GW Bush

1. Election Night Confusion
 Democrats nominate Vice President Al Gore
 Republicans choose Texas governor George W. Bush
 Ralph Nader, Green Party, promote environment,
liberal causes

2. Election Night Confusion
 Close race: Florida electoral votes needed to win
presidency
 As votes counted, lead shifts repeatedly between
Gore, Bush
 Bush wins by narrow margin, this triggers
automatic recount

3. Dispute Rages in Florida
 Recount gives Bush narrow win
 Alleged voting irregularities in several counties
 Gore campaign requests manual recount in 4
Democratic counties

4. Review of all ballots statewide (never undertaken)
• Standard as set by each county canvassing board during their survey Gore by 171
• Fully punched chad and limited marks on optical ballots Gore by 115
• Any dimples or optical mark Gore by 107
• One corner of chad detached or optical mark Gore by 60
Review of limited sets of ballots (initiated but not completed)
• Gore request for recounts of all ballots in Broward, Miami-Dade, Palm
Beach, and Volusia counties
Bush by 225
• Florida Supreme Court of all undervotes statewide Bush by 430
• Florida Supreme Court as being implemented by the counties, some of
whom refused and some counted overvotes as well as undervotes
Bush by 493
Unofficial recount totals
• Incomplete result when the Supreme Court stayed the recount
(December 9, 2000)
Bush by 154
Certified Result (official final count)
• Recounts included from Volusia and Broward only Bush by 537
2000 Florida Election Recount

5. The Battle Moves to the Courts
 Republicans sue to stop manual recounts; court
battles begin
 Supreme Court votes to stop recounts: lack
uniform standards
 Bush gets electoral votes from Florida, wins
presidency

6. Protestors clash outside the US Supreme Court while court listens to arguments in Bush
v. Gore

7. Antiterrorist Measures
 After September 11,
antiterrorism bill passes
 Department of Homeland
Security created to combat
terrorism
 U.S.-led coalition breaks up
al-Qaeda in Afghanistan
 2004, Hamid Karzai is first
democratically elected
Afghan leader
Photo showing collision of second airplane
into World Trade Center – September 11,
2001

8. War Against Iraq
 Bush: says Iraq has weapons of
mass destruction (WMD)
 Fears Saddam Hussein will
give WMD to terrorists
 Bush calls for renewed arms
inspections; Saddam limits
cooperation
 2003, U.S., Britain oust Iraqi
regime, capture Saddam
 No WMD found
Iraqi President Saddam Hussein

9. Domestic Agenda
 Bush’s education reform plan, No Child Left Behind,
passes
 Corporate accounting scandals negatively affect weak
economy
 Congress sets up regulatory board over accounting
industry
 Congress passes Bush’s $350 billion tax cut
 Bush says will strengthen economy, create jobs
 Democrats say will mostly benefit the rich

10. President Bush promotes his No Child Left Behind Educational Reform Program