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What Should Have Been
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Gore's chief of staff recalls the Florida debacle.
The vice president entered the room at the War Memorial Building in Nashville. Just moments before, he had stepped away from giving his concession speech to thousands of rain-soaked and saddened supporters. Now he joined a small number of aides and family who had gone straight from the motorcade to the "hold"—two sparsely furnished chambers in the War Memorial Building in Nashville. In the first room there was one desk, two chairs, and a secure phone. In the second room there was a desk and a piano. While sitting on that desk the vice president learned of the tightening race—now only a 2,000-vote spread in Florida. For those of us around him, hope was struggling to emerge from despair. We concurred that the vice president could not go through with his concession. The Bush team had been earlier advised of Gore's intent to concede and was awaiting that concession to claim victory. But now Bill Daley, our campaign chairman, placed a call to the Bush campaign chief, Don Evans, advising him that there were “some developments” and the vice president would not be going out just then. The spread continued to close. The vice president made his decision and went to the phone in the other room. We gathered around as he made his call to Governor Bush advising him that he would not be conceding. As he ended the call, a manic cheer went up in the room. The vote count difference was now 600. There would be a recount.
Staffers and principals alike all moved on to deal with our wounds, our bitterness, and the pain of knowing what should have been. None more deeply felt the anguish than Al and Tipper.
For the next intense 36 days, the ebb and flow of the recount could be measured by whether my office in the Old Executive Office Building was empty or full. The morning after Sen. Joseph Lieberman gave up the “military ballot” battle for us on a Sunday morning talk show appearance over Thanksgiving weekend, the so-called Thanksgiving stuffing, my office was deserted. A few disbelieving phone calls were all. As local officials began to count ballots in Miami Dade, Palm Beach, and Broward counties after the Florida Supreme Court decision extending the certification deadline, the phone was ringing and people were stopping by with advice and pumped-up encouragement. The office emptied again when the “mob” led by Republican congressional staffers flown in from Washington stopped the vote counting in Dade. But on the Friday afternoon of the Florida Supreme Court decision ordering the statewide recount, the office became the center of what approximated a victory party. Vice presidential and White House staffers gathered to celebrate the promising decision. The crowd in the room said it all—we were in the flow. Finally, we had a path to victory. That was the last day I would have a crowd in the office.
On Saturday I was watching the recount news on TV at our house in Washington. The phone rang. It was one of our chief counters in Florida. She wanted to know if what she was being told was really happening. In a near state of shock, I mumbled affirmation. The phone went dead. The statewide recount ordered by the Florida Supreme Court had been halted by the United States Supreme Court as it had decided to accept the case of Bush v. Gore. My stomach sank. Our rising hopes of Al Gore becoming president were being dashed—this time by the United States Supreme Court. I knew that when it stopped the count we really had lost.
John Talks Joe
Lloyd Grove is editor at large for The Daily Beast. He is also a frequent contributor to New York magazine and was a contributing editor for Condé Nast Portfolio. He wrote a gossip column for the New York Daily News from 2003 to 2006. Prior to that, he wrote the Reliable Source column for the Washington Post, where he spent 23 years covering politics, the media, and other subjects.
Why America Must Learn to Bow
Martin Jacques is the cofounder of the UK think tank Demos, writes a regular column for The Guardian, and is a visiting research fellow at the London School of Economics Asia Research Centre. His new book, When China Rules the World, is available now.
Going Rogue: The Index
Christopher Buckley's books include Supreme Courtship, The White House Mess, Thank You for Smoking, Little Green Men, and Florence of Arabia. He was chief speechwriter for Vice President George H.W. Bush, and is editor-at-large of ForbesLife magazine. His new book is Losing Mum and Pup, a memoir. Buckley's Daily Beast column is the winner of an Online Journalism Award in the category of Online Commentary.
Didn't a consortium of newspapers conclude long afterward that if all the ballots had been recounted in Florida that GWB still would have won?
I have yet to get over the nightmare of the 2000 election - I remember my elation when Florida was called for Gore and then my unbelievable despair when the networks "took it back" followed by all of the ups and downs leading to the decision that Bush would be the next President. I simply couldn't believe that the country would elect such a man or that such an unworthy person could be elected to our country's highest office. I can't imagine how Gore got through that terrible stolen election. But he's proved to be a much greater human being than the stooge we've had for eight years.George W. Bush must be one of the luckiest people ever born - everything seems to have been handed to him on a silver platter. And he is still oblivious to the disastrous state in which he has left the world. He is proof that life is totally unfair.
Yeah Gore is a great human being alright. He certainly waves the green banner fervently, proclaiming the need for everyone to reduce their carbon footprint. Everyone except himself that is. Perhaps not a great human being so much as a great hypocrite.
And yes, it was proven by the Miami Herald and USA Today that Bush DID win Florida (Google it).
So it seems, Mr. Burson, that "what should have been"...actually was.
Banjo1 & jtedford: you're both wrong. If the goof-ball butterfly ballots had not been used then about 6K residents of Florida would not have had their ballots for Gore or the Socialist running discounted, nor would Dubya have lost another 1200 or so. The intent of the majority of the people of Florida was to elect Gore, not Bush see link:
http://archives.cnn.com/2001/ALLPOLITICS/03/11/palmbeach.recount/
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If there was one good thing about that plane landing in the Hudson is that it caused so many New Yorkers to look at the other side of the river and discover there are a lot of people who live "West of the Hudson." Maybe we just don't like left wing loons out here in flyoverland. How many days till the next election and we vote out OTB (One Term Barack)?
How come the republicans weren't able to come up with a better ticket?
Compared to what was being offered by the Republican Party, Obama appears to have a lot more going for him.
And of course he didn't need to be asking if Africa was a country or a continent. He appeared to be knowledgeable of foreign affairs, concerned about the economy and respectful. This is a real mess we are in now.
We know who the losers are in this economic down turn, we know a lot of people who have lost their net worth, but who gained from it. Are we supposed to believe that the money disappeared in thin air. No it is in the market. Someone gains, someone loses.
There are always winners when there are losers. Politics is not the only field, where people who are afraid of confrontation, but could offer great skills for the public good, are afraid to tread.
That is the problem, a lot of good people are afraid or don't have millions to enter politics with, so the ticket the Republicans had lost the election.
I don't think anyone was surprised. I think what surprised people was how the republican ticket appeared to look so much like a gong show.
And that part where Sarah Palin was asked what a vice president does, and she sounded like she didn't the difference between controlling the senate and breaking up a tie during a vote, but only when necessary. It was a gong show. It was shocking. In my opinion.
The big issue became what would happened if she became president. That was the big concern in the election I think at the end. The lack of respect she appeared to show, was another problem, she couldn't even fake it for the election.
And of course there was the wardrobe issue. It was one stupid thing after another.
As far as I can see people didn't really have a choice but to vote for Obama.
Gore probably lost a few states with that nauseating phony tongue jamming swap with tipper.
If you're a presidential candidate and you lose your own home state (Tennessee) you're a loser.
Does anyone know how many gas guzzling limos, private jets, and McMansions "Mr. Energy Saving Green" has utilized.
I live in Broward County, did anyone honestly watch the recount mess, Talk about goof ball stuff. Gore messed up by not wanting to have a recount done state wide. The Florida Supreme Court tried to rewrite the rules inthe middle of the game.
The Republicans could not have nominated a worse candidate. McCain was everybody's second or third choice. Bosh liked him though; another nail in the coffin.
You people who are still obsessing on the 2000 election need to get past your disappointment. The election was according to the rules that have stood since the beginning of this country. So Gore lost. No big deal. He's no savior on any level.
Well, I have no doubt that if it weren't for the horror show of the last eight years, there would have been no Barack Obama.
President Gore (just like Bush 41 before him) would have been a one term mediocre president, attempting to continue a dying legacy of a president term-limited out of office, rendered ineffective by the attacks of 9/11 and the subsequent invasion of Afghanistan. Iraq would still have Saddam in power and be constantly violating the UN No-Fly zones. Barack would have run for the vacant Illinois Senate seat and still would have beaten Alan Keyes, but would now be preparing for his re-election campaign in 2010.
Not sure which Republican would be President (in his second term) today, maybe McCain, maybe Jeb Bush. but it would sure be different.
"The election was according to the rules that have stood since the beginning of this country."
"One can argue that the legacy of Bush v. Gore, of preventing the constitutionally provided process from playing out, of having the court decide our president, is the Bush presidency with all of its tragic consequences."
Which is it? From what I understand here http://www.usconstitution.net/elec2000.html the process itself was constitutional but relied upon the judgment of state and US Supreme court judges whose impartiality could be suspect.
Gore won the popular vote at the national level by half a million votes. It was the way we use the electoral college and the use of judges in a candidate's brother's run state that sealed it in Bush's favor.
You can add Hillary Clinton as president to the list of what should have been instead of the religious fanatic Barack Obama.
"If a frog had wings it wouldn't thump it's butt"
"If "ifs" and "buts" were candy and nuts we'd all have a wonderful Christmas.
Or my grandmother's favorite "If wishes were horses we'd all be princes'>
For those of you who are unable to get the concept (including this election's losers) -- stay away from this year's Superbowl. Half of you will be "if-disabled".
Oh Puleeeeeze. I am so sick of hearing you liberals with your endless pathetic whining. Al lost. Bush won. Get over yourselves. Come to think of it you should thank your lucky stars. Imagine if big sloberry Al had been in power at 9/11. He would have done about as much as the Clinton Administration did with the first WTO bombing. Like zero. As it is, the Obama administration is well on the way to creating the conditions for another attack. Namely backing down. He seems to be really good at that. If I were a liberal, I would be whining about THAT.
Ha! OK the pendulum has swung and the GOP is now and for the foreseeable future....completely irrelevant. How you like them apples.....? You morons screwed the pooch....
It is apparent to even the most casual observer that politics in the US has become more about winning than serving the people. Having said that, what the Democrats wanted in Florida is exactly what we have seen happen in Minnesota in the 2008 election. Amazing how many ballots get lost, misplaced, etc. A recent article indicated that statistically, (yes I know numbers are like people: torture them long enough and they will tell you anything) there is no way that Franken should have collected enought votes to beat Coleman. In my opinion, the voters of Minnesota have proven they are on par with the voters of Massachusetts when it comes to selecting elected officials. And the best is yet to come with a president-elect from the Chicago political arena. Get out the Astro-lube, you are going to need it.
To those that say Bush won. Sorry, but the Supreme Court decided the election. We'll never know who really won because the count in Florida was flawed and the re-count never happened. This, in addition to mobs of Republican staffers being flown to Florida to create a mob scenario to intimidate the recount. This was a travesty for this country and it was the pre-text for the theft of the 2004 election, albeit in a more stealth and systematic manner. So, Bush never won an election: in both cases his victory was fixed. In 2000 it was thanks to Katherine Harris, his brother and the Supreme Court (along with the aforementioned thugs). In 2004 it was thanks to Ohio Governor Ken Blackwell and black box vote fixing. These are facts and are well-documented.
The same fix was in for this election, the only difference is the white vote that normally would have gone to McCain switched to Obama because of the economic meltdown. The fixer couldn't have possibly stolen that many votes: it would have been obvious. So, they gave it to Obama since they knew he'd be inheriting a disaster that they could then capitalize on in 2012.
I think though it is about rhythm, and I think the freedom to feel your own rhythm is what made America great.
All the great songs, all the great products, the dreams that led to going to the moon, going to mars, the space station. So many things that were said to be impossible to do, some were called crazy even speaking such thoughts, were able to do them in America, and actualize the dream.
There is always going to be a force which wants to regulate everything, and wants to inhibit anyone, especially those who naturally go beyond the norm, but if those people are stopped through thought police, or whatever, trends won't shift, the economy won't expand.
I am not saying Gore is boring, but he gives the impression that he doesn't have the depth needed when using the kind of power he would have had as president to regulate.
I think for some people Bush was thought to be the lesser of two evils, and who knows what would have happened if 911 didn't happen.
That changed everything. No one voted for that.
That is usually how change happens. For the good or the bad.
I think all the deregulation that went on, wasn't even noticed, cause of all the post 911 stuff. I think most people want something less extreme.
Sadly, one extreme seems to promote the other extreme.
I think that is how fascism works.
I think people are not voting for an extreme, i think they vote against the extreme they fear the most.
Then look at Palin, the extreme she appeared to represent, then Obama didn't look so bad.
Now he has decision making power, and people just have to go along with it. It is like people vote for a four year dictatorship, they hope won't be too bad.
Thank you.
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