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$250 Cingular Race Still Undecided

ATLANTA—For the three finalists pitching the Cingular Wireless general market account—WestWayne in Atlanta and Tampa, Fla., BBDO in New York and GSD&M in Austin, Texas—the tension was shredding nerves in the giddy and dreadful roller-coaster ride the review has become. Late Friday, contenders were told that deliberation on the $250 million account would go through the weekend, two weeks past the original Oct. 7 deadline. There were continuing reports that BBDO was out of the running, and that the review process had deteriorated into a politically charged power struggle between Georgia-based Bell South and SBC in Texas.