Texas Governor George W. Bush and his vice presidential running mate Dick Cheney talk with reporters about election results.
Who will be the next President of the U.S.? For the first time that anyone can remember, Americans were still asking that question days after the voting was over. In the closest contest in more than 100 years, there was no clear-cut winner. Instead, anxious candidates and citizens were forced to wait as votes were recounted and questions were raised.
| Texas Governor George W. Bush and his vice presidential running mate Dick Cheney talk with reporters about election results. |
The election couldn't have been much closer. George W. Bush and his running mate, Dick Cheney, won 48% of the vote. Al Gore and Joseph Lieberman also won 48%. Gore appears to have won the popular vote by about 200,000. That's less than .1% of the more than 101 million votes cast!
It was a wild election night. Americans stayed up late watching the news but went to bed confused. Television news anchors announced that the winner was Gore, then Bush, then no one. Some newspapers printed stories declaring Bush the winner. Even the candidates got mixed up. At around 2 a.m. a disappointed Gore called Bush to congratulate him on his victory. Just 45 minutes later, Gore called Bush back to say he was not giving up.
"There's never been a night like this one," said Gore's campaign chairman, William Daley. "This race is simply too close to call!"
"Recount!" "Stay and fight!" shouted the people standing outside Gore headquarters in Nashville, Tennessee. They wanted a recount of a close-and disputed-Florida vote.
|  Al Gore, with running mate Joe Lieberman on November 8, tells a crowd in Tennessee that the election needs to be resolved in a "way that is fair." |
The Battle For Florida
Florida, with its 25 electoral votes, was in the eye of the electoral storm. As election night wore on, it became clear that the candidate who captured the Sunshine State would win the White House. Gore needed 15 electoral votes to reach the required 270. Bush needed 24.
Bush appeared to have won Florida, but by less than .5% of the vote. Florida law requires a recount when the results are so close. The Gore campaign sent former Secretary of State Warren Christopher to monitor the recount. Bush sent former Secretary of State James Baker. Bush's brother Jeb, who is Florida's Governor, excused himself from the process. An unofficial tally of Florida's 6 million votes gave Bush a narrow 327-vote lead.
Many Floridians complained about confusing ballots. In Palm Beach County, more than 19,000 votes were tossed out because people had voted twice for President. Some voters said that a confusing ballot led them to vote for Reform Party candidate Patrick Buchanan instead of Gore. Angry voters demanded a new vote.
|  Nader got just 4% of the vote but had a big role in the election. |
Every Vote Counts
Florida wasn't the only state where the race hinged on a small number of votes. In Wisconsin, Gore won by fewer than 6,000 votes. The Vice President lost in his home state of Tennessee by a narrow margin. "Bottom line: every vote matters," said Gore supporter Homer Carson. Overall, 51% of voting-age Americans cast ballots.
One major factor in the election was third-party candidate Ralph Nader. Nader won just 4% of the vote nationwide, but he may have pulled crucial votes away from Gore. Nader had hoped to get at least 5% of the vote. That would have qualified him and his Green Party to receive federal funds to help them run in 2004. He didn't get the money, but Nader claimed, "This is the beginning of the end of the two-party (system)."
The Nation Waits
Last week, with the possibility that he might win the popular vote but lose the electoral vote, Gore said he would follow "the rule of law." But Daley, his campaign manager, said that Gore would not concede until all of Florida's absentee ballots-votes mailed in by citizens overseas-are counted. That won't be until November 17. Meanwhile, America waits.
The bitter, hard-fought contest may have left bad feelings. But, said Bush, "America has a long tradition of uniting once elections are over." In January, the new President-whoever he is-will have to work with both Democrats and Republicans if he wants to unite and lead the nation.