Texas Almanac, 2002-2003 Page: 400
672 p. : col. ill., ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this book.
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Texas' Gov. Bush becomes U.S. president
By Carolyn Barta
Texas Gov. George W. Bush
was elected the 43rd president of
the United States in one of the clos-
est and most disputed presidential
elections in U.S. history. Also the
longest presidential campaign, it
began shortly after Gov. Bush's
second gubernatorial inauguration
in 1999 and continued 36 days
beyond election day in 2000.
In the end, the outcome rested
on a divided U.S. Supreme Court
decision that stopped Florida's
recounts, ending the bizarre limbo
of post-election legal and political
skirmishes over whether Bush, the
Republican, or his opponent, Dem-
ocrat Al Gore, carried that state.
Once awarded Florida, Bush
became the first president since
1888 to gain an Electoral CollegePresident-elect Bush
Gov. Rick Perry at tra
2000. Dallas Morning Nmajority while losing the popular vote. Gore received a
half-million more votes nationwide; Bush, with 271
electoral votes, earned one more than required for vic-
tory.
Meanwhile, the outcome in Texas was never in
doubt, as the popular governor and son of former Presi-
dent George Bush won 59 percent of the vote in his
home state. Vice President Gore captured 38 percent of
the Texas vote. Green Party candidate Ralph Nader and
others took the rest.
It was a historic election on several counts. Bush's
3.7 million votes surpassed the previous presidential
record set in Texas by fellow Republican Ronald
Reagan, who garnered 3.4 million votes in 1984.
And the Texan followed his father, the 41st presi-
dent, into the White House eight years after the elder
Bush was denied a second term by Democrat Bill Clin-
ton and his running mate, Gore. The only other father-
son team to rise to the nation's highest office included
John Adams and John Quincy Adams, the second and
sixth presidents.
Bush had hardly begun his second 4-year term as
governor when his undeclared presidential candidacy
began in earnest. Advisers flocked to Austin to counsel
with the prospective candidate. Fellow governors and
other Republicans visited Austin to signal their
endorsement for his nomination. Once the 1999 legisla-
tive session ended, Gov. Bush, accompanied by a
planeload of reporters, headed for Iowa, where he
announced his candidacy.
The GOP field blossomed to a dozen candidates -
including former Vice President Dan Quayle and the
first serious female candidate, former Cabinet member
Elizabeth Dole - but Bush's wide lead in public-opin-
ion polls and fund-raising largesse chased most of the
others out of the race before the primaries began.
The only serious opponent who remained, former
Vietnam war hero and U.S. Sen. John McCain of Ari-
zona, surprised Bush, the frontrunner, with a 19-point
victory in New Hampshire's first-in-the-nation primary.
But the Texan regrouped in South Carolina and SuperTuesday primaries to drive McCain
out of the fray.
Gore, meanwhile, sidelined
his challenger, former U.S. Sen.
Bill Bradley, and the Bush-Gore
battle was joined.
From the outset, Bush was out
to prove he was a different kind of
Republican, one who could tran-
scend partisan differences - as he
did in Texas - and one who
eschewed the hard-edged ideology
of Washington-based conserva-
tives. His signature issues were
education, including a stronger
role for the federal government in
testing, standards and accountabil-
ity; a $1.3 trillion tax cut, and fed-
eral assistance for faith-based
applauds successor social service programs.
nsition in December Gore, meanwhile, tried to
fews file photo
marry the centrist policies that
marked his days as a U.S. senator from Tennessee with
a new populist-fighter image. He emerged from the
shadow of Clinton, the scandal-scarred president, at the
Democratic National Convention and entered the fall
campaign an equal contender for the presidency,
emphasizing such issues as prescription-drug coverage
for seniors under Medicare. Still, the vice president
strangely failed to campaign all-out on the economic
prosperity of the Clinton-Gore administration, allowing
Bush to capitalize on the character issue of restoring
dignity to the White House.
In the final weeks, the race remained in a dead heat,
including in the key state of Florida where Bush brother
Jeb was governor. But nobody expected what happened
on election night and the mayhem that would follow.
As the Bush family met for dinner at the Shoreline
Grill in Austin, the networks began to project Al Gore
as the winner of Florida's 25 electoral votes. With the
outcome already projected in other key states, Florida
became the kingpin.
Bush family members, questioning the Florida out-
come, returned to the Texas governor's mansion to
make calls and watch TV - and to later joyously see
the networks reverse their Florida call. At 1:30 a.m.
CST, with the networks reporting Gore trailing in Flor-
ida by 50,000 votes, the vice president phoned Bush to
concede. But an hour later, in another twist during the
seesaw night, he called back to retract his concession.
The Bush lead in Florida had dwindled.
Outside the governor's mansion, thousands of Tex-
ans waited in the rain for the governor to come out and
declare victory. He went to bed instead, with the net-
works reporting that Florida was too close to call.
The next day, a whole new campaign began in Flor-
ida, with former Secretaries of State James Baker and
Warren Christopher serving as the point men for cam-
paigns that included teams of high-powered lawyers,
political strategists and supporters trying to affect the
Florida outcome.
The next five weeks were a combination of Key-
stone Cops and democracy in action, with allegations of400
Texas Almanac 2002-2003
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Ramos, Mary G. Texas Almanac, 2002-2003, book, 2001; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth162510/m1/400/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.