The United States presidential election in the year 2000 was one of the most controversial of its kind in history. The race was incredibly close throughout the entire campaign and called for a month of recounts, and court challenges. Based on the conclusion of the court case, Bush v. Gore, George W. Bush was announced as the winner over Vice President Al Gore due to 537 votes cast in Florida. Before any winner was announced, however, they had to campaign. Both men focused their campaigns on domestic issues like the price of prescription drugs, education, financial reform, and Social Security. Both candidates suggested that their plans would decrease the national deficit.
Gore began his campaign against Bush with a strong background. The fact that he served as vice president for eight years under President Bill Clinton during a time when the economy was thought to still be doing well is part of what helped him win the Democratic primary so easily. However, because of the scandal surrounding Clinton’s impeachment in 1998, Gore had no interest in using that information as a basis for his election. As it was, Clinton didn’t do much to help Gore in his campaign anyway. Gore’s goals were to balance adopting the strong economy from the previous administration while steering away from the moral mistakes of Clinton.
For his part, Bush emerged from the Republican primary fairly untouched. After all, the fact that he was the son of a former president certainly gave him a strong hand. Plus, he served successfully as the governor of Texas just prior to running for president, which earned him votes from many Latino voters, a demographic that Republicans have always struggled to earn votes from. The press immediately began to attack his tendency to mix up or mispronounce words which sometimes put him a step backwards in debates.
The most famous part about the United States presidential election of 2000 was the recounting of votes in Florida. There has been an amount of speculation as to what might have happened differently if recounts had occurred under different rules. Multiple scenarios were published in various newspapers. Some conclude that Bush still would have won while others suggest that Gore could have under different circumstances. Speculation was useless, however, because the votes stood thus: Bush: 50,460,110 popular votes (47.9%); 271 Electoral College votes. Gore: 51,003,926 popular votes (48.4%); 266 Electoral College votes. Based on the numbers, Bush was made the new president by an obviously slim margin in the Electoral College.