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2000 United States presidential election

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United States presidential election, 2000
← 1996 November 7, 2000 2004 →
All 538 electoral votes of the Electoral College
270 electoral votes needed to win
Turnout50.4%[1]
 
Nominee George W. Bush Al Gore
Party Republican Democratic
Home state Texas Tennessee
Running mate Dick Cheney Joe Lieberman
Electoral vote 271 266
States carried 30 20 + DC
Popular vote 50,456,002 50,999,897
Percentage 47.9% 48.4%
Presidential election results map. Red denotes states won by Bush/Cheney, Blue denotes those won by Gore/Lieberman.
President before election

Bill Clinton
Democratic

Elected President

George W. Bush
Republican

The United States presidential election of 2000 was a contest between Republican candidate George W. Bush, the governor of Texas and son of former president George H. W. Bush, and Democratic candidate Al Gore, the Vice President.

Bill Clinton, the incumbent President, was vacating the position after serving the maximum two terms allowed by the Twenty-second Amendment. Bush narrowly won the November 7 election, with 271 electoral votes to Gore's 266 (with one elector abstaining in the official tally).

The election was noteworthy for a controversy over the awarding of Florida's 25 electoral votes, the subsequent recount process in that state, and the unusual event of the winning candidate having received fewer popular votes than the runner-up.[2] This marked only the fourth election in U.S. History in which the eventual winner failed to win a plurality of the popular vote (after the elections of 1824, 1876, and 1888). Later research showed that by the standards requested by the Gore campaign in their contest brief or by the partial statewide recount set by the Florida Supreme Court, Bush would have likely won the recount anyway.[3] However, the same research indicates that had the statewide recount included all uncounted votes (overvotes as well as undervotes), as seems probable based on later statements by the judge overseeing the recount and supported by faxes made public in November, 2001, Gore would have won the election.[3][4][5]

Democratic Party nomination

Main article: Democratic Party (United States) presidential primaries, 2000

Democratic candidates

Al Gore of Tennessee was a consistent front-runner for the nomination. Other prominent Democrats mentioned as possible contenders included Bob Kerrey,[6] Missouri Congressman Dick Gephardt, Minnesota Senator Paul Wellstone, and famous actor and director Warren Beatty, who declined to run.[7] Of these, only Wellstone formed an exploratory committee.[8]

In addition to Gore's advantage as the incumbent Vice President, Bradley was not the candidate of a major faction or coalition of blocs. Running an insurgency campaign, Bradley positioned himself as the alternative to Gore, who was a founding member of the centrist Democratic Leadership Council. While former basketball star Michael Jordan campaigned for him in the early primary states, Bradley announced his intention to campaign "in a different way" by conducting a positive campaign of "big ideas". The focus of his campaign was a plan to spend the record-breaking budget surplus on a variety of social welfare programs to help the poor and the middle-class, along with campaign finance reform and gun control.

Gore easily defeated Bradley in the primaries, largely because of support from the Democratic Party establishment and Bradley's poor showing in the Iowa caucus, where Gore successfully painted Bradley as aloof and indifferent to the plight of farmers. The closest Bradley came to a victory was his 50–46 loss to Gore in the New Hampshire primary. On March 14, Al Gore won the Democratic nomination.

None of Bradley's delegates were allowed to vote for him, so Gore won the nomination unanimously at the Democratic National Convention. Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman was nominated for Vice President by voice vote. Lieberman became the first Jewish American ever to be chosen for this position by a major party. Gore chose Lieberman over five finalists.[9]

Delegate totals

Republican Party nomination

Main article: Republican Party (United States) presidential primaries, 2000

Republican candidates:

Several Republican candidates appeared on the national scene to challenge Gore's candidacy.

George W. Bush became the early front-runner, acquiring unprecedented funding and a broad base of leadership support based on his governorship of Texas and the name recognition and connections of the Bush family. Former cabinet member George Shultz played an important early role in securing establishment Republican support for Bush. In April 1998, he invited Bush to discuss policy issues with experts including Michael Boskin, John Taylor, and Condoleezza Rice. The group, which was "looking for a candidate for 2000 with good political instincts, someone they could work with", was impressed, and Shultz encouraged him to enter the race.[11] Several aspirants withdrew before the Iowa Caucus because they were unable to secure funding and endorsements sufficient to remain competitive with Bush. These included Elizabeth Dole, Dan Quayle, Lamar Alexander, and Robert C. Smith. Pat Buchanan dropped out to run for the Reform Party nomination. That left Bush, John McCain, Alan Keyes, Steve Forbes, Gary Bauer, and Orrin Hatch as the only candidates still in the race.

On January 24, Bush won the Iowa caucus with 41% of the vote. Forbes came in second with 30% of the vote. Keyes received 14%, Bauer 9%, McCain 5%, and Hatch 1%. Hatch dropped out. On the national stage, Bush was portrayed in the media as the establishment candidate. McCain, with the support of many moderate Republicans and Independents, portrayed himself as a crusading insurgent who focused on campaign reform.

On February 1, McCain won a 49%–30% victory over Bush in the New Hampshire primary. Gary Bauer dropped out. After coming in third in Delaware Forbes dropped out, leaving three candidates. In the South Carolina primary, Bush soundly defeated McCain. Some McCain supporters blamed it on the Bush campaign, accusing them of mudslinging and dirty tricks, such as push polling that implied that McCain's adopted Bangladeshi-born daughter was an African-American child he fathered out of wedlock.[12] While McCain's loss in South Carolina damaged his campaign, he won both Michigan and his home state of Arizona on February 22.

On February 24, McCain criticized Bush for accepting the endorsement of Bob Jones University despite its policy banning interracial dating. On February 28, McCain also referred to Rev. Jerry Falwell and televangelist Pat Robertson as "agents of intolerance", a term he would later distance himself from during his 2008 bid for the party's nomination. He lost the state of Virginia to Bush on February 29. On Super Tuesday, March 7, Bush won New York, Ohio, Georgia, Missouri, California, Maryland, and Maine. McCain won Rhode Island, Vermont, Connecticut, and Massachusetts, but dropped out of the race. On March 10, Alan Keyes got 21% of the vote in Utah. Bush took the majority of the remaining contests and won the Republican nomination on March 14, winning his home state of Texas and his brother Jeb's home state of Florida among others. At the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia George W. Bush accepted the nomination of the Republican party.

Delegate totals

  • Governor George W. Bush 1526
  • Senator John McCain 275
  • Ambassador Dr. Alan Keyes 23
  • Businessman Steve Forbes 10
  • Gary Bauer 2
  • None of the Names Shown 2
  • Uncommitted 1

Bush asked former Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney to head up a team to help select a running mate for him, but ultimately, Bush decided that Cheney should be the vice presidential nominee. While the U.S. Constitution does not specifically disallow a president and a vice president from the same state, it does prohibit electors from casting both of his or her votes for persons from his or her own state. Accordingly, Cheney—who had been a resident of Texas for nearly 10 years—changed his voting registration back to Wyoming. Had Cheney not done this, either he or Bush would have forfeited their electoral votes from the Texas electors.

Other mentioned candidates:

Notable endorsements

Note: Some of the endorsers switched positions.

George W. Bush
John McCain
Steve Forbes
Alan Keyes
Orrin Hatch
Lamar Alexander
Dan Quayle
John Kasich

Other nominations

Reform Party nomination

The nomination went to Pat Buchanan[35] and running mate Ezola Foster of California, over the objections of party founder Ross Perot and despite a rump convention nomination of John Hagelin by the Perot faction (see Other nominations below). In the end, the Federal Election Commission sided with Buchanan, and that ticket appeared on 49 of 51 possible ballots.

Association of State Green Parties nomination

Ralph Nader in 2000

The Greens/Green Party USA, the then-recognized national party organization, later endorsed Ralph Nader for president and he appeared on the ballots of 43 states and DC.

Libertarian Party nomination

The Libertarian Party's National Nominating Convention nominated Harry Browne of Tennessee and Art Olivier of California for Vice President. Browne was nominated on the first ballot and Olivier received the Vice Presidential nomination on the second ballot.[38] The Libertarian Party appeared on 50 of 51 ballots.

Constitution Party nomination

The Constitution Party nominated Howard Phillips of Virginia for a third time and Curtis Frazier of Missouri. The Constitution Party was on the ballot in 41 states.[39]

Natural Law Party nomination

The Natural Law Party held its national convention in Arlington, Virginia, August 31–September 2, nominating a ticket of Hagelin/Goldhaber via unanimous decision without a roll-call vote.[40] The party was on 38 of the 51 ballots nationally.[39]

General election campaign

Although the campaign focused mainly on domestic issues, such as the projected budget surplus, proposed reforms of Social Security and Medicare, health care, and competing plans for tax relief, foreign policy was often an issue. Bush criticized Clinton administration policies in Somalia, where 18 Americans died in 1993 trying to sort out warring factions, and in the Balkans, where United States peacekeeping troops perform a variety of functions. "I don't think our troops ought to be used for what's called nation-building," Bush said in the second presidential debate.[41] Bush also pledged to bridge partisan gaps in the nation's capital, claiming the atmosphere in Washington stood in the way of progress on necessary reforms.[42] Gore, meanwhile, questioned Bush's fitness for the job, pointing to gaffes made by Bush in interviews and speeches and suggesting the Texas governor lacked the necessary experience to be president.

Bill Clinton's impeachment and the sex scandal that led up to it cast a shadow on the campaign, particularly on his vice president's run to replace him. Republicans strongly denounced the Clinton scandals, particularly Bush, who made his repeated promise to restore "honor and dignity" to the White House a centerpiece of his campaign. Gore studiously avoided the Clinton scandals, as did Lieberman, even though Lieberman had been the first Democratic senator to denounce Clinton's misbehavior. In fact, some media observers theorized that Gore actually chose Lieberman in an attempt to separate himself from Clinton's past misdeeds, and help blunt the GOP's attempts to link him to his boss.[43] Others pointed to the passionate kiss Gore gave his wife during the Democratic Convention, as a signal that despite the allegations against Clinton, Gore himself was a faithful husband.[44] Gore avoided appearing with Clinton, who was shunted to low visibility appearances in areas where he was popular. Experts have argued that this cost Gore votes from some of Clinton's core supporters.[45][46][47]

Ralph Nader was the most successful of third-party candidates, drawing 2.74 percent of the popular vote. His campaign was marked by a traveling tour of large "super-rallies" held in sports arenas like Madison Square Garden, with retired talk show host Phil Donahue as master of ceremonies. After initially ignoring Nader, the Gore campaign made a pitch to (potential) Nader supporters in the final weeks of the campaign, downplaying Gore's differences with Nader on the issues and arguing that Gore's ideas were more similar to Nader's than Bush's were, and noting that Gore had a better chance of winning than Nader. On the other side, the Republican Leadership Council ran pro-Nader ads in a few states in an effort to split the liberal vote.[48] In the aftermath of the campaign, many Gore supporters claimed that Nader acted as a spoiler in the election, that Nader votes would have been cast for Gore, and that Nader threw the election outcome to Bush. Nader dismissed such concerns, claiming his objective in the campaign was to pass the 5-percent threshold so his Green Party would be eligible for matching funds in future races.

Both vice presidential candidates Dick Cheney and Joe Lieberman campaigned aggressively in the 2000 presidential election. Both camps made numerous campaign stops nationwide, often just missing each other such as when Cheney, Hadassah Lieberman, and Tipper Gore attended Chicago's Taste of Polonia over Labor Day Weekend.[49]

Presidential debates

There were three presidential debates:

There was also one vice-presidential debate:

The Commission on Presidential Debates, formed by Democratic and Republican party leaders, set rules that effectively excluded all but the two major party candidates.[54] Ralph Nader was blocked from attending a closed circuit screening of the first debate in spite of his holding a ticket.[55] He was barred from attending an interview near the site of the third debate in spite of having a "perimeter pass".[56] Nader later sued the CPD for its role in the former incident. A settlement was reached that included an apology to Nader.[57]

Results

Palm Beach County recount

With the exceptions of Florida and Gore's home state of Tennessee, Bush carried the Southern states by comfortable margins (including then-President Bill Clinton's home state of Arkansas) and also secured wins in Ohio, Indiana, most of the rural Midwestern farming states, most of the Rocky Mountain states, and Alaska. Gore balanced Bush by sweeping the Northeastern United States (with the sole exception of New Hampshire, which Bush won narrowly), most of the Upper Midwest, and all of the Pacific Coast states of Washington, Oregon, and California, and carried Hawaii, as well.

As the night wore on, the returns in a handful of small-to-medium sized states, including Wisconsin and Iowa, were extremely close; however it was the state of Florida that would make clear the winner of the election. As the final national results were tallied the following morning, Bush had clearly won a total of 246 electoral votes, while Gore had won 255 votes. 270 votes were needed to win. Two smaller states—New Mexico (5 electoral votes) and Oregon (7 electoral votes)—were still too close to call. It was Florida (25 electoral votes), however, that the news media focused their attention on. Mathematically, Florida's 25 electoral votes became the key to an election win for either candidate. Although both New Mexico and Oregon were declared in favor of Gore over the next few days, Florida's statewide vote took center stage because that state's winner would ultimately win the election. The outcome of the election was not known for more than a month after the balloting ended because of the extended process of counting and then recounting Florida's presidential ballots.

Florida recount

Main article: United States presidential election in Florida, 2000
2000 Palm Beach County voting stand and ballot box

At approximately 7:50 p.m. EST on election day, 10 minutes before the polls closed in the largely Republican Florida panhandle, which is in the Central time zone, some television news networks declared that Gore had carried Florida's 25 electoral votes. They based this prediction substantially on exit polls. However, in the actual vote tally Bush began to take a wide lead early in Florida, and by 10 p.m. EST those networks had retracted that prediction and placed Florida back into the "undecided" column. At approximately 2:30 a.m., with some 85% of the votes counted in Florida and Bush leading Gore by more than 100,000 votes, the networks declared that Bush had carried Florida and therefore had been elected President. However, most of the remaining votes to be counted in Florida were located in three heavily Democratic counties—Broward, Miami-Dade, and Palm Beach—and as their votes were reported Gore began to gain on Bush. By 4:30 a.m., after all votes were counted, Gore had narrowed Bush's margin to just over 2,000 votes, and the networks retracted their predictions that Bush had won Florida and the presidency. Gore, who had privately conceded the election to Bush, withdrew his concession. The final result in Florida was slim enough to require a mandatory recount (by machine) under state law; Bush's lead had dwindled to about 300 votes by the time it was completed later that week. A count of overseas military ballots later boosted his margin to about 900 votes.

Florida Supreme Court

At 4 AM EST on election night, NBC pundit Jonathan Alter predicted that Florida and the entire election would be settled in court.[58]

Most of the post-electoral controversy revolved around Gore's request for hand recounts in four counties (Broward, Miami Dade, Palm Beach, and Volusia), as provided under Florida state law. Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris announced she would reject any revised totals from those counties if they were not turned in by November 14, the statutory deadline for amended returns. The Florida Supreme Court extended the deadline to November 26, a decision later vacated by the U.S. Supreme Court. Miami-Dade eventually halted its recount and resubmitted its original total to the state canvassing board, while Palm Beach County failed to meet the extended deadline. On November 26, the state canvassing board certified Bush the winner of Florida's electors by 537 votes. Gore formally contested the certified results, but a state court decision overruling Gore was reversed by the Florida Supreme Court, which ordered a recount of over 70,000 ballots previously rejected by machine counters. The U.S. Supreme Court quickly halted that order the next day with the concurring opinion that a recount of votes "of questionable legality does [...] threaten irreparable harm" to Bush as "each manual recount produces a degradation of the ballots."[59]

On December 12, the Supreme Court ruled in a 7–2 vote that the Florida Supreme Court's ruling requiring a statewide recount of ballots was unconstitutional, and in a 5–4 vote that the Florida recounts could not be completed before a December 12 "safe harbor" deadline, and should therefore cease and the previously certified total should hold.

National results

Though Gore came in second in the electoral vote, he received 543,895 more popular votes than Bush.[2] Gore failed to win the popular vote in his home state, Tennessee, which both he and his father had represented in the Senate, making him the first major-party presidential candidate to have lost his home state since George McGovern lost South Dakota in 1972. Bush lost in Connecticut, the state of his birth. Bush is also the first Republican in American history to win the presidency without winning Vermont or Illinois, the second Republican to win the presidency without winning California (James A. Garfield in 1880 was the first), and the only winning Republican not to receive any electoral votes from California (Garfield received one vote in 1880).

Electoral results
Presidential candidate Party Home state Popular vote Electoral
vote 		Running mate
Count Percentage Vice-presidential candidate Home state Electoral vote
George W. Bush Republican Texas 50,456,002 47.87% 271 Dick Cheney Wyoming 271
Al Gore Democratic Tennessee 50,999,897 48.38% 266 Joe Lieberman Connecticut 266
Ralph Nader Green Connecticut 2,882,955 2.74% 0 Winona LaDuke Minnesota 0
Pat Buchanan Reform Virginia 448,895 0.43% 0 Ezola B. Foster California 0
Harry Browne Libertarian Tennessee 384,431 0.36% 0 Art Olivier California 0
Howard Phillips Constitution Virginia 98,020 0.09% 0 Curtis Frazier Missouri 0
John Hagelin Natural Law Iowa 83,714 0.08% 0 Nat Goldhaber California 0
Other(b) 51,186 0.05% — Other(b) —
(abstention)(a) — — — — 1 (abstention)(a) — 1
Total 105,405,100 100% 538 538
Needed to win 270 270

Source (Electoral and Popular Vote): Federal Elections Commission Electoral and Popular Vote Summary

(a) One faithless elector from the District of Columbia, Barbara Lett-Simmons, abstained from voting in protest of the District's lack of voting representation in the United States Congress. (D.C. has a non-voting delegate to Congress.) She had been expected to vote for Gore/Lieberman.
(b) results were Bush 18,075 (51.6%), Gore 16,549 (47.2%), and Browne 420 (1.2%).[60]

State results

Election results by county.
  Al Gore
  George W. Bush

States where the margin of victory was less than 5% (139 electoral votes):

  1. Florida, 0.0092%
  2. New Mexico, 0.06%
  3. Wisconsin, 0.22%
  4. Iowa, 0.31%
  5. Oregon, 0.44%
  6. New Hampshire, 1.27%
  7. Minnesota, 2.40%
  8. Missouri, 3.34%
  9. Ohio, 3.51%
  10. Nevada, 3.55%
  11. Tennessee, 3.86%
  12. Pennsylvania, 4.17%

States where the margin of victory was more than 5% but less than 10% (85 electoral votes):

  1. Maine, 5.12%
  2. Michigan, 5.14%
  3. Arkansas, 5.45%
  4. Washington, 5.57%
  5. Arizona, 6.28%
  6. West Virginia, 6.33%
  7. Louisiana, 7.67%
  8. Virginia, 8.03%
  9. Colorado, 8.36%
  10. Vermont, 9.93%

Data comes from http://www.fec.gov/pubrec/2000presgeresults.htm, a U.S. Government document.

State Bush Gore Nader Buchanan Browne Hagelin Phillips Others Total votes
cast 		Electoral votes,
Bush 		Electoral votes,
Gore
Alabama 941,173sm=n 692,611sm=n 18,323sm=n 6,351sm=n 5,893sm=n 447sm=n 775sm=n 699sm=n 1,666,272sm=n 9sm=n  sm=n
Alaska 167,398 79,004 28,747 5,192 2,636 919 596 1,068 285,560 3  
Arizona 781,652 685,341 45,645 12,373   1,120 110 5,775 1,532,016 8  
Arkansas 472,940 422,768 13,421 7,358 2,781 1,098 1,415   921,781 6  
California 4,567,429 5,861,203 418,707 44,987 45,520 10,934 17,042 34 10,965,856   54
Colorado 883,748 738,227 91,434 10,465 12,799 2,240 1,319 1136 1,741,368 8  
Connecticut 561,094 816,015 64,452 4,731 3,484 40 9,695 14 1,459,525   8
Delaware 137,288 180,068 8,307 777 774 107 208 93 327,622   3
D.C. 18,073 171,923 10,576   669     653 201,894   2[61]
Florida 2,912,790 2,912,253 97,488 17,484 16,415 2,281 1,371 3,028 5,963,110 25  
Georgia 1,419,720 1,116,230 13,432 10,926 36,332   140 24 2,596,804 13  
Hawaii 137,845 205,286 21,623 1,071 1,477 306 343  [62] 367,951   4
Idaho 336,937 138,637 12,292 7,615 3,488 1,177 1,469 6 501,621 4  
Illinois 2,019,421 2,589,026 103,759 16,106 11,623 2,127 57 4 4,742,123   22
Indiana 1,245,836 901,980 18,531 16,959 15,530 167 200 99 2,199,302 12  
Iowa 634,373 638,517 29,374 5,731 3,209 2,281 613 1,465 1,315,563   7
Kansas 622,332 399,276 36,086 7,370 4,525 1,375 1,254   1,072,218 6  
Kentucky 872,492 638,898 23,192 4,173 2,896 1,533 923 80 1,544,187 8  
Louisiana 927,871 792,344 20,473 14,356 2,951 1,075 5,483 1,103 1,765,656 9  
Maine 286,616 319,951 37,127 4,443 3,074   579 27 651,817   4
Maryland 813,797 1,145,782 53,768 4,248 5,310 176 919 1,480 2,025,480   10
Massachusetts 878,502 1,616,487 173,564 11,149 16,366 2,884   4,032 2,702,984   12
Michigan 1,953,139 2,170,418 84,165 1,851 16,711 2,426 3,791   4,232,501   18
Minnesota 1,109,659 1,168,266 126,696 22,166 5,282 2,294 3,272 1,050 2,438,685   10
Mississippi 572,844 404,614 8,122 2,265 2,009 450 3,267 613 994,184 7  
Missouri 1,189,924 1,111,138 38,515 9,818 7,436 1,104 1,957   2,359,892 11  
Montana 240,178 137,126 24,437 5,697 1,718 675 1,155 11 410,997 3  
Nebraska 433,862 231,780 24,540 3,646 2,245 478 468   697,019 5  
Nevada 301,575 279,978 15,008 4,747 3,311 415 621 3,315 608,970 4  
New Hampshire 273,559 266,348 22,198 2,615 2,757 55 328 1,221 569,081 4  
New Jersey 1,284,173 1,788,850 94,554 6,989 6,312 2,215 1,409 2,724 3,187,226   15
New Mexico 286,417 286,783 21,251 1,392 2,058 361 343   598,605   5
New York 2,403,374 4,107,697 244,030 31,599 7,649 24,361 1,498 1,791[63] 6,821,999   33
North Carolina 1,631,163 1,257,692   8,874 12,307     1,226 2,911,262 14  
North Dakota 174,852 95,284 9,486 7,288 660 313 373   288,256 3  
Ohio 2,351,209 2,186,190 117,857 26,724 13,475 6,169 3,823 10 4,705,457 21  
Oklahoma 744,337 474,276   9,014 6,602       1,234,229 8  
Oregon 713,577 720,342 77,357 7,063 7,447 2,574 2,189 3,419 1,533,968   7
Pennsylvania 2,281,127 2,485,967 103,392 16,023 11,248   14,428 934 4,913,119   23
Rhode Island 130,555 249,508 25,052 2,273 742 271 97 614 409,112   4
South Carolina 785,937 565,561 20,200 3,519 4,876 942 1,682   1,382,717 8  
South Dakota 190,700 118,804   3,322 1,662   1,781   316,269 3  
Tennessee 1,061,949 981,720 19,781 4,250 4,284 613 1,015 2,569 2,076,181 11  
Texas 3,799,639 2,433,746 137,994 12,394 23,160   567 137 6,407,637 32  
Utah 515,096 203,053 35,850 9,319 3,616 763 2,709 348 770,754 5  
Vermont 119,775 149,022 20,374 2,192 784 219 153 1,789 294,308   3
Virginia 1,437,490 1,217,290 59,398 5,455 15,198 171 1,809 2,636 2,739,447 13  
Washington 1,108,864 1,247,652 103,002 7,171 13,135 2,927 1,989 2,693 2,487,433   11
West Virginia 336,475 295,497 10,680 3,169 1,912 367 23 1 648,124 5  
Wisconsin 1,237,279 1,242,987 94,070 11,471 6,640 853 2,042 3,265 2,598,607   11
Wyoming 147,947 60,481 4,625 2,724 1,443 411 720   218,351 3  
Totals 50,456,002
47.87% 		50,999,897
48.38% 		2,882,955
2.74% 		448,895
0.42% 		384,431
0.36% 		83,714
0.08% 		98,020
0.09% 		51,186
0.05% 		105,405,100
100.00% 		271 266

Ballot access

Presidential ticket Party Ballot access Votes
Bush / Cheney Republican 50+DC 50,456,002
Gore / Lieberman Democratic 50+DC 50,999,897
Nader / LaDuke Green 43+DC 2,882,955
Buchanan / Foster Reform 49 448,895
Browne / Olivier Libertarian 49+DC 384,431
Phillips / Frazier Constitution 41 98,020
Hagelin / Goldhaber Natural Law 38 83,714

Aftermath

Post recount

After Florida was decided and Gore conceded, Texas Governor George W. Bush became the President-elect and began forming his transition committee.[64] In a speech on December 13, in the Texas House of Representatives chamber,[65] Bush stated he was reaching across party lines to bridge a divided America, saying, "the President of the United States is the President of every single American, of every race, and every background."[66]

On January 6, 2001, a joint session of Congress met to certify the electoral vote. Twenty members of the House of Representatives, most of them Democratic members of the Congressional Black Caucus, rose one-by-one to file objections to the electoral votes of Florida. However, according to an 1877 law, any such objection had to be sponsored by both a representative and a senator. No senator would co-sponsor these objections, deferring to the Supreme Court's ruling. Therefore, Gore, who presided in his capacity as President of the Senate, ruled each of these objections out of order.[67]

Subsequently, the joint session of Congress certified the electoral votes from all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Bush took the oath of office on January 20, 2001. He would serve for the next 8 years. Meanwhile, Gore declined to run for president in 2004 and 2008.

The first independent recount was conducted by The Miami Herald and USA Today. The Commission found that under most recount scenarios, Bush would have won the election, but Gore would have won using the most generous standards.[68]

Ultimately, a media consortium — comprising the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Tribune Co. (parent of the L.A. Times), Associated Press, CNN, Palm Beach Post and St. Petersburg Times[69] — hired the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago[70] to examine 175,010 ballots that were collected from the entire state, not just the disputed counties that were discounted; these ballots contained undervotes (votes with no choice made for president) and overvotes (votes made with more than one choice marked). Their goal was to determine the reliability and accuracy of the systems used for the voting process. The NORC concluded that if the disputes over the validity of all the ballots statewide in question had been consistently resolved and any uniform standard applied, the electoral result would have been reversed and Gore would have won by 107-115 votes if only two of the three coders had to agree on the ballot. When counting ballots wherein all three coders agreed, Gore would have won the most restrictive scenario by 127 votes and Bush would have won the most inclusive scenario by 110 votes.[71]

Subsequent analyses cast further doubt on conclusions that Bush likely would have won anyway, had the U.S. Supreme Court not intervened. An analysis of the NORC data by University of Pennsylvania researcher Steven F. Freeman and journalist Joel Bleifuss concluded that a recount of all uncounted votes using any standard (inclusive, strict, statewide or county by county), Gore would have been the victor[72] Such a statewide review including all uncounted votes was a very real possibility, as Leon County Circuit Court Judge Terry Lewis, whom the Florida Supreme Court had assigned to oversee the statewide recount, had scheduled a hearing for December 13 (mooted by the U.S. Supreme Court's final ruling on the 12th) to consider the question of including overvotes as well as undervotes, and subsequent statements by Judge Lewis and internal court documents support the liklihood of including overvotes in the recount.[5] Florida State University professor of public policy Lance deHaven-Smith observed that, even considering only undervotes, "under any of the five most reasonable interpretations of the Florida Supreme Court ruling, Gore does, in fact, more than make up the deficit."[73] Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting's analysis of the NORC study and media coverage of it supports these interpretations and criticizes the coverage of the study by media outlets such as the New York Times and the other media consortium members.[69]

Voting machines

Because the 2000 presidential election was so close in Florida, the United States government and state governments pushed for election reform to be prepared by the 2004 United States Presidential Election. Many of Florida's year 2000 election night problems stemmed from usability and ballot design factors with voting systems, including the potentially confusing "butterfly ballot". Many voters had difficulties with the paper-based punch card voting machines and were either unable to understand the required process for voting or unable to perform the process. This resulted in an unusual amount of overvote (voting for more candidates than is allowed) and undervotes (voting for fewer than the minimum candidates, including none at all). Many undervotes were potentially caused by either voter error or errors with the punch card paper ballots resulting in hanging, dimpled, or pregnant chad.

A proposed solution to these problems was the installation of modern electronic voting machines. The United States Presidential Election of 2000 spurred the debate about election and voting reform, but it did not end it.

Exit polling and declaration of vote winners

The Voter News Service's reputation was damaged by its treatment of Florida's presidential vote in 2000. Breaking its own guidelines, VNS called the state as a win for Gore 12 minutes before polls closed in the Florida panhandle. Although most of the state is in the Eastern Time Zone, counties in the Florida panhandle, located in the Central Time Zone, had not yet closed its polls. More seriously, inconsistent polling results caused the VNS to change its call twice, first from Gore to Bush, and then to "too close to call".

Also, charges of media bias were levied against the networks by Republicans. They claimed that the networks called states more quickly for Al Gore than for George W. Bush. Congress held hearings on this matter and the networks claimed to have no intentional bias in their election night reporting. However, a study of the calls made on election night 2000 indicated that states carried by Gore were called more quickly than states won by Bush; however, notable Bush states, like New Hampshire and Florida, were very close, and close Gore states like New Mexico were called late too.[74]

More consequences

In the aftermath of the election, the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) was passed to help states upgrade their election technology in the hopes of preventing similar problems in future elections. Unfortunately, the electronic voting systems that many states purchased to comply with HAVA actually caused problems in the presidential election of 2004.[75]

Many Democrats blame third party candidate Ralph Nader, claiming he split votes with Gore. Nader received 97,000 votes in Florida (for comparison, there were 111,251 overvotes).[76] Additionally, Nader received 22,000 votes in New Hampshire, where Bush beat Gore by 7,000 votes. Either state would have won the election for Gore. Defenders of Nader, including Dan Perkins, argued that the margin in Florida was small enough that Democrats could blame any number of third-party candidates for the defeat, including Workers World Party candidate Monica Moorehead, who received 1,500 votes.[77] But the controversy with Nader also drained energy from the Democratic party as divisive debate went on in the months leading up to the election. Nader's reputation was hurt by this perception, and may have hindered his goals as an activist. For example, Mother Jones wrote, "For evidence of how rank-and-file liberals have turned against Nader, one need look no further than the empire he created. Public Citizen, the organization (Nader) founded in 1971, has a new fundraising problem—its founder. After the election, contributions dropped... When people inquire about Nader's relationship to the organization, Public Citizen sends out a letter that begins with a startling new disclaimer: 'Although Ralph Nader was our founder, he has not held an official position in the organization since 1980 and does not serve on the board. Public Citizen—and the other groups that Mr. Nader founded—act independently.'"[78]

Democratic party strategist and Democratic Leadership Council (DLC) chair Al From expressed a different view. In the January 24, 2001, issue[79] of the DLC's Blueprint magazine,[80] he wrote, "I think they're wrong on all counts. The assertion that Nader's marginal vote hurt Gore is not borne out by polling data. When exit pollers asked voters how they would have voted in a two-way race, Bush actually won by a point. That was better than he did with Nader in the race."

See also

References

  1. ^ "Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections". uselectionatlas.org. Retrieved October 21, 2012.
  2. ^ a b http://www.fec.gov/pubrec/2000presgeresults.htm
  3. ^ a b Study of Disputed Florida Ballots Finds Justices Did Not Cast the Deciding Vote.
  4. ^ "Florida Ballots Project". Archived from the original on August 30, 2006. Retrieved August 30, 2006.
  5. ^ a b The Final Word? New Documents Raise Questions About News Media's Findings On The 2000 Presidential Election
  6. ^ "Nebraska's Kerrey bows out of 2000 presidential race". CNN. December 13, 1998.
  7. ^ York, Anthony (Sep. 2, 1999) "Life of the Party?" Salon News.
  8. ^ Dessauer, Carin (April 8, 1998). "Wellstone Launches Presidential Exploratory Committee". CNN.
  9. ^ "Gore, Lieberman prepare for public debut of Democratic ticket". CNN. August 8, 2000. [dead link]
  10. ^ "Statement of Candidacy". Federal Election Commission. Retrieved October 5, 2011.
  11. ^ "The Choice 2004". Frontline. October 12, 2004. PBS. WGBH-TV. {{cite episode}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); External link in |transcripturl= (help); Unknown parameter |city= ignored (|location= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |serieslink= ignored (|series-link= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |transcripturl= ignored (|transcript-url= suggested) (help)
  12. ^ "Interview with John McCain". Dadmag.com. June 4, 2000. Retrieved November 16, 2008.
  13. ^ a b c d e f g Starr, Alexandra (July/August 1999). "Running Mates: Who will be on the ticket in 2000?". The Washington Monthly. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  14. ^ a b Riley, Charles; Hornick, Ed (March 5, 2010). "Rove: Cheney 'squirmed' when offered VP spot". CNN. Retrieved March 10, 2010.
  15. ^ "Mississippi US President Republican Primary Race". March 14, 2000.
  16. ^ a b c d e f g h "US President—Republican Primaries Race". Our Campaigns. February 1, 2000. Retrieved November 16, 2008.
  17. ^ a b "New Hampshire US President—Republican Primary Race". Our Campaigns. February 1, 2000. Retrieved November 16, 2008.
  18. ^ Berke, Richard L. (October 25, 1999). "McCain Having to Prove Himself Even in Arizona". New York Times. Retrieved April 21, 2009. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help); More than one of |author= and |last= specified (help)
  19. ^ a b "Arizona US President—Republican Primary Race—Feb 22, 2000".
  20. ^ a b "Virginia US President—Republican Primary Race". Our Campaigns. February 29, 2000. Retrieved November 16, 2008.
  21. ^ "Missouri US President Republican Primary Race—Mar 7, 2000".
  22. ^ "Massachusetts US President Republican Primary Race—Mar 7, 2000".
  23. ^ "Wisconsin US President—Republican Primary Race—Apr 4, 2000".
  24. ^ "South Dakota US President—Republican Primary Race—Jun 6, 2000".
  25. ^ "Tennessee US President—Republican Primary Race—Mar 14, 2000".
  26. ^ "Ohio US President—Republican Primary Race—Mar 7, 2000".
  27. ^ "Nebraska US President Republican Primary Race—May 9, 2000".
  28. ^ a b "South Carolina US President—Republican Primary Race". Our Campaigns. February 19, 2000. Retrieved November 16, 2008. Cite error: The named reference "SCprimary" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  29. ^ "Candidate—Peter T. King".
  30. ^ "Candidate—Guy V. Molinari".
  31. ^ "Candidate—Roscoe G. Bartlett".
  32. ^ "Candidate—J. Kenneth Blackwell".
  33. ^ Sliming Palin, FactCheck.org (Sept. 8, 2008)
  34. ^ "OK US President—Republican Primary Race—Mar 14, 2000".
  35. ^ "Q&A with Socialist Party presidential candidate Brian Moore". Independent Weekly. October 8, 2008.
  36. ^ "Green Party Presidential Ticket—President: Ralph Nader, Vice President: Winona LaDuke". Thegreenpapers.com. Retrieved January 15, 2011.
  37. ^ "Libertarian Party Presidential Ticket—President: Harry Browne, Vice President: Art Olivier". Thegreenpapers.com. July 3, 2000. Retrieved January 15, 2011.
  38. ^ "Libertarian Party Presidential Ticket". The Green Papers. July 2, 2000. Retrieved November 16, 2008.
  39. ^ a b "Bob Bickford "2000 Presidential Status Summary (table)" ''Ballot Access News'' June 29, 2000". Web.archive.org. October 1, 2000. Archived from the original on September 17, 2002. Retrieved August 8, 2010.
  40. ^ Richard Winger "Natural Law Convention" Ballot Access News October 1, 2000 Volume 16, Number 7
  41. ^ "The Second Gore-Bush Presidential Debate". 2000 Debate Transcript. Commission on Presidential Debates. 2004. Archived from the original on April 3, 2005. Retrieved October 21, 2005.
  42. ^ "Election 2000 Archive". CNN/AllPolitics.com. Archived from the original on July 30, 2008. Retrieved November 16, 2008.
  43. ^ Rather, Dan. CBSNews.com. Out of the Shadows. Aug. 9, 2000.
  44. ^ The New York Times. When a Kiss Isn't Just a Kiss. Aug. 20, 2000.
  45. ^ "Greens.org". Greens.org. Retrieved May 28, 2010.
  46. ^ Jacob Weisberg (November 8, 2000). "Slate.com". Slate.com. Retrieved May 28, 2010.
  47. ^ "Nigerdeltacongress.com". Nigerdeltacongress.com. Retrieved May 28, 2010.
  48. ^ Meckler, Laura (Oct. 27, 2000) "GOP Group to Air Pro-Nader TV Ads." Washington Post.
  49. ^ "The 2000 Campaign: Campaign Briefing Published". The New York Times. September 5, 2000. Retrieved March 25, 2008.
  50. ^ "Commission on Presidential Debates". Debates.org. Retrieved October 14, 2012.
  51. ^ "Commission on Presidential Debates". Debates.org. Retrieved October 14, 2012.
  52. ^ "Commission on Presidential Debates". Debates.org. Retrieved October 14, 2012.
  53. ^ "Commission on Presidential Debates". Debates.org. Retrieved October 14, 2012.
  54. ^ "Open Debates | What Happened in 2000?". opendebates.org. 2011 [last update]. Retrieved 2012-08-13. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |year= (help)CS1 maint: year (link)
  55. ^ Goldberg, Carey (October 5, 2000). "THE 2000 CAMPAIGN: THE GREEN PARTY; Nader Wants Apology From Debate Panel for Turning Him Away". The New York Times. New York: NYTC. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved August 13, 2012.
  56. ^ Nader, Ralph (2002 [last update]). "Crashing the Party". naderlibrary.com. Retrieved 2012-08-13. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |year= (help)CS1 maint: year (link)
  57. ^ Winger, Richard (2002). "Ballot Access News -- May 1, 2002". web.archive.org. Archived from the original on June 4, 2003. Retrieved August 13, 2012.
  58. ^ "Election 2000 Florida, Florida, Florida". YouTube. November 12, 2011. Retrieved October 14, 2012.
  59. ^ "SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES. No. 00-949 (00A504) Bush v. Gore, On Application For Stay" (PDF). December 9, 2000.
  60. ^ "Bush Carries Guam". Ballot-Access.org. November 16, 2000. Archived from the original on April 25, 2002. Retrieved September 17, 2008.
  61. ^ The District of Columbia has 3 electoral votes. There was 1 abstention.
  62. ^ Write-in votes for presidential candidates not permitted
  63. ^ 138,216 Miscellaneous write-in, blank and void votes were compiled as one total. This figure is not included in Total Votes Cast.
  64. ^ Ian Christopher McCaleb (December 13, 2000). "Bush, now president-elect, signals will to bridge partisan gaps". CNN.com. Retrieved February 10, 2009.
  65. ^ "Bush Acceptance—December 13, 2000".
  66. ^ "George W. Bush statement—December 13, 2000". CNN. [dead link]
  67. ^ Congressional Record for January 6, 2001, page found 2012-03-17.
  68. ^ "Media Recount: Bush Won The 2000 election".
  69. ^ a b "Who Won the Election? Who Cares?". fair.org. Retrieved October 30, 2012.
  70. ^ "Florida Ballots Project". Norc.uchicago.edu. Archived from the original on Dec. 17, 2001. Retrieved 2010-05-28. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |archivedate= (help)
  71. ^ Wolter, K.M., Jergovic, D., Moore, W., Murphy, J. and O'Muirheartaigh, C. 2003. "Reliability of the Uncertified Ballots in the 2000 Presidential Election in Florida." American Statistician, 57(1):1-14.
  72. ^ Freeman, Steven & Bleifuss, Joel. Was the 2004 election stolen?: exit polls, election fraud, and the official count. Seven Stories Press, 2006, p. 41-47.
  73. ^ deHaven-Smith, Lance. The Battle for Florida: An Annotated Compendium of Materials from the 2000 Presidential Election. University Press of Florida, 2005, p. 39.
  74. ^ Uscinski, Joseph. 2007. "Too Close Too Call? Uncertainty and Bias in Election Night Reporting" Social Science Quarterly vol. 88,(1).
  75. ^ Freeman, Steven & Bleifuss, Joel. Was the 2004 election stolen?: exit polls, election fraud, and the official count. Seven Stories Press, 2006, p. 68-83.
  76. ^ "Overvote county summary". USA Today. May 10, 2001.
  77. ^ "This Modern World". Salon.com Comics.
  78. ^ Margolis, John (July/August 2001) Nader Unrepentant. Mother Jones.
  79. ^ "Building A New Progressive Majority by Al From". DLC. January 24, 2001. Retrieved January 15, 2011.
  80. ^ "Democratic Leadership Council: Blueprint Magazine". Ndol.org. Retrieved January 15, 2011.

Further reading

Books

  • Brinkley, Douglas (2001). 36 Days: The Complete Chronicle of the 2000 Presidential Election Crisis. Times Books. ISBN 0-8050-6850-3.
  • Steed, Robert P. (ed.), ed. (2002). The 2000 Presidential Election in the South: Partisanship and Southern Party Systems in the 21st Century. {{cite book}}: |editor= has generic name (help)
  • de La Garza, Rodolfo O. (ed.), ed. (2004). Muted Voices: Latinos and the 2000 Elections. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 0-7425-3590-8. {{cite book}}: |editor= has generic name (help)
  • Abramson, Paul R. (2002). Change and Continuity in the 2000 Elections. Washington, DC: CQ Press. ISBN 1-56802-740-0. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  • Bugliosi, Vincent (2001). The Betrayal of America: How the Supreme Court Undermined the Constitution and Chose Our President. Thunder's Mouth Press. ISBN 1-56025-355-X.
  • Corrado, Anthony (2001). Election of 2000: Reports and Interpretations. Chatham House Publishers. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  • Denton, Robert E., Jr. (2002). The 2000 Presidential Campaign: A Communication Perspective. Praeger.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  • Dershowitz, Alan M. (2001). Supreme Injustice: How the High Court Hijacked Election 2000. New York, NY: Oxford Univ. Press. ISBN 0-19-514827-4.
  • Dover, E. D. (2002). Missed Opportunity: Gore, Incumbency, and Television in Election 2000. Westport, Conn.: Praeger. ISBN 0-275-97638-6.
  • Dougherty, John E. (2001). Election 2000: How the Military Vote Was Suppressed. Cave Junction, OR: WorldNetDaily.com, Inc. ISBN 978-1-58939-065-2.
  • Gillman, H. (2001). The Votes That Counted: How the Court Decided the 2000 Presidential Election. Chicago, Ill.: Univ. of Chicago Press. ISBN 0-226-29408-0.
  • Moore, David W. (2006). How to Steal an Election: The Inside Story of How George Bush's Brother and FOX Network Miscalled the 2000 Election and Changed the Course of History. New York: Nation Press. ISBN 1-56025-929-9.
  • Jacobson, Arthur J. (2002). The Longest Night: Polemics and Perspectives on Election 2000. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  • Palast, Greg (2002). The Best Democracy Money Can Buy. Pluto Press. ISBN 0-7453-1846-0.
  • Posner, Richard A. (2001). Breaking the Deadlock: The 2000 Election, the Constitution, and the Courts. Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press. ISBN 0-691-09073-4.
  • Rakove, Jack N. (2002). The Unfinished Election of 2000. New York: Basic Books. ISBN 0-465-06837-5.
  • Sabato, Larry J. (2001). Overtime! The Election 2000 Thriller. New York: Longman. ISBN 0-321-10028-X.
  • Sammon, Bill (2001). At Any Cost: How Al Gore Tried to Steal the Election. Regnery Publishing, Inc. ISBN 0-89526-227-4.
  • Toobin, Jeffrey (2001). Too Close To Call: The Thirty-Six-Day Battle to Decide the 2000 Election. Random House. ISBN 0-375-50708-6.

Journal articles

  • Miller, Arthur H. (2003). "The Role of Issues in the 2000 U.S. Presidential Election". Presidential Studies Quarterly. 33 (1): 101+. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  • Wattenberg, Martin P. (1999). "The Democrats' Decline in the House during the Clinton Presidency: An Analysis of Partisan Swings". Presidential Studies Quarterly. 29 (3): 685. doi:10.1111/j.0268-2141.2003.00057.x.
  • Wattier, Mark J. (2004). "The Clinton Factor: The Effects of Clinton's Personal Image in 2000 Presidential Primaries and in the General Election". White House Studies. 4.
  • Tribe, Laurence H.: Erog .v Hsub and its Disguises: Freeing Bush v. Gore From its Hall of Mirrors, 115 Harvard Law Review 170 (November 2001).

Papers

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