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In 2000, the United States presidential election was one of the closest and most controversial presidential elections in history. After a month of recounts and court challenges, [[George W. Bush]] was declared the winner over [[Vice President]] [[Al Gore]] by 537 votes in the state of [[Florida]]. This was the 4th time in history where the winning candidate failed to win a plurality of the popular votes cast.<ref>this happened in 1824, 1876, 1888, and 2000</ref> The campaigns of both [[Ralph Nader]] on the [[Green Party]] ticket and [[Pat Buchanan]] on the [[Reform Party]] ticket gained major media attention during the campaign. Although this failed to translate into any electoral votes for either, with the final margin of victory being so small, the role of both and what impact they had on the election received prominence during the time when neither major party candidate would concede.

In 2000, the United States presidential election was one of the closest and most controversial presidential elections in history. After a month of recounts and court challenges, [[George W. Bush]] was declared the winner over [[Vice President]] [[Al Gore]] by 537 votes in the state of [[Florida]].  

 

This was the 16th time in history that a candidate won the [[Electoral College]] vote without receiving the majority of the nation's popular vote.<ref>It also happened in 1844, 1856, 1860, 1876, 1880, 1884, 1888, 1892, 1912, 1916, 1948, 1960, 1968, 1992, and 1996. It was the first time since [[United States presidential election%2C 2000|Kennedy in 1960]] that the presidential winner failed to win a plurality of the popular vote. </ref>

 

The campaigns of both [[Ralph Nader]] on the [[Green Party]] ticket and [[Pat Buchanan]] on the [[Reform Party]] ticket gained major media attention during the campaign. Although this failed to translate into any electoral votes for either, with the final margin of victory being so small, the role of both and what impact they had on the election received prominence during the time when neither major party candidate would concede.

 

There has also been much speculation on what might have happened if there had been additional recounts. A consortium of newspapers did an investigation, and concluded that Bush would have won under the recounts that Gore had proposed. However, the Florida supreme court had attempted a closed-door recount using unspecified procedures, and no one knows how it might have manipulated the outcome.

In a rare situation in Presidential elections, Al Gore lost his home state of [[Tennessee]] to George Bush.

In a rare situation in Presidential elections, Al Gore lost his home state of [[Tennessee]] to George Bush.