|
===2000 campaign===
{{seemain|U.S. presidential election, 2000}}
Advisers convinced George W.Before Bush that 2000 would be the right time to run for president. He had more than enough money, and the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]] lacked any single strong candidate. Before he had even committed to the race, he was the clear favorite in the polls. During [[George W. Bush presidential campaign, 2000|Bush's 2000 presidential election campaign]], he declared himself a "[[compassionate conservatism|compassionate conservative]]", a term coined by [[University of Texas at Austin]] professor [[Marvin Olasky]]. Inand the general election, Bush'shis [[political campaign]] promised to "restore honor and dignity to the White House." andBush pledgedproposed alowering hugetaxes [[tax cut]]in intendedresponse to return a large part of the projected budget surplus back to the taxpayers. Among other issues, hesupported alsoparticipation advocated allowingof [[religion|religious]] [[charity|charities|charity]] to participate in federally funded programs, promotingand the use ofpromoted [[education vouchers]], supporting [[oil drilling]] in the [[Arctic National Wildlife Refuge]], maintaining a balanced [[United States budget process|budget]], and restructuringstructural changes to the [[United States armed forces]].
[[Image:GoreBush.jpg|thumb|left|Al Gore greets President-elect Bush at the White House in late December of 2000.]]
Bush lost the [[New Hampshire primary]] to [[United States Senate|Senator]] [[John McCain]] of [[Arizona]], but rebounded to capture 9 of 13 [[Super Tuesday]] states, effectively clinching the nomination. Bush then chose [[Dick Cheney]], a former [[United States House of Representatives|U.S. Representative]] and [[United States Secretary of Defense|Secretary of Defense]] for Bush's father, as his [[running mate]]. AfterOn monthsNovember of campaigning7, election night2000, heldtelevision Novembernetworks 7,called 2000,the turnedclose outrace closerfirst thanfor anticipated.his opponent Television[[Vice networksPresident calledof the closeUnited raceStates|Vice firstPresident]] for[[Al Gore]], then for Bush, and finally declared that it was too close to call. Al Gore, who had conceded the election inand a phone call to Bush,then rescinded that concession less than one hour later. WhenThough Bush had 47.9% of the race[[popular wasvote]] finallyand adjudicatedGore had 48.4%, Bushthe was[[U.S. declaredElectoral toCollege|electoral havevotes]] defeatedwere Democraticless candidateclear. The [[ViceFlorida]] Presidentvote count, which favored Bush in preliminary tallies, was contested over allegations of irregularities in the Unitedvoting States|Viceand Presidenttabulation processes. Allegations included confusing ballots, defective voting machines, faulty [[absentee ballot]]s from the military, and the illegal barring of some voters. In the ''[[AlBush v. Gore]]'' Supreme Court case, winningBush was determined to have won the Florida vote, giving him 271 [[U.S. Electoral College|electoral votes]] to Gore's 266,; Bush carryingcarried 30 of the 50 states. GoreSeveral hadmonths receivedlater a pluralitygroup of thenewspapers nationalcommissioned populara votestudy of what would have happened had the roughlySupreme 105,000,000Court votesallowed cast,the withstatewide Bushmanual receivingrecount 50to continue. The researchers conducting the study concluded that,456,002 votesunder (47.9%)the andstandard Gorefor 50,999assessing ballots in use during the actual count,897 (48Bush would still have won.4%) However, butother thisreasonable factcounting ismethods notwould relevanthave ingiven decidingthe U.S.victory presidentialto elections.Bush in Notablefour third-partycases candidatesand includedGore in four others.[http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/89693365.html?did=89693365&FMT=ABS&FMTS=FT&date=Nov+13%2C+2001&author=&pub=Los+Angeles+Times&desc=Ballot-Count+Scenarios+in+Bush-Gore+2000][Greenhttp://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2001/florida.ballots/stories/main.html] PartySince (Unitedthe States)|GreenSupreme Party]]Court candidatedid [[Ralphnot Nader]]allow (2the recount to continue,695,696 votes/2.7%)no one knows what standard might have been prescribed by it, [[Reformor Partyby ofa lower court at its direction, had the Unitedrecount Statesbeen ofreinstated. America|ReformIn Party]]the candidatefinal [[Patofficial Buchanan]]count, Bush had won Florida by only 537 votes (4492,895912,790 for Bush to 2,912,253 for Gore) [http://0www.4%)fec.gov/pubrec/2000presgeresults.htm], earning the needed 25 electoral votes and [[Libertarianthe Partypresidency. (UnitedBush States)|Libertarian]]was candidateinaugurated [[HarryJanuary Browne20]] (386,024 votes/0.4%)[[2001]].
TheNot [[U.S. presidential election, 2000|2000 election]] wassince the first since [[Benjamin Harrison]]'s [[U.S. presidential election, 1888|1888 election]] to producehad a winner thatfailed did notto receive a plurality of the [[popular vote]]. It was the first since [[Rutherford Hayes]] wassincethe [[U.S. presidential election, 1876|elected1876 in 1876election]] in which the [[Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court]] affected the decision. The [[Florida]] vote count, which favored Bush in preliminary tallies, was contested over allegations of irregularities in the voting and tabulation processes. Allegations of confusing ballots, defective voting machines, faulty [[absentee ballot]]s from the military, and the alleged illegal barring of many voters threw the process into chaos.
A series of court cases ensued over the legality of county-specific and statewide recounts. After machine and manual recounts in four counties, and with Bush still prevailing, the [[Florida Supreme Court]] ordered a statewide manual recount of all counties. The [[U.S. Supreme Court]], upon appeal from the Bush campaign (''[[Bush v. Gore]]''), overturned the decision and halted all recounts. After the ruling, Gore reinstated his concession. Several months later a group of newspapers commissioned a study of what would have happened had the Supreme Court allowed the statewide manual recount to continue. The researchers conducting the study concluded that, under the standard for assessing ballots in use during the actual count, Bush would still have won. However, other reasonable counting methods would have given the victory to Bush in four cases and Gore in four others.[http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/89693365.html?did=89693365&FMT=ABS&FMTS=FT&date=Nov+13%2C+2001&author=&pub=Los+Angeles+Times&desc=Ballot-Count+Scenarios+in+Bush-Gore+2000][http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2001/florida.ballots/stories/main.html] Since the Supreme Court did not allow the recount to continue, no one knows what standard might have been prescribed by it, or by a lower court at its direction, had the recount been reinstated. In the final official count, Bush had won Florida by only 537 votes (2,912,790 for Bush to 2,912,253 for Gore) [http://www.fec.gov/pubrec/2000presgeresults.htm], earning the needed 25 electoral votes and the presidency. Bush was inaugurated [[January 20]], [[2001]].
===2004 campaign===
|
