OPPapers.com

Presidential Campaign Of 2004

Each presidential election overview has always been similar to a three-ring
circus, but in the 2000 Election with Al Gore and George W. Bush, was by far one
of the biggest circuses ever. Democrats had reason to worry about the election.
Republicans held the White House for three consecutive terms from 1980 to 1992,
voters often grow tired of one party after two terms. They were hoping to win
control, yet there was a lot at stake with the election at the time. And even
though it came to be a quite chaotic election, it was by far the closest
election ever in history. The main problem was that the results were so close in
Florida that it became indefinite who the winner was. It took over a month to
finally attain the results. Ultimately it was not the citizens whose votes
counted, but the vote of the Supreme Court for the election case.
Al Gore had a good start to begin with, having high marks on his ability to
handle key issues, including Democratic stands on such as health care, education
and Social Security. But Gore changed all that on the last day of the Democrats'
Los Angeles national convention. Whether it was the highly publicized kiss he
gave his wife or not, Gore changed the public's view of him. No longer was he a
just a stiff politician. Instead, he was a passionate, loving father and husband
who lacked many of Clinton's weaknesses. And Gore jumped a few points ahead of
Bush. The Monica Lewinsky scandal Clinton had did not necessarily give him a bad
reputation. On the contrary, people continued to cast their support for the
president since the public thought he had done so much for our nation. Yet in
the 2000 Election Gore seemed to go in the completely opposite direction of
Clinton, or at least try to avoid his name in his speeches at first.
Yet Gore's luck did not change when he left California. Bush seemed to have
difficulties when asked about his tax cut plan and about his statement that the
U.S. military was not fully ready....