The end of the first millennium came along with the end of Bill Clintons second

presidential term. People of the United States of America were in peace, economy was strong,

and the nation was satisfied. Even though people supported policies that Clinton promoted

and practiced, they did not like the president himself, due to his involvement in an

inappropriate scandal. Upcoming presidential elections presented a political battle between

sons of influential and respectable political figures, which is one of the most discussed and

unusual battles in the history of United States of America. The incumbent, Democratic party

wanted to retain the presidency with Albert Gore, who was a notable and well-known vice

president at the time. Opposition, that is the Republican party, chose a rather unfamiliar and

inexperienced player with whom they could return their control over the White House. That

Republican was George W. Bush, governor of Texas and son of the last Republican president,

George Bush. While Al Gore was present and involved in the political scene for a long time,

Bush was relatively new, but presented a real challenge.1

Albert Arnold Al Gore, Junior was born on March thirty-first in 1948. He was

named after his father, a United States senator, Albert Arnold Senior. He was educated at a

private school in Washington, but when Congress was not in session he attended a public

school in Carthage. He was an excellent, well-rounded student, unbelievably good at

everything. While growing up next to a political figure, he got familiar with politics at a

young age. He finished Harvard, majoring in government. The first time he got involved in

politics was in 1976, running for Congress.2 Twenty-four years later, in 2000, he became the

fourth vice president since 1960 who, after the incumbent retired, was nominated for

president. He received his nomination in the summer of 2000 at national conventions. He

started an effective campaign in Iowa and New Hampshire, states that usually first select

1 Edwin D. Dover, The Disputed Presidential Election of 2000, (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2003), 56-57.
2 No author, "Albert A. Gore, Jr., 45th Vice President (1993-2001)," United States Senate, no date,
<http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/generic/VP_Albert_Gore.htm> (22 October 2012).
delegates. Al Gore won primaries in both Iowa and New Hampshire. March seventh, also

called Super Tuesday, eleven states were to cast their votes, three of which were key states:

New York, Ohio, and California. Al Gore won all eleven primaries which lead to withdrawing

of his competitor, Bill Bradley, from the race. With Bradleys withdrawal came a clichd

nomination for Al Gore.3

Al Gores presidential campaign started on August seventeenth, 2000, on the final

night of convention. When he received the nomination, he kissed his wife Tipper, declared

himself as his own man, and gave the acceptance speech.4 One of Albert Gores campaign

techniques was to target Michigan and other industrial states which were vital to the base. His

campaign committee was mostly writing off the South, except for Florida with its large

population of Jewish citizens. The campaign also attempted to win the argument on family

values, and offered extended daycare and tax reduction for college tuition. The campaigns

main approach was taking George W. Bush at his word that he wished for an eleven-week

debate over the issues. The Gore campaign cast a heavy assault on some points of Bushs

record in Texas. They hoped to force Bush to go negative and then accuse him of tactical

hypocrisy.5

Al Gore worked hard on promoting his policies on some domestic issues such as

abortion, social security, medicare, and gun control. He had made a vow to defend a womans

right to abortion and believed in the right of privacy stated in the fourth amendment. Al Gore

also promised to protect and enlarge the governments support systems of school for children,

Medicare, and Social Security.6 In addition, he made a promise not to do a single thing which

3 Dover, 77.
4 Dover, 79.
5 Howard Fineman, et al, How Al Got His Bounce, Newsweek, 28 August 2000, 22.
6 Fineman, et al, 28.
would affect the rights of hunters or sportsmen. He wanted to restore the three-day waiting

period, toughen gun laws which were already in action, and have gun free schools.7

He also promoted his policy on foreign issue regarding China, where he supported

having regular trade relations with China because he believed it would be beneficial to the

American economy and the cause of reform in China. Another foreign policy dealt with

intervention. In multiple debates, interviews, and speeches, Gore spoke of his beliefs in

vigorous American intervention overseas, unlike the Democratic philosophy for a majority of

the time after the war in Vietnam ended. He expressed his policy on Taiwan, as well, saying

that America should have diplomacy with balancing Taiwan and our trade status with China.

He implied that we could not add aggressions on either side of the Taiwan Straits and that

some missile defenses are within the boundaries of the relationship.8

As the Election Day was approaching, both candidates worked hard and invested

significant amounts of money and time in their campaigns. Since June first in 2000, Al Gore

and Bush had spent together eighteen million dollars on their campaigns. Bush spent

$8,719,318 on his campaign, dominating in states like Florida, North Carolina, and the

Democratic part of California. Al Gore, on the other hand, spent $7,348,302 on his

democratic campaign, focusing on Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and New Mexico.9

During the final week, it had become obvious that the Florida vote turnout would be

significant for the victory of either of the candidates. Al Gore was in lead in California and

New York, while Bush had Texas. Florida was the only large state that was divided, and it

was hard to predict to whom its electoral vote will go. Both candidates devoted time, energy,

and money to Florida registering voters, delivering absentee ballots, organizing Election Day

and providing voters transport to their polling places. On Election Day, Florida was one of

7 Jesse Gordon, Al Gore on Gun Control, On the Issues, 30 May 2012, <http://www.issues2000.org/celeb/Al
Gore Foreign Policy.htm> (23 October 2012).
8 Gordon, "Al Gore on Gun Control".
9 Scott, Schelle, Bush campaign spending increases; draws even with Gore, University of Wisconsin-Madison
News, 19 September 2000, <http://www.news.wisc.edu/5317> (21 October 2012).
the first states to finish voting. Voter News Service, a consortium of networks that provides

media with election outcomes, declared Al Gore as a winner in Florida. However, this

projection was not quite truthful. Bush was in lead in early voting counting, but Voter News

Service predicted that Al Gore would surpass him when votes from Democratic counties were

counted. This was the start of one of the most famous election controversies, known as the

Florida Controversy.10

Al Gores overall in Florida was not increasing fast enough to meet the predictions, so

medias recalled their projection and called Floridas outcome as undecided, and a couple of

hours later announced Bush as the winner. Gaining twenty-five electoral votes from Florida,

Bush had 271 electoral votes, so all television networks declared George W. Bush as the next

president of the United States of America. Simultaneously, Al Gores turnout was rising faster

and reducing difference to less than 2,000 votes. Once again, medias canceled their projection

and indicated that there were some irregularities that required a state-wide recount. At that

point, Al Gore had 267, while Bush had 246 electoral votes, which was insufficient for

victory since no one had required 270 electoral votes, so winning Florida meant winning the

presidential election. Florida law requires an automatic recount where the difference is less

than half of one percent, and since Bush was in lead with only 1,764 votes, neither of the

candidates could be called winners. Democrats thought the automatic recount would have the

same results and demanded for a manual recount in four counties that had mainly voted

Democratic in the past.11

The problem laid in punch card ballots. Those were the ballots that were used in some

countries, where a voter punched out a perforation next to the candidates name he or she was

voting for. Then the ballots were counted by a machine that recognizes holes and tabulates

votes. The complication was that sometimes perforations, or chads, would not fall off, so

10 Dover, 84.
11 Dover, 85.
the machine could not read and count the vote. Gore asked for a manual recount of these

ballots, while Bush campaign interpreted it as the voter did not want to cast a vote, thus those

votes should not be acknowledged.

Al Gore was so close to winning; he did not want to give up. Florida law states that

the candidate must request recount from individual counties, not the complete state, but also

requires from the secretary of state to accredit all the votes that are counted seven days after

the election is final. Since manual recounts call for a lot of time, only one county submitted

its final result, while the remaining three submitted partially recounted results, by deadline.

After certifying these votes, Bush was only three hundred votes ahead, but it was still enough

for him to win.

Absentee ballots that came outside the country from military installations had to be

certified, according to the federal law, which increased Bushs lead by 630 votes, leaving Al

Gore behind 930 votes. Due to contradictions in Florida law, Al Gore had more opportunities

of overtaking Bush. There are two places in Florida law that discuss the issue of certifying

votes after Election Day. On one place it is stated that votes after the seventh day will not be

acknowledged, will on the other place the word may not be acknowledged is used. Al Gore

filled a lawsuit and a court case allowed for flexible interpretation and moved the deadline to

November the twenty-sixth. By the end of that deadline, another county submitted final votes,

one county abandoned the recount, while one county submitted votes from the Election Day.

Bushs leading was once again reduced on only 537 votes. Another lawsuit was filled by Al

Gore, oppugning the election. Florida Supreme Court ruled in his favor and ordered a manual

recount of all disputed ballots that have not been certified by that point. After this, Al Gore

was only 154 votes behind Bush.

On December the twelfth in 2000, United States Supreme Court annulled Florida

Supreme Courts decision and stopped the recount. It also recalled all votes that were
certified after the twenty-sixth of November, and thereby made George W. Bush the next

president, with 537 votes ahead of Al Gore in Florida and total of 271 electoral votes. U.S.

Supreme Court interfered because the recount violated the Equal Protection Clause of the

fourteenth amendment, because Florida did not have a standard for acknowledging ballots.

Florida law said that a ballot is valid and should be counted if the voters intention is clear,

which gave counties space to interpret it differently.12

At the end, U.S. Supreme Court ended this Florida controversy and made Al Gore the

first candidate to win the popular vote but lose the electoral college since 1888, with 266

electoral votes and 50,999,897 (48.4%) popular votes, while Bush had 271 electoral votes

and 50,456,002 (47.9%). He said that he disagreed with the Courts decision, but accepted

it.13

Even though Al Gore had an effective campaign, he made some mistakes during that

period. His biggest mistake was distancing from former president Bill Clinton. Al Gore

thought Clintons scandal might reflex negatively on his image, so he tried to embrace

Clintons policies, which were appreciated by the nation, although not Bill himself, but he did

not manage to do it effectively. On the acceptance speech he declared himself as his own

man, trying to break every link to Clinton. In a process of creating a public image, he

switched his blue suits to casual earth tones, which gave impression of a person who was not

comfortable with himself. His biggest flaw was inability to express truly, because he was an

uneasy public speaker. In debates, even though he was better informed, Bush seemed more

confident.14

Maybe if he had not made these mistakes, there would have never been a Florida

controversy and he would have been the indisputable winner. What might have happened if

12 Dover, 86.
13 James R. Whitson, "President Elect", The Unofficial Home of the Electoral College, no date,
<http://www.presidentelect.org/e2000.html> (23 October, 2012).
14 "Albert A. Gore, Jr., 45th Vice President (1993-2001)", no date,
<http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/generic/VP_Albert_Gore.htm> (20 October 2012).
the Supreme Court had not interfered will remain a mystery, but it was one of the most

important presidential battles that drew attention on how important electoral college is, and

how a candidate can be so close to winning, yet so far.