Intro 5

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Chapter ObjectivesSection 4: The 2000 Election

• Describe the unusual circumstances surrounding the outcome of the 2000 presidential election.

Section 4-1

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Guide to Reading

The closest presidential election in American history served as the prelude to the new century. The new president initiated an ambitious program.

• Al Gore

Main Idea

Key Terms and Names

• George W. Bush • Ralph Nader

• chad

The Electoral College

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• The number of electors in a state is equal to the total number of Congressmen (Members of the House + two Senators) that a state has.

• Winner Takes All - If a candidate wins a state, he wins ALL of the electoral votes.

(pages 906–909)(pages 906–909)

The Electoral College

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• This system makes it possible to win the popular vote, but lose the electoral vote.

• Candidate A

• Wins New Mexico (5) 500,000 -100,000

• Wins Oklahoma (7) 700,000 – 400,000

• Wins Hawaii (4) 300,000 – 200,000

• Candidate B

• Wins Texas (34) 2,5000,000 – 2,400,000

• Candidate A – 3,900,000 popular votes – 16 electoral votes

• Candidate B – 3,300,000 popular votes – 34 electoral votes

The Electoral College

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• Prior to the 2000 election, this had only happened twice in American History in 1876 and 1888.

The 2000 Election

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• Vice President Al Gore was the Democratic candidate.

• He chose Joseph Lieberman as his vice-presidential nominee – first Jewish nominee in U.S. History.

(pages 906–909)(pages 906–909)

The 2000 Election

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• The Republican candidate was George W. Bush, son of former President George Bush.

• He chose Dick Cheney as his vice presidential candidate.

(pages 906–909)(pages 906–909)

• Ralph Nader of the Green Party was the only major challenge to the party candidates.

• Patrick Buchanan enters the race as the candidate of the Reform Party and did take key votes.

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The 2000 Election

• On election day, voters split almost evenly.

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(pages 906–909)(pages 906–909)

The 2000 Election

• The election came down to the state of Florida.

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(pages 906–909)(pages 906–909)

The 2000 Election

• The results in Florida were so close that state law required a recount of the ballots using vote-counting machines.

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(pages 906–909)(pages 906–909)

The 2000 Election

• The machines threw out thousands of ballots because they could not determine a vote for president, so Gore asked for a hand recount.

• Many Florida residents complained about a “confusing” butterfly ballot that caused many of them to vote for Pat Buchanan rather than Al Gore.

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(pages 906–909)(pages 906–909)

The 2000 Election

• Vote counters tried to determine what voters intended, and different counties used different standards.

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(pages 906–909)(pages 906–909)

The 2000 Election

• When it became clear that not all of the recounts would be finished on time, Gore went to court to overturn the deadline.

• The Florida Supreme Court (mostly Democrat appointments) set a new deadline for completion of the recounts.

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(pages 906–909)(pages 906–909)

The 2000 Election

• The United States Supreme Court overturned the Florida Supreme Court decision to extend the deadline, and George W. Bush was named president.

The 2000 Election

The Supreme Court is suppose to be above politics, but the 5-4 decision to stop the recount in Florida fell along conservative/liberal lines.

A Partisan Decision?

Against the Recount

William Rehnquist (Reagan)

Sandra Day O’Conner (Reagan)

Antonin Scalia (Reagan)

Clarence Thomas (Bush)

Anthony Kennedy (Reagan)

In Favor of the recount

Stephen Breyer (Clinton)

David Souter (Bush)

Ruth Ginsburg (Clinton)

John Paul Stevens (Ford)

The 2000 Election• George Bush wins the Electoral Vote 271-266

• Al Gore wins the popular vote by 543,895 votes.

The final “official” numbers of Florida (Bush 271 electoral votes)

If they would of recounted, how do you recount?

George Bush Al Gore R. Nader P. Buchanan

2,912,790 2,912,253 (-537) 97,488 17,484

Before the U.S. Supreme Court ordered the Florida recount to stop, the numbers still had Bush winning by 154 votes.

There have been studies of the numbers and depending on who you believe, Bush may have still won by as many as 493 votes or Gore may have won by as many as 171 votes.

Losing the “home states”

Tennessee (11) Al Gore lost his home state that both he and his father had served in as U.S. Senators. Bill Clinton was also able to carry Tennessee in both 1992 and 1996, yet Gore lost by 3.86% of the vote.

Had he won: Gore 277 – Bush 260

Arkansas (6) Al Gore could not carry Bill Clinton’s home state (although Clinton won it in both 1992 and 1996) and lost by 5.45% of the vote.

Had he won: Gore 272 – Bush 265

Did it just come down to Florida??

Did it just come down to Florida??

The Ohio River Valley

Ohio (21) With its strong union ties, Ohio went to Bill Clinton in both 1992 and 1996 yet to the surprise of many went to Bush in 2000 by 3.51%.

Had he won: Gore 287 – Bush 250

West Virginia (5) Another state Clinton won in both 1992 and 96, Al Gore lost West Virginia by less than 40,000 votes largely due to his environmental policies against “mountaintop removal” coal mining that the EPA saw as dangerous.

Had he won: Gore 271 – Bush 266

Did it just come down to Florida??

The New England loss

New Hampshire (4) The closest Gore loss outside of Florida was New Hampshire which Clinton won in 1992 and 96 (and Kerry would win in 2004). Gore lost this state by 7,211 votes (1.27%) that can largely be attributed to the liberal leaning Green Party’s Ralph Nader drawing over 22,000 votes.

Had he won: Gore 270 – Bush 267

Had Al Gore won any of the states mention before, surely the Bush camp would have the argument of the numerous states that Gore barely won.

Of the five states won by less than 1% of the vote, Gore won four.

Did it just come down to Florida??

Al Gore George Bush Difference

Florida (25) 2,912,253 2,912,790 537 votes

New Mexico (5) 286,783 286,417 366 votes

Wisconsin (11) 1,242,987 1,237,279 5,708 votes

Iowa (7) 638,517 634,373 4,144 votes

Oregon (7) 720,342 713,577 6,765 votes

End of Section 4