Al Gore in the United States
Democratic Party Disputed Presidential Election
Introduction to Al Gore
In the 2000 presidential race, the Democratic Party nominated Vice President Al Gore as the party’s presidential candidate. Gore chose Joseph Lieberman, a senator from Connecticut, as his running mate. Lieberman was the first Jewish person to be nominated on a major party’s ticket. Gore ran against George W. Bush, the Republican nominee for president.
In the 2000 election, Democrats gained seats in the House of Representatives and the Senate. The Republicans maintained a slight majority in the House, but the Senate was split evenly between the two parties. One of the newly elected Democratic senators was Hillary Clinton, who captured a seat from New York. It was the first time in U.S. history that a first lady was elected to the Senate. The presidential election, however, was so close that it was not decided until five weeks after Election Day. After much legal wrangling, Gore lost the election to Bush. See also Disputed Presidential Election of 2000.
The even split in the Senate ended in mid-2001 when Republican senator James Jeffords left his party and became an independent. His switch gave the Democrats control of the Senate, which they maintained until the 2002 midterm elections. In those elections the Democrats lost control of the Senate to the Republican Party. They also lost seats in the House of Representatives, which the Republicans continued to control. Many Democrats attributed the losses to President Bush’s popularity.
As the 2004 presidential election approached, however, many Democrats saw an opportunity for the party to regain the White House. Bush’s approval ratings began to decline as the U.S. economy failed to generate jobs and the U.S. war in Iraq began to resemble the Vietnam War quagmire. Bush’s ratings fell below 50 percent prior to the November election, a dangerous sign for an incumbent president. The Democrats selected U.S. Senator John F. Kerry of Massachusetts as their nominee after he won nearly all of the party’s state caucuses and primaries. Kerry picked U.S. Senator John Edwards of North Carolina as his running mate.” (1)
Resources
Notes and References
- Information about Al Gore in the Encarta Online Encyclopedia
Guide to Al Gore
In this Section
Democratic Party, Jacksonian Party, Democratic Party in the North-South Conflict period, Democratic Party in the Lincon Administration, Democratic Party Divisions, Wilsonian Era, New Deal, Democratic Party After Eisenhower, Democratic Party in the Carter Administration, Democratic Party in the Reagan Administration, Democratic Party in the Clinton Administration, Al Gore, Democratic Party in the Bush Administration, Barack Obama.
Republican Party: Disputed Presidential Election of 2000
Introduction to Al Gore
In the 2000 presidential race, the Republican Party nominated Texas governor George W. Bush, the son of former president George Bush, as the party’s presidential candidate. During the campaign, Bush focused on issues such as military spending, education, and tax cuts. He ran against Al Gore, the Democratic nominee for president. After one of the closest and most disputed elections in U.S. history, Bush won the election. However, the Republicans lost seats in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. The Republicans maintained a slight majority in the House, but the Senate was split evenly between the Republican and Democratic parties. The even split in the Senate ended in mid-2001 when Republican senator James Jeffords left his party and became an independent. His switch gave the Democrats control of the Senate.
President Bush enjoyed high approval ratings as his term began, and those ratings went up dramatically after the September 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States that killed about 3,000 people. The September 11 attacks deeply affected the country, and many people rallied behind Bush’s efforts to fight terrorism. At the same time Bush struggled to deal with the faltering U.S. economy, which had started to decline in 2000 and was further impacted by the terrorist attacks.
In the 2002 midterm elections, Bush campaigned for many Republican candidates. His efforts and his popularity helped the party regain control of the U.S. Senate and increase its majority in the House of Representatives.” (1)
Resources
Notes and References
- Information about Al Gore in the Encarta Online Encyclopedia