for a family court
 hearing, residency or American citizenship for Elián.

 But the vice president's attempts to distance himself from Clinton distressed
 many who thought he was pandering for votes, disappointed Cuban Americans
 who wanted Elián to remain, and alienated others who wanted him to go.

 'SADDENED'

 Since early December, Vice President Gore and Republican Texas Gov. George
 W. Bush said Elián deserved a hearing in family court for his bid to remain with
 relatives in the United States.

 ``I am saddened when the land of the free sends a young boy back to communist
 Cuba without a fair hearing in family court,'' Bush said Wednesday, campaigning
 in Ohio. ``I hope that one day Elián will live in a free Cuba and be able to choose
 for himself whether to return to America.''

 In January, Bush joined other Republicans calling for a special grant of citizenship
 for Elián. In late March, Gore attempted to stress his distance from the
 administration by voicing his support for permanent U.S. residency.

 Gore's stance on March 30 immediately was taken by editorial writers from coast
 to coast as an attempt to ``pander'' for Cuban-American votes in a state critical to
 any presidential candidate's election chances this year.

 ``Shame on Gore,'' the Los Angeles Times editorialized.

 Gore vehemently denied that politics was driving his position:

 ``It's a matter of principle with me. It has been from the beginning. I have not
 changed my view. I have been consistent throughout,'' he said in an early April
 interview with The Herald's Washington bureau.

 FINAL SAY

 Gore said Wednesday that he stands by his position on Elián, but added the
 Supreme Court has had the final say and it's time to put the controversy to rest.

 While many voters have read Gore's moves as a blatant bid for votes, some say it
 has backfired doubly: It gained Gore no ground among Cuban-American voters
 angry at the Clinton administration, while offending others who thought the vice
 president was pandering for votes.

 While sentiment over Elián's fate was sharply split between Cuban-American and
 other voters in Miami-Dade County, Herald polling found there was a striking
 unanimity in opinion that Gore was posturing.

 ``If there is a bonehead tactical move of the month, it should go to the Gore
 campaign for having attempted to pander to the Cuban community with Elián
 González. . . . He ended up hurting himself,'' said Sergio Bendixen, a Coral
 Gables pollster surveying Hispanic voters nationally.

 Al Cárdenas, Havana-born chairman of the Republican Party of Florida, expects
 about 400,000 Cuban Americans to vote in Florida this fall -- nearly 8 percent of
 the state's electorate.

 Clinton was able to claim more than one third of Florida's Cuban-American vote in
 his reelection. But Republicans before him collected 80 percent and more of the
 Cuban-American vote.