Overall people happy with the economy but disappointed with Clinton’s personal behavior Republican nomination was between George W. Bush & John.

2000 Presidential Election

2000 Candidates for President Overall people happy with the economy but

disappointed with Clinton’s personal behavior Republican nomination was between George

W. Bush & John McCain• Most Republican leaders supported Bush = popular

with conservative Republicans• Bush won the nomination & chose former defense

secretary Richard Cheney as his VP Democrats nominated Clinton’s Vice

President Al Gore & Joseph Lieberman• Lieberman was the 1st Jewish American ever to run for

VP on a major party ticket

2000 CampaignWhat do we do with surplus tax revenues?? Bush & Gore agreed that Social Security needed

reform but they disagreed on how to reform Both promised the following:

• to cut taxes (Bush’s tax cut was larger than Gore’s)• to improve public education• to support plans to help seniors pay for prescription drugs

Gore campaigned that he and Clinton brought back prosperity to the US• Many voters concerned with the decline in moral values• Bush promised to restore dignity to the White House

Ralph Nader entered as the nominee of the Green Party

2000 Election The 2000 election was one of the closest in American

history Gore narrowly won the popular vote with 48.4% and

Bush received 47.9% • Remember: Candidates need the majority of state electoral

votes, not overall popular vote Neither candidate had the 270 electoral votes needed

to win The election came down to the Florida vote—both

needed its 25 electoral votes• Results in FL were so close that state law required they recount

the ballots using vote-counting machines• Problem was that thousands of ballots were thrown out because

the counting machines couldn’t read a vote for president• Gore asked for a hand recount of ballots

Florida ballots required voters to punch a hole

The little piece of cardboard that is punched out of the ballot is called a chad

The problem for vote counters was how to count the ballot when the chad was still partially attached• On some, the chad was still in place and the

voter had left only a dimple on the surface of the ballot

When looking at the ballots, vote counters had to determine what the voter intended – and different counties used different standards

2000 Election Officials had to certify the results by a certain

date Not all of the recounts could be finished in time

• Gore went to court & the Florida Supreme Court set a new deadline

• Bush requested the US Supreme Court intervened to decide whether the Florida Supreme Court had acted unconstitutionally

Hand recounts continued Despite having more time, not all of the

counties were able to meet the new deadline • On November 26, Florida certified Bush the winner by

537 votes

Bush v. Gore The US Supreme Court ruled 7-2 that the

hand recounts in FL violated the Constitution• Because different vote counters used different

standards, the recount did not treat all voters equally• Both federal law & the Constitution require the

electoral votes for president be cast on a certain day• The Court ruled 5-4 that there was not enough time to

conduct a manual recount that would pass constitutional standards

The ruling left Bush as the certified winner in Florida

Bush Becomes President

On January 20, 2001, George W. Bush became the 43rd president of the United States.

Presidential Goals:

• improve the nation’s public schools

• cut taxes• reform Social

Security and Medicare

• build up the nation’s defenses.

Early Domestic & Foreign Policy

Domestic Policy: 1) Passed a $1.35 trillion tax cut to be phased in over 10

years• Put back about $40 billion into the economy to prevent a recession

2) Passed NCLB (No Child Left Behind)• Hold annual standardized tests in reading and math for grades 3-8• Wanted to allow parents to use federal funds to pay for private schools

if public schools were doing a poor job measure failed

Foreign Policy: 1) Wanted to increase military spending but with new

programs designed for the post-Cold War world 2) Military program strategic defense the effort to

develop missiles and other devices that could shoot down nuclear missiles• Needed because unfriendly nations were developing the technology to

build nuclear missiles