American History: Bush Wins Over Gore in Contested 2000 Election

August 22, 2012

President George W. Bush takes the oath of office for his second term on January 20, 2005, with his wife Laura at his side

STEVE EMBER: Welcome to THE MAKING OF A NATION – American history in VOA Special English. I’m Steve Ember.

This week in our series, we look at the presidential election of two thousand. It was an election that few Americans would soon forget.

DAN RATHER (CBS): “The Presidential race looks jar-lid-tight. We could be in for a long night, as voters decide whether Vice President Al Gore or Texas Governor George Bush will be the next President of the United States. It is that close.”

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In two thousand, Americans were preparing to elect a new president in November. The United States Constitution limits presidents to two terms. Bill Clinton would be leaving office. So his Democratic Party needed to choose a new candidate.

The Democrats nominated Clinton's vice president, Al Gore. Gore chose Senator Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut as his running mate. Lieberman became the first Jewish candidate ever nominated by a major party to such a high office. He was first elected to the Senate in nineteen eighty-eight.

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Al Gore was born in Washington in nineteen forty-eight. He was named after his father, a United States senator from Tennessee. The future vice president grew up in Washington and in Carthage, Tennessee, where his family had a farm.