FREE ESSAY ON ELECTION 2000 TO CLOSE TO CALL-HOW?

ELECTION 2000 TO CLOSE TO CALL-HOW?

"Election 2000 "to-close-to-call"…How?"
Democratic candidate Al Gore and Republican candidate George W. Bush have been in a
"to-close-to-call" race for the presidency since the campaigning began. With the distinct
differences of the candidates how could this be? Al Gore's position on the major issues,
political experience, knowledge and America's economic growth and prosperous state in the
last eight years should have the given Gore the winning votes. However, in Gore's
campaign he focused largely on changing the qualities viewed by the public as negative to
a positive view. He attempted to alter the perception of a stiff robot-like individual to
a likeable guy, while George W. Bush tried to appear knowledgeable. The Gore campaign did
not adequately portray the existing positive qualities to the American public, leaving
the seat to the most likable candidate, as Charles McKain of San Diego states, "the
differences between Gore and Bush will fade and people simply will reject Gore because
the Texas Governor appears just eminently more likable." (Los Angeles Times) 
The Gore campaign failed to make the issues the heart of the campaign. During the
campaigning and debates the American public heard on many occasions "there is no
difference" or "I agree with …" on the issues from both Al Gore and George Bush.
The fact is that on many issues there are very clear and distinct differences between the
candidates. Al Gore opposes a constitutional amendment to outlaw abortion while George
Bush supports a constitutional amendment to outlaw abortion. Al Gore supports the
Employee Non- Discrimination Act and tougher hate crime legislation while George Bush
opposes both. Al Gore supports the Kyoto global warming agreement and Bush opposes it.
George Bush supports further development of charter schools by investing $300 million in
a charter school homestead fund to provide $3 billion in loan guarantees to 200 new
charter schools. Al Gore opposes the voucher system. (Al Gore) The difference of George
W. Bush and Al Gore viewpoints on education was made clear in both commercials and during
the debates. The Quinnipiac polls reported that the public opinion on which candidate
would do a better job on education was fifty- three percent favored Gore as opposed to
the thirty-seven percent favoring Bush. (Quinnipiac) This trend of Gore favorability
followed on many of the issues that the American public viewed the candidates as holding
opposite or very different views, with the exception of taxes. In addition, the next
elected president expects to select three individuals to serve as judges, for their
lifetime, in the Supreme Court. The choosing of Supreme Court judges makes the
differences of the issues extremely significant to the American public since the Supreme
Court may reflect the viewpoint held by the elected president for the next thirty years.
Yet, this was not addressed in the campaigns and many of the Americans were unaware of
this. The differences and significance of the issues should have been the key focus of
the Gore campaign since many Americans share his views on the major issues. 
Experience was another quality that was not focused on enough by the Gore campaign. Al
Gore has spent the majority of his life involved with the American government and serving
America. After graduating from Harvard University with a B.A. in government, Gore served
in the US Army during the Vietnam War. Upon his return, he did various course works at
Vanderbilt University Divinity School and Vanderbilt University Law School. For the next
few years, Gore works as an Investigative Reporter and Editorial Writer at The
Tennessean. In 1977, Gore holds his first public seat in the House of Representatives
from Tennessee for eight years. Then he is elected from Tennessee to the Senate for the
following eight years. Most recently, Gore has served as Vice President of the United
States under the Clinton administration, for the past eight years when America has seen
an extremely prosperous economy. (CNN) Gore has also been actively involved with Internet
technology and global warming for a number of years. President Clinton gave Gore the job
of coordinating the Administration's science and technology portfolio. John Gibbin's,
former White House science adviser states, "The president handed off key responsibilities
to the Vice President, {including} a lot of bilateral international relations, the whole
in formation-technology stuff … and a lot of science stuff." (Munro, p1) Gore was
ahead of his times in choose advocating these issues, as both have become a vital to
today and our future. In comparison, George W. Bush graduated with a M.B.A. in business
administration from Harvard University and B.A. in history from Yale. Bush did not hold a
public office until elected Governor of Texas in 1995. Prior to this Bush had a
professional career that included Founder/CEO of Bush Exploration, President of Spectrum
Corporation, a Consultant to Harken Energy Corporation, and Managing General Partner of
the Texas Rangers Baseball team. (George Bush) Al Gore's political experience surpasses
George W. Bush's by far. Gore's campaign should have focused on the fact that the
President of the United States should be elected based on who is the right man for the
office, one who has experience and knowledge of running the government, not who you would
rather have over for tea.
While the Gore campaign did not focus enough on the positive qualities of Al Gore, they
did successfully win the popular vote and many of the states that were battle ground
states, such as Missouri and Pennsylvania and possibly Florida. This was accomplised by
enthusiastic campaigning and campaign workers; Doug Hattaway recalls the Gore campaign
headquarters as bustling with high energy and the volunteers and interns brimming with
passion. (McDonald, p1) Also, the endorsement and high turn-out of the labor unions, the
millions of dollars spent by independent organizations running commercials and ads in
areas they showed would most aid Gore, Gore and Lieberman's speeches and activity and
Gore's success in the third debate contributed to Gore success. Al Gore won the popular
vote defiantly but is missing the 270 electoral votes because of Florida. Bush has been
certified the winner in Florida by 537 votes, making him the president elect. However,
the Gore campaign in currently contesting Florida's votes and has requested a manual
recount due to the irregularities and large number of ballots that were not counted. The
legal battle may take some time but hopefully Gore will prevail and a full recount will
be granted and Gore elected president. In Election 2000 the winning factor of the
Presidency does not lie in the campaign strategies but with the legal strategy in our
court system. The winning of the popular vote was a great accomplishment and hopefully
within the next few weeks, Gore's legal team will be able to make the next great
accomplishment in the courts.
Bibliography
Work Cited
Al Gore Biography. CNN AllPolitics Database.