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What a Historical Election!
Posted
11-10-2000
Well the election is over! Or is it? Congratulations to all of the
winners in the state and federal office races, but it seems we can’t say
congratulations yet to the presidential winner. Can you believe it? Over 100
million votes cast, and the whole election may come down to one thousand
votes or less in the State of Florida. It is apparent Al Gore has won the
popular vote. Right now he is about 192,000 votes ahead nationally, but the
whole election hinges on Florida's 25 electoral votes.
As you know, we do not elect
a President by popular vote. Our Constitution calls for the victor to be
determined by who garners 270 or more electoral votes. The count right now
stands at 260 for Gore and 246 for Bush. In addition to Florida, Oregon that
votes entirely by mail is still undecided. It appears Bush will win there,
but Oregon’s 7 electoral votes do not effect who will hit the magic 270.
The mandated recount in
Florida may take time, and it may lead to a manual recount, but with the
Presidency of the United States at stake, time should be taken to ensure
votes are awarded accurately. We already see that over 19,000 votes were
thrown out in one county. There will probably be legal challenges too.
Whatever happens, the winner of Florida will be our next President. That
doesn’t mean only Florida chooses our President. There were ample
opportunities by each candidate to win other states that would have made
this Florida drama a moot point.
Al Gore must surely be
disappointed that he couldn’t carry his home state of Tennessee. It must be
embarrassing that he lost the state from where he was born, elected to
Congress, and the Senate. He also lost West Virginia, New Hampshire, and
Missouri; states he definitely could have won. George W. Bush must be
disappointed that he didn’t win Pennsylvania, a state he campaigned in
regularly, and he apparently has lost Iowa and Wisconsin by less than 10,000
votes.
Whatever happens in Florida,
we’ll have a President elected by a narrow margin with a mandate only to
govern from the middle. If Bush wins, it will be particularly odd to have a
President who didn’t receive the most popular votes. Not since Benjamin
Henry Harrison in 1888 have we had a President who didn’t win the popular
vote. It cannot be a very reassuring position to be in. It is even more
tenuous with a Senate that may be a 50-50 split and a House of
Representatives with a margin of eight or nine votes for the Republicans.
For all the money Bush spent, and all the mobilizing groups like the NRA
did, it must be demoralizing for George W. that he didn’t win the popular
vote.
Certainly this election is
historical. Not only was more money spent than in any other election, but
also Al Gore received more votes than any other Democrat in history did. His
total is second only to Ronald Reagan’s in 1984. But now with the
controversy in Florida, things are really unique. We should soon know the
results even with the manual recount that will certainly take place in some
Florida counties. There really is no urgency because until the electors cast
their votes in December, nothing is final. Let’s keep watching and see who
is the next President of the United States. |
