The Presidency of America's Maverick

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Bush was up around 11 points in OTL after the 2000 RNC so the Dems did get a huge convention bounce in OTL and will here too

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Breaking News: Gore selects Florida Senator Bob Graham as his running mate



Source: https://www.c-span.org/video/?160775-4/florida-vote-recount-reaction

Woodruff: Now we will head to Miami, Florida where Vice President Al Gore will officially name Florida Senator Bob Graham to be his running mate

Gore: Thank You Thank You. It is now my high honor and privilege to name my friend Senator Bob Graham as my Vice Presidential Pick and join me on this ticket. As Governor , this great state for the first time in its history had its per capita income be higher than the national average, added 1.2 million new jobs to the state and also did a lot for Florida's environment as well. Then as senator he was served this state well , working with our administration to pass many important bills that made this nation a better place. So now lets here it from the next Vice President of the United States, Bob Graham.

Graham: I want to thank my good friend Vice President Al Gore of giving me the honor of being his running mate and look forward to campaigning with him in this election to make sure that we retain the White House in November and potentially help Democrats retain control of congress as well. As someone who has worked with Vice President Gore per the past 13 years , the first 5 as colleagues in the senate and the last 8 with working with the Vice President I can tell you he is one of the most hard working and dedicated men I know and if elected will do a great job as President. Thank You May God Bless You and May God Bless America

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2000 DNC: Democrats meet in LA with high hopes of winning 3rd term

Notable Speakers:



President Bill Clinton: Talks about the accomplishments of the past 8 years and how Vice President Gore helped in creating those accomplishments

Former New Jersey Senator Bill Bradly: Talked about how Democratic Policies help poor and working class people better than the Republican policies do

Massachusetts Senator John Kerry: Talked about Vice President Gore's committal to environmental issues and also talked about need to keep social security in a lockbox

Nebraska Senator Bob Kerrey: Talked about Vice President's Gore record on working bipartisan to get things done in Washington

Congressman Harold Ford: Talked about why Vice President Gore would be better for education than Senator McCan

Georgia Senator Max Cleland: Talked about need to continue foreign policy of Clinton-Gore years and also talked about Vice President Gore's committal to veterans issues

South Dakota Senator Tom Dashale: Talked about need to give control of the seante to the Democrats

House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt- Talked about need to give control of the house back to the Democrats


Excerpts of Bob Graham speech accepting the Vice Presidential Nomination:



Source: https://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/11/03/mgrind.day.baddemweek/

Graham: Thank You, Thank You. It is a great honor to be nominated by it's great party of Jackson and FDR as its Vice Presidential candidate and I accept your nomination(Applause). Our party ever since it was founded by President Andrew Jackson has stood for the working people of this country and the past 8 years has only confirmed that. Our policies has brought millions of people out of poverty, created record job growth and now it is time we use our prosperity to address the issues facing us in this upcoming decade(Applause) and we can start by electing my great friend Al Gore as our next President(Applause)

We need to make sure social security remains solvent in the next generation that is why we must it in a lockbox, we must increase funding for our schools and expand healthcare and despite what Senator McCain says on the campaign trail he opposed every one of these policies when they came up to a vote in the past 8 years. Senator McCain is an honorable man and an American Hero but the fact is his record shows he is not as different from Newt Gingrich, and the Republican Establishment as he claims he is on policies and the fact is if he is elected we very likely will have Republican control of both houses of congress and with the exception of a few issues he has made it clear he would sign the bills they pass. If you want to elect someone who will fight for the working class, the environment and than we must elect Al Gore as our 43rd President. Thank You may God Bless You and May God Bless America


Excerpts of Al Gore's speech accepting the Democratic Nomination:



Gore: Thank You Thank You. It is a great honor to be nominated by this great party as its nominee for President and I accept your nomination(Applause). As I accept this nomination I know I will have major shoes to fill of great Presidents such as Andrew Jackson, Woodrow Wilson, FDR, Harry Truman, JFK and Bill Clinton and I pledge to you and the people I i am elected I will work very hard to live up to their legacies(Applause).While we have done great work over the past 8 years the fact is the work to make our nation a better place doesnt stop now as we still have many problems to solve and we must address the issues. The prosperity that we built towards the last 8 years will help us solve the problems as we can use our surplus to make sure social security remains solvent, address environmental problems, reduce poverty and pay of our national debt(Applause).

The first thing we must do is we must put social security in a lockbox to make sure that we can keep the promises we made to many hard working families across the nation(Applause). While Senator McCain believes that money should be used in tax cuts we must use this moment to think about the long term success and just not the short term(Applause). We also must expand medicare to cover prescription drugs to make sure every senior can get the medicine they deserve and we also must reform our healthcare system overall to make sure every American can afford health insurance(Applause). We also must reform our education system as our kids our are future and our future success will be determined by how good our education system is today. That means we must increase pay for teachers and our schools(Applause), we must expand financial aid so more kids can afford to go to college and we must invest more in tech education so kids can have the skills of the future(Applause).

We also must protect our environment and that is we must address the issue of global warming and heed the warning of our scientists. We must start investing more in renewable energy and technology from today(Applause). We must ratify the Kyoto Protocol so we can get emission level below the year 1990 by 2010(Appluase) as that is the first step in helping us solve that problem. Yes I agree we need to get nations like China involved as well but we still need to lead by example just like we have done on so many other issues in the past(Applause). Thank You May God Bless You and May God Bless America

Gore narrows Gap to 3 points after successful DNC:

Senator John McCain(R-AZ)/Former Senator John Danforth(R-MO) 224 47%
Vice President Al Gore(D-TN)/Senator Bob Graham(D-FL) 213 44%

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State of Race Before First Debate:

Senator John McCain(R-AZ)/Former Senator John Danforth(R-MO) 230 48%
Vice President Al Gore(D-TN)/Senator Bob Graham(D-FL) 213 45%


Woodruff: The race has remained remarkley stable since the convention with only New Mexico being the only swing state which we have been able to move into the lean category and with Georgia and Connecituct being moved to the Solid Category but other than that it seems like not much has changed since the conventions

Shaw: So Bill what do you think are some keys heading into the debates

Schnider: Well my belief is Vice President Gore must first try to make this election in some ways a continuity election as if the election is a referendum on the present state of the nation, Vice President Gore wins that election just like then Vice President Bush did in 1988. Now obviously there are a whole bunch of factors that will decide this election, but even if he is able to get more people to vote based on the referendum of the President state of the nation, he would increase his chance of winning.

Now on the other hand Senator McCain my belief is while yes he is a change candidate, change candidates like Ronald Reagan in 1980 and Bill Clinton in 1992 have to prove they can actually bring about change in a competent manner so he needs to use these debates to prove he can. If he does that then I think it would benefit the Senator.

King: My belief is though that it will be a mix and both candidates have to prove why they are better situated to preserve the current economic situation and bring upon change

Schnider: Yes of course that is also true but I think how Gore does on the change question in the debate and McCain does on preserving the status quo will probably be a wash so I think it will be more beneficial for Senator McCain to explain in detail why we need change and Vice President Gore to make this about a referendum on the present state of the union

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Safe R New Hampshire?


How did NJ and DE vote IRL?  I know NJ was 52-46 in 2004, and DE was lean-bush during the 2000 campaign..

NH was much closer than it was expected to be in September in OTL and with McCain being a better fit for the state than bush it’s pretty much considered assured .


I beleive NJ and DE while they did go Dem by double digits they were still not considered safe until like mid October.

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Safe R New Hampshire?


How did NJ and DE vote IRL?  I know NJ was 52-46 in 2004, and DE was lean-bush during the 2000 campaign..

Gore won Jersey by 15 and Delaware by 13. Though McCain is a much better fit for both than Bush. ITTL, Gore should still be favored in both, but the Republican Senate candidate in New Jersey that year was really great and only lost by three despite being outspent a ton by Corzine. McCain keeping it in single digits could very well get him over the finish line...

I think NJ and DE in 2000 are in some ways a classic example of the media overestimating the competitiveness of once battleground states

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Battleground Senate and Gubernatorial Races:

Woodruff: Now lets look at some of the key senate races that could potentially flip this cycle. Remember for the Democrats to take control of the senate they will need to flip 5 senate seats no matter what the result in the Presidential race is as Republican Governor Jeb Bush will get to decide who fills Senator Graham seat if Vice President Gore were to win.

Greenfield: Yes and throughout the night we will be looking at what we call the Key Senate Race board in which there will be 12 key battlegrounds , eight   held by the Republican and four held by the Democrats. Now lets look at the 8 vulnerable Republican seats too


Vulnerable Republican Seats:

Deleware: Senator William Roth(R) vs Deleware Governor Tom Carper(D) - Lean Democratic Gain


Florida: Representative Bill McCollum(R) vs State Treasurer Bill Nelson(D)- Lean Democratic Gain

Michigan: Senator Spencer Abraham(R) vs Representative Debbie Stabenow(D) - Tossup

Minnesota: Senator Rod Grams(R) vs Former State Auditor Mark Dayton(D) - Tossup

Missouri: Senator John Ashcroft(R) vs Missouri Governor Mel Carnahan(D) - Tossup

Montana: Senator Conrad Burns(R) vs Mr. Brian Schweitzer(D) - Tossup

Pennsylvania: Senator Rick Santorum(R) vs Representative Ron Klink - Likely Republican Hold   

Washington: Senator Slade Gorton(R) vs Former Representative Maria Cantwell(D)- Lean Republican Hold

Greenfield: Now lets go look at the vulnerable Democratic Seats

Vulnerable Democratic Seats:

Nebraska: Governor Ben Nelson(D) vs State Attorney General Don Stenberg(R) - Tossup

Nevada: Attorney Edward M. Bernstein(D) vs Former Representative John Ensign -  Likely Republican Gain

New Jersey: Mr. Jon Corzine(D) vs Representative Bob Franks(R) - Tossup

Virginia: Senator Chuck Robb(D) vs Former Virginia Governor George Allen(R) - Lean Republican Gain


Greenfield: As you can see getting to a senate majority wont be easy as even if Democrats sweep all the states that lean too them as well as the tossups on the board well the Democats make a gain of 4 senate seats which would mean a tied senate and since a Republican Governor gets to pick Senator Graham's successor in this case , Republicans would still have control of the senate.

So in order for Democrats to take over the Senate , either Senator Robb or Representative Cantwell would need to pull of an upset. If not that then they would a pretty upset in Pennsylvania

Woodruff: Now lets look at some of the Gubernatorial races that could flip:

Battleground Gubernatorial Races:

Missouri: State Treasurer Bob Holden(D) vs Representative Jim Talent(R)- Tossup

Montana: Montana Lieutenant Governor Judy Martz(R) vs State Auditor Mark O'Keefe(D)- Tossup

West Virginia: Governor Cecil Underwood(R) vs Representative Bob Wise(D) - Lean Democratic Gain

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Isn't Pennsylvania vulnerable?
I know Ron Klink was a very lousy candidate, but he still lost by less than 7 points in real life.

Added it to the list

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How about New York? Do Hillary and Rudy still run?

Hillary runs , but neither Rudy or Pataki run so NY is a safe state

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Summary of First Presidential Debate:



Source: https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/23/media/jim-lehrer-pbs-newshour-obituary/index.html

Key Moment 1:

Lehrer: Senator McCain if elected what would be your plan to deal with our current budget surplus

McCain: My belief is first we need to use our budget surplus to reform medicare to make sure we can cover prescription drugs for seniors, return some of the money to the people in the form of tax cuts, and rebuild our military. Eight Years ago Presdent Clinton and Vice President Gore campaigned on getting medicare reform passed and the fact is 8 years later they are still talking about it. My belief is actions matter more than words and I intend to get medicare reform passed so we no longer have seniors having to choose between medicine and food

Gore: Well Senator McCain the reason we didnt get medicare reform passed was in large part due to Republicans blocking it in congress and that fact is Senator McCain you joined Republican leadership in blocking reform from passing. Second to answer your question Jim , it is critical that we use our present surplus to make sure more Americans can join in on the prosperity instead of squandering it and my priorities would be to safe guard Social Security so every American can retire, invest more in our education system to give our kids better opportunities and also make healthcare more affordable. While I respect Senator McCain a lot the fact is his proposal would not make best use of our surplus and instead we need to think more long term and use this rare opportunity to good use because we might not have an opportunity like this again

McCain: Well again the problem with Vice President Gore's solution is he believes that new government programs are the way to fix the current problems but he is wrong as many of the problems we have are due to the fact many of our programs are run inefficiently and that is what we need to fix not create new ones that will be run inefficiently.

Gore: Well the fact is the Republican solution is to give tax breaks to people who dont need it which I think is way more inefficient and while Senator McCain has pledged to be a different type of Republican, he caved on Taxes to Governor Bush and if a Republican congress passes a tax bill that gives tax breaks mainly to the wealthy the question is will he sign it into law

McCain: I will work with a Republican congress to pass a tax plan that would help the people and after negotiations  we will come to an agreement and I will sign it into law

Gore: Well looks like that answer is a yes

Important Moment 2:

Lehrer: Many polls have come out showing education reform to be a top 3 concern for most voters. So we will start with you Vice President Gore, if you are elected how would you reform the educational system

Gore: Well we have to do three things : First is reduce class sizes as studies have shown kids learn better when class sizes are smaller and too do that we must increase teacher pay so we can incentivize more Americans to go into the profession of teaching. Second we must focus on teaching kids the tools of the future such as computer literacy, and third we must make it easier for kids to go to college which is why I think we need to expand financial aid by increasing both merit and need based scholarships .

McCain: My belief is we need to work with states and local municipalities so we can help create and education policy that would one be used on a national level and second using block grants to help them implement policies that would work on a local level. Second we must increase school choice and that is why I am in support of giving parents of children who go to failing schools a voucher which they then can use to go the a private school for free.

Gore: My belief is we must focus on improving  our public schools by incentivizing the best and brightest to go in the field of teaching, not degrading its quality further by using education funding for private schools. Doing so will only make our educational system worse overall and undermine the equality of opportunity principle

McCain: The voucher would only be given to kids from failing schools, so the idea that it would reduce the quality of our public schools is just not true.


Important Moment 3:

Lehrer: Senator McCain , as you may know many times a president may have to deal with issues that weren't brought up on the campaign say a recession that happens during a presidency. So if you are elected how would you deal with a  potential recession

McCain: Well the first thing I would do is call a meeting with the Federal Reserve Chair, the Treasury Secretary , the commerce secretary and my economic team so we can get to the bottom of what is causing the recession and address the issue to stop it from becoming serious. Then to speeden up the recovery stage I would support giving businesses temporary tax credit which would be dependent on how many people they hire or rehire. This along with my tax plan which will make sure that individuals tax burden will be lower will help us come out of a recession quickly.

Gore: Well remember in 1997 when a financial crises in Asia seemed to have the potential of causing a world wide recession, we took action to make sure that a recession doesnt take place here, and guess what not only did we avoid a recession we had arguably some of the best boom years we ever had. So the first thing I would do is look to deal with a potential economic crisis in a similar way. If a recession though is unavoidable well then to get out of it quickly we would do a mix of middle class tax cuts along with other economic stimulus packages to quickly cause our economy to recover.

McCain: President Clinton and you campaigned on middle-class tax cuts in 1992 and still to this day we have not received it 8 years later so Mr. Vice President you shouldnt make promises you cant deliver.

Gore: The economic policies of the last 8 years created over 22 million jobs while the economic policies of the president you mainly praise Ronald Reagan created a little over 16 so its clear that our policies work better in dealing with a recession than your policies do.

McCain: The economic situation President Reagan and Clinton inherited were very different so the comparison really doesn't work

Gore: Both President Reagan and Clinton came into offices dealing with recession and our recovery created 6 million more jobs.

Lehrer: Moving on



Gore and McCain tie in the polls after debate:

Vice President Al Gore(D-TN)/Senator Bob Graham(D-FL) 219 47%
Senator John McCain(R-AZ)/Former Senator John Danforth(R-MO) 211 47%

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Summary of the Vice Presidential Debate:



Source: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2015/09/23/2016-general-election-debate-schedule/81238502/

Key Moment 1:

Shaw; This question is to the both of you and that is which role would each of you play in a Gore or McCain adminstration. Senator Graham you can start us of

Graham: Well as the Vice President I would be the top advisor to the President on key decisions , sit in on important meetings and if the President has to deal with say an emergency , the Vice President will need to say still help lead the cabinet meeting so things can go on as scheduled. As for specific areas , an area where I will devote a lot of my time to is education reform. I also would work closely with congress to make sure legislation the President wants passed can get passed.

Danforth: As Vice President, I would be the top advisor to President McCain on issues across the board but two areas where I would devote my time to is one the judiciary because it is critical we get good qualified judges to fill our benches and two in also working with he states to develop a good education plan.

Shaw: Which prior qualifications do both of you have that makes you more qualified to do the job of VP

Graham: I think the fact that I served as both a Governor and Senator gives me more experience that I can bring to that office as I can help the President when it comes to managing the executive branch and help him gets his agenda passed through congress as well

Danforth: Well in the Senate I helped get passed qualified judges through congress even when my party was in the minority through much of time in the Senate and have a long track record of working bipartisan to get things done and that is something I can bring to the White House.

Important Moment 2:


Shaw: Senator Danforth , Senator McCain has made campaign finance reform a major issue of this campaign . Many others though are now not only talking about how we can reform our campaign finance system but fix the political system as a whole so what is your thoughts on that issue

Danforth: I agree fully with Senator McCain that our current campaign finance system is broken due to the influence of soft money in politics and we need to fix it. Some other things Senator McCain has mentioned is putting a 5 year ban on govemrent officials becoming lobbyists so we can end the revolving door between government and lobbying and that must be done. Senator McCain will appoint an attorney general and judges who will strictly enforce our campaign finance and anti-corruption laws to help fix our broken political system

Graham: I would like to remind people that in 1998 every Democrat voted for McCain-Feingold that would have reformed our campaign finance system while only 6 Republicans voted for it so the fact is if it weren't for members of Senator McCain's own party we already would have the system reformed. I admire Senator McCain's work on this issue but the fact is if we want to get campaign finance reform my suggestion is we need to elect a Democratic Congress and Vice President Al Gore will be more than happy to sign the bill into law and give Senator McCain credit for working bipartisanly on this issue

Danforth: Well the fact is in the past 8 years the problem of soft money has increased while President Clinton and Vice President Gore did nothing to solve this issue. They also could have signed executive orders that would banned members of their administration from becoming lobbyists which is something Senator McCain will do on day 1 if elected

Graham: President Clinton and Vice President Gore did try to do something but it was blocked by your party so the reason we dont have campaign finance reform is cause of Republican Leadership in Congress not President Clinton. Vice President Gore and Senator McCain are in full agreement on this issue so in reality if you want this issue fixed we should elect a Democratic Congress and no matter who wins this election then, campaign finance reform will pass but if we elect a Republican Congress no matter who wins this election campaign fiance reform wont pass. This election is about other issues from our plans on taxes, what do to on the budget and on education and the fact is if we elect Senator McCain he will sign what ever the Republicans in congress send him on that issue and we just cannot afford that.

Danforth: Senator Graham there is no issue more important than fixing our broken politics

Shaw: Moving on

Important Moment 3:


Shaw: While the issue of immigration has not come up much in this presidential campaign the fact is in states like California and many other border states this issues has polarized their electorates in state elections in the past decade. If either are elected what would be your plan to fix this issue

Graham: We would continue the policies of 8 years of increasing our border security by either sending more immigration agents in parts of the border or putting up some type of fencing in areas  that need them. As for dealing with the illegal immigrants that are here Vice President Gore believes that for illegal immigrants who have been living here for a long time that yes a pathway to citizenship should be granted but there would be strict background checks before any pathway is given.

Danforth: Looking at some of the problems many states like California have gone through in the past decade I think its ludicrous to say the current policies have worked. This administration instead of working with the State of California and other border states to help fix this problem, has refused to even consider changing course one bit on the issue of immigration and that is a big problem in why the problem has become has prevalent as it is today.  Senator McCain will work with border states when it comes to making sure our border security policies are working cause the fact is a one size fits all solution may not work. He then will also work with both parties so we can pass comprehensive immigration reform as well

Graham: Once again the Senator is deflecting blame from members of his own party to the President. President Clinton tried over and over to work with California but the fact is the Republican Governor Pete Wilson was the one who refused to work with us and instead sued the Federal Government and then backed a ballot measure that was later rules unconstitutional just to improve his own polling numbers in California. So the fact is it was Republican Governor Pete Wilson who played politics on this issue not President Clinton or Vice President Gore


Danforth: Listen while Senator McCain opposes prop 187 he understands why the people of California passed it. It wasnt cause the people of California are anti immigrant but rather cause they were mad at their concerns being ignored by this administration and I can promise you if we are elected we will work with governors no matter their political affiliation  


Gore takes first lead of Campaign after VP Debate:

Vice President Al Gore(D-TN)/Senator Bob Graham(D-FL) 237 48%
Senator John McCain(R-AZ)/Former Senator John Danforth(R-MO) 206 47%

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Summary of the 2nd Presidential Debate:




Important Moment 1:

Lehrer: Senator McCain you have been a major critic of the current direction of US foreign policy over the past 8 years , why have you been this critical and what would you do to fix the issues you have with current US foreign and national security policy.

McCain: Jim, I have no idea how anyone can call the direction the Clinton Administration has taken our foreign policy over the past 8 years a success given the fact that our nation did nothing to help stop the Rwandan genocide from happening which in my opinion was the most disgraceful moment of the Clinton Presidency and one of the most disgraceful foreign policy decisions in the history of our country. Over the past 8 years we have also seen an increase in attacks on our embassy's , Suddam Hussain openly flouting UN resolutions which were put in place at the end of the Gulf War , and in the morale and strength of our military declining over the past 8 years.

What needs to happen to fix it is first we must make it clear that our nation will stand as a defender of  human rights regardless of what the political implications may be at home to make sure we never ever have a repeat of what happened in Rwanda, we must develop a coherent counter-terrorism policy and increase our defense of our embassies , we must make it clear that we wont stand by and let Suddam flout UN resolutions and those resolutions will once again be strictly enforced and lastly we will rebuild our military by not only increasing funding of our military but by increasing morale by making sure that people who are in positions such as Secretary of State, Secretary of Defense, National Security Advisor have served in the unform.

Gore: Listen President Clinton and I will admit to you that Rwanda was a huge mistake and consider it the biggest failures over the past 8 years . On the other hand Senator McCain is wrong that we didnt change our foreign policy approach after what happened in Rwanda as we intervened in Kosovo to make sure something like Rwanda never happens again. Also the  UN Resoultions against Suddam Hussain have been strictly enforced and an example of that was Operation Desert  Fox a couple years back and I as President am ready to approve of a similar operation to make sure that Suddam continues to follow resolutions.

McCain: The reason we didnt intervene in Rwanda according to many reports is because of the fact the Clinton administration wanted to avoid the embarrassment of Somalia repeating it self which means this administration chose politics over doing what is right which is disgraceful in my opinion. Second the reason we had the failures we did is the fact that not a single top member of our national security team served in uniform which is also terrible

Gore: Well the fact is that statement is totally straw manning the report. The President was advised that putting our troops in Rwanda could result in the same failure as Somalia  which is why we didn't intervene not for political reasons

McCain: Even then two of the three main foreign policy/national security team members did not serve in the military and i think that failure is directly tied to that which is exactly why I will appoint people who have served in uniform to these positions

Lehrer: Ok moving on


Important Moment 2:

Lehrer: This question is for the both of you and instead of a question about any particular policy it will be a question about what philosophy would drive your overall foreign policy. Vice President Gore you may answer first

Gore: Well my belief is we need to have a pragmatic foreign policy in which we assess each situation that comes up and make a decision on which actions to take based on the situation . Second my belief is we need to make sure we remain a humble power because my belief is the only way will people in other nations respect us is if we make it clear we respect them as well and then using that we can use our strength on the world stage to help negotiate peace deals in the middle east, help nations struggling with poverty have their economic prospects improve and pressure authoritarian regimes to liberalize their political system.

McCain: Well my belief is our nation has to once again stand up for human rights like we have throughout our nation's histoy and yes I do believe we need to be humble but at the same time we have to be humble with the people in other countries not with regimes who seek to oppress their people. If we truly want to be respected around the world we have to make it clear that our nation will stand strong in defense for freedom and will not tolerate dictatorial regimes and my appointee to the United Nations will fight to make it clear that we will sanction those regimes not play politics with them. President Reagan helped liberate eastern Europe from the tyranny of communism by making it clear we will no longer stand for the Soviet Union tyranny and we will return to that peace through strength doctrine.

Gore: While yes President Reagan does deserve credit for his actions during the cold war , he wasnt the only President that took actions that lead to our victory , all of our President from 1945-1991 did. Also we do not have an enemy like the Soviet Union today so doing a military buildup similar to what we did in the 1980s would not be a wise decision in my opinion and today my belief is we can project our power in more effective ways

McCain: I think you forgot where we were in 1979 or 1980 and that is we weren't doing so well with communists seemingly gaining more and more influence in the middle east, Africa and Latin America and it was only when we abandoned the Carter policy which the Clinton administration has throughout back did we really win the cold war. Second again while we may not face a threat like the Soviet Union today that does not mean we should give up the fight for human rights because while yes their isnt a nation today that threatens us like the Soviets did , our nation was considered the greatest nation of freedom the world has ever seen is we have stood up for the principle of freedom.


Gore: I think we can do that though without spending another 75 billion dollars on building up our military and can do that by working with the UN and other nations to expand freedom.

Lehrer: Moving on


Important Moment 3:

Lehrer: Senator McCain you agreed with the Clinton administration that China should be allowed into the WTO but you still believe that the current administration has not done a good job in its handling. What would you do differently

McCain: Well some things that I would do differently is I would make sure to put pressure on the Chinese to improve their record on human rights , make sure they follow all the trade rules now that they are in the WTO , and on the issue of Taiwan return to the policy of strategic ambiguity. This would make sure that while yes we are gonna trade with the Chinese at the same time they improve their record of human rights and follow all the rules

Lehrer: Senator McCain if they dont would you be willing to impose sanctions

McCain: Yes I would

Gore: Well the fact is China has been liberalizing their nation for the past decade and we will continue to make sure that it continues to liberalize their nation. The fact is they are an important trade partner and it is a good thing in my opinion that we have opened up trade with them and i believe through that trade we can make China's record on human rights better as well.

McCain: While I agree that it is a good thing we have opened up trade we must push on the human rights side more and that is what I would do as President

Lehrer: Moving on


Senator McCain takes 2 point lead after debate:

Senator John McCain(R-AZ)/Former Senator John Danforth(R-MO) 237 49%
Vice President Al Gore(D-TN)/Senator Bob Graham(D-FL) 213 47%

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Summary of Final Presidential Debate:



Important Moment 1:

Lehrer: Our first question of the night is on healthcare and Vice President Gore you will be the the one to answer it

Audience Member 1: What do you think of insurance companies making the decisions that affect people's lives instead of doctors and what do you think needs to be done to reform the system

Gore: Well I think it a terrible practice which is why I believe we must pass a patient bill of rights to take away these decisions from insurance companies and HMO's and give it back to medical professionals. My belief is doing it will make sure than if a doctor prescribes medicine to a patient or a certain type of treatment than the patient can receive it regardless of what the insurance company says. As how I would reform the health insurance system as a whole, I would also expand Medicaid to make sure more working class Americans can afford health insurance, expand CHIP , and curb prices of prescription drugs as well.

McCain: It is indeed a terrible practice which is why I have called for a crack down on those practices. My belief is the key to getting reform done is to make health insurance more affordable and ways I believe it can be done is one by giving a 2000 dollar refundable tax credit for anyone purchasing health insurance , expand tax-free medical saving accounts which can help Americans pay for healthcare , and I too support expanding CHIP as well.

Gore: The problem with Senator McCain's proposal is giving this refundable tax credit still does not make up for the vast majority of healthcare costs so while their could be a debate over whether we should provide tax credits or not , having it be a core part of your healthcare proposal just wont work. My belief is instead of using a more indirect approach like Senator McCain proposes, we should use a direct approach by expanding medicare, passing the patient bill of rights, having employers of big companies to cover their employees and I believe doing that will actually get us to the goal of universal healthcare. Senator McCain has been opposed to a medicaid expansion and a large employer madate in his senate career and the fact is that is what we must do when it comes to healthcare reform

McCain: A 2000 dollar tax cut is a lot of money for many Americans. Also second the reason i opposed the employer mandate is because of the fact that their is very little evidence that it would benefit their employees as what would happen is either they higher at a lower pace than normal or they cut their employees salary to pay for their health insurance so in reality an employer mandate doesnt sound as good as it does on paper.

Gore: Im sure the biggest corporations who make billions in profits can provide health insurance for their employees and if you look at my plan it exempts small business from the mandate. This once again shows the difference between the philosophies of the two parties and that is our party believes in the belief that businesses who already make a tremendous amount of money give something back to their employees

Lehrer: Moving on


Important Moment 2:

Lehrer: The next question we will go to someone is a college student and is going to ask a question in which his university college republicans and college democrats agreed to ask. Senator McCain you may answer this question first

Audience Member 2: One big problem both my university college republicans and college democrats have is recruiting kids to join their clubs as most students now have very low confidence in our political system so if either of you are elected what will you do do address that

McCain: Well it is a sad fact that many young people in this country have such a cynical view of our politics but the reasons to that makes all the sense in the world because our politics are broke because of the fact that politicians seem to answer more to lobbyists and campaign commercials funded by big donors rather than to the people. My belief is the way we change that is by passing campaign finance reform so we can crackdown on the influence of soft money and issue advocacy ads which has given lobbyists tremendous power over our system and so we can give it back to the people. Also I believe anyone who works in the government, elected or not should be prohibited from working as a lobbyist for 5 years so taking a job as a lobbyist does not become an incentive for politicians to legislate based on creating a resume for those jobs but actually legislate based on the public interests

Gore: Well I agree with the fact we need campaign finance reform and we were close to passing campaign finance reform Senator McCain but we failed cause members of your own party didnt join you in passing it so like I have said if you want to pass campaign finance reform what needs to be done is elect a Democratic Congress this November. Second my belief is that we need to address the issues that young people want to be addressed like our environment which is why as President I will push to make sure we ratify the Kyoto protocol and take actions to deal with the emerging problem of global warming which will effect the young people in our nation the most if we do nothing

McCain: This is why so many young voters in our country have given up on politics and that is our politicians instead of working with each other blame the other side for everything and that is something I believe is wrong. One reason Washington is also broken is because of that mindset and I can promise you if you elect me president we will do all we can to move past this era of partisanship and begin to work with each other like the nation wants us to do.

Gore: Senator McCain its not like you haven't engaged in that type of partisanship when you helped blocked the 1993 healthcare reform and despite the fact that you claim you are an environmentalist you voted against the Kyoto protocal

McCain: Vice President Gore the Kyoto protocol was rejected by the senate with a  vote of 95 to nothing and the reason why we voted against it had nothing to do with the fact that we arent really environmentalists but rather cause that treaty was badly negotiated.

Lehrer: Moving on


Important Moment 3:

Lehrer: The next question will be from a teacher who wants to ask a question to Senator McCain about educational reform

Audience Member 3: Senator McCain you have put a large emphasis on your educational plan on trying tor reform failing schools but as a teacher I can tell you while we have a large role in a child's education, many times some of the problems is that the child's parents aren't as involved in their kids education as well so as President how would you address that issue

McCain: I absolutely agree that a parent has an important role in their child's education which is why I beleive we should give parents more tools to really assess how their child is doing in school. It shouldnt take until their kid cant pass Algebra I there freshman year of high school for parents to know their kids are struggling in math which is why I believe mandating kids being tested annually from 3rd to 8th grade can let parents know then where there child is struggling in school and if so they then know where they can help.

Gore: Well Senator McCain and I have a our differences on education and that is in my opinion we can most better our education system by first increasing teacher pay to attract the best and the brightest to that profession, increase the amount of teachers to reduce class sizes which allows teachers to give attention to individual students and thus allows them to make better detailed reports to the students parents than they can with larger class sizes. Doing this will then allow parents to have a better understanding of how their kid is doing in school and take action. We do not need to degrade our education system by using a voucher system to get to this result as I am sure public schools can and must provide the best education possible for our kids and engage their parents too.

McCain: Well Vice President Gore you are misrepresenting my position as I said I would let the cities states decide if they want to do a school voucher program or not and if they do that does not mean we would take funding away from them. Nobody knows better about the unique problems facing a cities educational system than the city itself which is why I thnk we need to give them more say in our educations system

Gore: Well my belief if a school is really determined as failing we should do an immediate study why it is failing and then take immediate action to fix it from maybe highering a better principal to hiring more teachers , better textbox and giving better extra circular programs as well. Doing this will be far more effective than using a voucher system which will further degrade our educational system

Lehrer: Moving on


Polls remain unchanged after Debate:

[OSR stands with Israel]

2000 Election Night Preview:



Shaw: Lets go over to Jeff Greenfield who will give us a last minute update on the election

Greenfield: Yes now lets first start by putting up the final CNN battleground map

Senator John McCain(R-AZ)/Former Senator John Danforth(R-MO) 230 49%
Vice President Al Gore(D-TN)/Senator Bob Graham(D-FL) 213 48%

Greenfield: Whats really shocking about this map is this is the really the same exact map that we had heading into the debates with the exception of states like New Jersey , Deleware and Kentucky moving from Lean to Solid States due to polling in those states showing healthy leads for the candidate . Now lets go over the easiest pathways for both Senator McCain and Vice President Gore so for this hypothetical we will assign the states of Oregon and Wisconsin to Senator McCain and lets assign the states of Arkansas and Michigan to Vice President Gore as those are the tossup states we can say our clearly titling in one way or the other. Doing this gives Senator McCain 248 Electoral Votes and Vice President Gore 237 EV so all Senator McCain then needs to do is carry the state of Pennsylvania and if he does he will have 271 EV making him the President-Elect. So his path his pretty simple , carry Pennsylvania , Wisconsin and Oregon and he will win the election.

So if Vice President Al Gore wants to win he must I mean he must carry Pennsylvania because there is no realistic way at this point I can see him carrying Wisconsin or Oregon if he fails to carry Pennsylvania and then doing so would then give Vice President Al Gore 260 electoral votes. Given that Iowa and Maine only total 9 electoral votes and in a 269-269 scenario Senator McCain would be elected as there is very little chance Democrats get the majority of the house delegations if the election is so close , the Vice President must carry either Minnesota or Washington to get to 270 electoral votes because if Senator McCain wins Minnesota and Washington then Senator McCain will be the next President even if he loses Pennsylvania

Shaw: Can Senator McCain win if he loses Pennsylvania, Minnesota and Washington

Greenfield: No because in that case he would need Michigan and at this point its very hard to see Senator McCain winning Michigan if he is losing Pennsylvania. So now lets go over to William Schnider who will analyze these 3 crucial states of Pennslyvania, Washington , Minnesota

Schneider: First lets look at the big prize Pennslyvania 

Pennsylvania: In Pennslyvania if Vice President Gore wants to win it starts with a strong performance in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh , and Scranton the 3 strong holds in Pennsylvania along with putting a strong performance in the suburbs of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. For Senator McCain to win he needs to perforam strongly in rural Pennslyvania and then perform reasonably well in the suburban counties. Ill say a key factor is Bucks County and whoever wins that will carry the state of Pennsylvania

Minnesota: This is a state that has not voted republican since 1972 but despite that is very competitive this year. One reason is the strong performance of Ralph Nader which has hurt the Vice President in this state. Really the question to see if the Vice President can win the state is the margins he gets in St Louis county, Ramsey County and Hennepin county. He must I mean win St Louis county by at least 23 points , Ramsey county by 17 points and Hennepin county by double digits because if he cant do that well then I dont see how this state will go to anyone but Senator McCain

Washington: Again this is a state that will have a huge Nader factor and polls show he is expected to get upwards of 5 percent which really could hurt Vice President Gore here. So some key counties in my opinion or Clark County a place Senator McCain must win by around 8 points along with a strong performance in the eastern part of the state. Vice President Gore must run up the numbers in the Seattle area winning King county by around 21-22 points , getting a 3-4 point win in Snohomish county and if both candidates can do that then the state will come down to who can win Pierce County.

Shaw: Ok thanks Jeff and Bill and look forward to covering election night with you tommorow

[OSR stands with Israel]

CNN: Election Night in America 2000(Exit Polls)



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rchmoqssrQw&t=0s

Bernard Shaw: Welcome to CNN coverage of the 2000 election which is shaping up to be the closest election we have ever had and given we are less than 10 minutes from the 7 PM poll closings we now will reveal what are exit polls are saying for tonight but before we do we just want to let you know in the state of Indiana which closed at 6 PM we can project that Senator McCain will carry this reliably Republican state and in Kentucky we currently believe its too early to call.

McCain 12
Gore 0

Now lets go over to Bill Schnider to see what our nation exit polls are saying

Schnider: Our exit polls are saying what our preelection polls have been saying for a while and that is this will be a very close race so now lets look at them

Detailed Exit Poll Results:

Race:

White: 81%; McCain 55% Gore 42%
African-American: 10%; Gore 87% McCain 12%
Hispanic: 7% ; Gore 59% McCain 39%
Asian: 2%; Gore 52% McCain 44%

Gender:

Men: 48%; McCain 52% Gore 44%
Women: 52%; Gore 51% McCain 47%

Age:

18-29: 17%;  McCain 49% Gore 46%
30-49: 45%; McCain 51% Gore 47%
50-64: 24%; Gore 50% McCain 48%
65+:  14%; Gore 50% McCain 48%

Income:

0- 30k: 23%; Gore 55% McCain 41%
30k-50k: 24%; McCain 51% Gore 46%
50k-100k: 38%: McCain 52% Gore 46%
100k+ : 15%: McCain 53% Gore 45%

Schneider: For people at home who are calculating these results with their calculators I just want to remind you that these polls have around a 3 point margin of error and this poll shows the gap well within that margin of error so dont jump to any conclusions just yet. Some interesting things from this poll are that young voters are going to McCain while older voters are going to Gore and many might say didnt Reagan and Bush Senior in 1988 win young voters by landslide margins yes but they also won old voters by a lot so this type of result is pretty rare even though polls leading up to the election were expecting that.

Woodruff: Given Senator McCain message on that he will fundamentally change way politics works its not surprising that young voters like they usually are are gravitated to that type of message.

Shaw: Alright we will be back in just a few minutes where we will officially begin our election coverage

[OSR stands with Israel]

How's the Senate looking? Let's go Bob Franks!!!

You'll see

[OSR stands with Israel]

CNN: Election Night in America 2000(Part 1)



7:00:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rchmoqssrQw&t=0s

Shaw: It is 7 PM in the east and CNN can now project that Senator McCain will carry the states of New Hampshire , Kentucky, South Carolina along with our earlier call of Indiana while Vice President Al Gore will win Vermont . At this moment we are currently unable to make a projection in Virginia , Georgia and Florida . The reason for this is currently there hasnt been enough information which has come out of the state which would allow us to make a projection although it is expected that the states of Virginia and Georgia will go solidly in the McCain camp tonight

McCain 32
Gore 3


Greenfield: There is a misconception that states not being called immediately means that they will be close but the fact is that is not true as many times the problem is data takes less time to come in those states than some others. Now lets look at our battleground senate tracker


Seats Currently Held By Republicans:
Deleware
Florida
Michigan
Minnesota
Missouri
Montana
Pennsylvania
Washington

Seats Currently Held By Democrats:
Nebraska
Nevada
New Jersey
Virginia

Schneider: Yup a senate race we are unable to project at the moment is Virginia is one Fairfax county a county that is usually a good belweather in deciding his state along with Virginia beach, and also seeing what type of inroads the Republicans are able to make in Appalachian Virginia.

7:30

Woodruff: The polls have closed in Ohio, North Carolina and West Virginia and while we arent able to make a projections in any of those states we are able to project that in the state of Florida the home of Vice President Gore's running mate will be won by the Vice President  while the states of Virginia and Georgia will be won by Senator McCain which will come as no surprise.

McCain 58
Gore 28

Schneider: Once again North Carolina we arent able to call due to there being very little information at this time but we should be able to at the 8 PM poll closing in my opinion. As or West Virginia not being called the polls have shown a significant swing to the right since 1996 and even though the state leans in the direction of Vice President Gore , his record on environmentalism and guns could possibly make this state a tossup 4 years from now if he is the incumbent and if he was running against Texas Governor George W Bush it probably is a tossup this time around due to his strong pro coal views.

Shaw: I would agree with that assessment so now lets go over to Wolf Blitzer for for an update on the house

Blitzer: Yes at this point we still believe at the end of tonight the Republicans will have between 215-230 house seats so our exit polls in the house show very similar results to our final polls. If Democrats want to gain control of the house they will need to run the table and currently that looks unlikely. The question of whether they will make net gains or not and that we believe will be determined by whether or not Vice President Gore can win the election and if he does we believe that Democrats should make gains in the house and narrow the margin to a point where even if they dont have a majority they still should have enough seats to get Vice President Gore legislation through.


Greenfield: Yes if Democrats are able to get 215 seats in the house Vice President Gore should win and should be enough to get a working majority in the house .


7:58

Shaw: Well looks like we wont be able to take a break before the 8 PM poll closings as we can now project that Senator McCain will carry the state of North Carolina as expected.

McCain 72
Gore 28

[OSR stands with Israel]

CNN: Election Night in America 2000(Part 2)



8:00:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rchmoqssrQw&t=0s

Shaw: Its 8 in the east and CNN can now project that Vice President Al Gore will carry the states of Connecticut, Deleware, Illionis, Maryland, Massachusetts and the District of Cloumbia while Senator McCain will carry the states of Kansas, Mississippi, Oklahoma and the big one Texas. Currently we dont have enough information to make a projection in Alabama, Maine, Michigan, Missouri , New Jersey , Pennsylvania and Tennessee.

McCain 125
Gore 86

Woodruff: In the Senate we can project that Republican Senator Rick Santorum will be reelected and while that was expected Democrats targetted that seat as a potential upset but the upset wont happen as Senator Santorum will be reelected. In New Jersey and Michigan we beleive both are too close to call at the moment and we likely wont have those results until at least 90% of the precincts  are in . Bill how is the senate race in Virginia going

Schenider: Well right now Governor Allen is winning and in the key counties in Northern Virginia while much of it has not come in yet he is only down in Fairfax county by around 3 points, up nearly 20 points in Loudoun county and nearly 10 points in Prince William so he is getting what he needs there. In Richmond he is he is winning Chesterfiled by over 20 points and doing well in surrounding counties as well and is putting a strong performance in Virginia Beach too. So he is doing well in the 3 main voting parts of Virginia and if these numbers hold up we should be able to call this by 9 PM for Governor Allen


Seats Currently Held By Republicans:
Deleware
Florida
Michigan
Minnesota
Missouri
Montana
Pennsylvania
Washington

Seats Currently Held By Democrats:
Nebraska
Nevada
New Jersey
Virginia


Woodruff: Looking at the exit polls in Texas it seems like Senator McCain is heading to around a 15 point win there which is very impressive as that even surpasses the number former President George Bush got in 1988

Greenfield: Texas is a state that has swung heavily republican since the Carter years but over the past 6 years the trend to the right of Texas has been stunning and even arguably is bigger than what happened in Texas during the Reagan years and we dont know yet if that was due to the backlash of Clinton or the popularity of their governor George W Bush. On the other hand Democrats in the House are still doing very well there and should be expected to keep all their seats.

Schneider: Well the story of Texas is a story of much of the South in a microcosm as the South has gone from Solidly Democratic to Largely Republican mainly due to the rapid growth of the Republican suburbs and the collapse of Democrats in rural areas down there happening all at once leaving the Democrats only down to the big cities in the south while Republicans sweep everything else. Lets go to Larry King

King: If like to add the Democrats have managed to do well in state legislature elections as they still control the state legislatures in states like Texas and Georgia along with many other states. So a Democratic comeback down there might start with learning the lessons of what the state parties do. Now lets go to my guests Ann Richards and James Baker for word about that

Richards: Well the South isnt as Solidly Republican as people think as the Vice President has won the state of Florida, and should win Tennessee and Arkansas as well. So things arent going as bad as people think for them down there.

Baker: I think though states like Georgia, Lousiana, Kentucky coming solidly into our column is good news for us and gives us some breathing room.

Woofruff: In Ohio currently how are things going

Shaw: Not well as you can see a Democratic collapse from 4 years ago in South East Ohio along with McCain making some inroads into North East Ohio which while are still solidly Democrats , those reduced Margins makes Ohio this time leaning Republican like we thought it would.


8:30:

Shaw: The Polls have closed in Arkansas and at this time we believe it is too close to call. Although CNN now has enough information to project the states of Missouri and Alabama will be won by Senator John McCain while the states of New Jersey and West Virginia will be won by Vice President Al Gore.

McCain 145
Gore 106

Woodruff: None of these states were any surprise but West Virginia taking so long to call might portend West Virginia becoming a swing state in the future

Greenfield: Yes West Virginia will be within 5 points this year which is a huge lurch to the right . If Vice President Gore wins it arguably could go to the Republicans 4 years from now, if Senator McCain wins probably not but it will definitely be contested in 2004.

8:45:

Shaw: CNN Now can Project that Vice President Al Gore will win his home state of Tennessee when all the votes are counted. The Vice President was expected to carry the state but it was closer than he would have wanted it to be

Schnider: Yes I think the fact that Tennessee was close with the Vice President Gore who served in the senate for the state along with his dad shows what we were taking about earlier , the south moving more and more Republican

McCain 145
Gore 117

[OSR stands with Israel]

CNN: Election Night in America 2000(Part 3)



9:00 :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rchmoqssrQw&t=0s

Shaw: Its 9 PM in the East and we can now protect that Vice President Gore will carry the state of New York and Rhode island which should come to no surprise.  We can also project Senator McCain will carry the states of Arizona, Lousiana , Nebraska , North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming and we can also project that Senator McCain will carry these state no Republican has ever won the White House without and that is Ohio. We are unable to make a projection in Colorado , Minnesota, New Mexico and in Wisconsin .

McCain 197
Gore 154


Greenfield: In Pennslyvania while Vice President Gore currently as a solid lead we would caution you that in Pennslyvania the Democratic areas usually come in first and what we are seeing from the Philadelphia and Pittsburgh suburbs so far is Senator McCain is making inroads in both of them , the question is will they hold and will it be enough. In Michigan its the opposite with the Republican areas coming in first but if we look at Macomb county so far Senator McCain only leads this county by around a couple points and if that holds I would say that would mean the state probably will land up in the Vice President Column as Macomb usually votes around 3-4 points more Republican than the state as a whole. Im told we have some senate projections so lets head over to judy

Woodruff: Yes we do have some senate projections and that is that in the state of Virginia- Senator Chuck Robb will go down in defeat to former Governor George Allen and in Deleware, Senator Roth will go down in defeat to Governor Tom Carper. So Bill what does that do in terms of Senate Control

Schneider: Well given that the Democrats have basically conceded Nevada to the Republicans that means they will need 6 seats to retake control of the senate which means they must sweep the rest of the battleground senate seats in order to retake control and the problem is currently while they are up in Florida currently in New Jersey it is looking like at this point that the Republican Bob Franks is doing exactly what he needs to in key counties so at this point he would be favored though its early and in Michigan Senator Abraham is winning in Macomb and in this race Macomb would seem to be the bellwether so at this point id say he's favored in that race too.


Seats Currently Held By Republicans:
Deleware
Florida
Michigan
Minnesota
Missouri
Montana
Pennsylvania
Washington

Seats Currently Held By Democrats:
Nebraska
Nevada
New Jersey
Virginia


9:23:

Breaking News: Republicans to Retain Control of the House of Representatives

Shaw: We have some breaking news to announce and lets go to Wolf Blitzer for that

Blitzer: It is the Republicans will retain control of the house of representatives when this night is over and will have between 219-229 seats when this night is all over.

King: Not much of a surprise but Governor Richards what do you think

Richards: Well not a surprise but I do have hope if we can keep the Republicans to the lower end of the spectrum like 219 220 seats then if Vice President Al Gore wins we will have a workable majority in congress.

King: The senate doesnt look so good

Richards: Well but there are senators like Jeffords, Snowe, Chafee so who could vote with us from time to time so I think there is still a workable majority there.


9:35:

Shaw: CNN is now able to project that Senator McCain will carry the state of Colorado and its 8 electoral votes

McCain 205
Gore 154


9:45:

Woodruff: In the Florida Senate Race we can now make a projection and that is we can now project that the Democrat Bill Nelson will be the next Senator of Florida . In Missouri the late Governor Mel Carnahan is still ahead and doing well in key precients so if it holds he will win and according to the Democratic Governor he would appoint Carnahan's wife Jean Carnahan to that senate seat.


Seats Currently Held By Republicans:
Deleware
Florida
Michigan
Minnesota
Missouri
Montana
Pennsylvania
Washington

Seats Currently Held By Democrats:
Nebraska
Nevada
New Jersey
Virginia


Greenfied: In Pennsylvania currently Senator McCain is winning Bucks county , only trailing Montgomery by around 5 so right now he seems in my opinion to be the favorite if he wins. Wisconsin and Minnesota dont have enough in for us to make any judgments but Wisconsin like the polls showed is seemingly going for Senator McCain too especially with a strong Nader factor there. So at this point I would say Senator McCain is the favorite to win the Presidency though we still have a long way to go

[OSR stands with Israel]

CNN: Election Night in America 2000(Part 4)



10:00:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rchmoqssrQw&t=0s

Shaw: Its 10 PM in The East and CNN is now able to project that Senator McCain will carry the states of Idaho, Montana, and Utah while we are unable to make projections currently in Iowa and Nevada

McCain 217
Gore 154

Woodruff: In the Senate we can now project that in Nevada the Republican John Ensign will be the next senator of the state giving the Republicans a grand total of 49 Senate Seats so far meaning just winning any one of the senate races in our battleground map will mean they will keep control of the senate.

Schnider: Yes and at this point is seems very likely they will do that Judy as in New Jersey the Republican Bob Franks currently is leading and in key counties he is winning Bergen and Monmouth county by more than 5 points , is withing single digits in Middlesex county and is getting over 30% in Essex. He right now is leading by nearly 3 points and if these numbers hold up he will be the next senator of the state and will give Republicans the 50 senators they need to retain control.

Seats Currently Held By Republicans:
Deleware
Florida
Michigan
Minnesota
Missouri
Montana
Pennsylvania
Washington

Seats Currently Held By Democrats:
Nebraska
Nevada
New Jersey
Virginia

King: Now with us is Texas Governor George W Bush a rival of Senator McCain in the primaries. Governor Bush whats your reaction to these results

Bush: Well I dont want to be premature but I think these results right now show a clear trend that is favorable to Senator McCain and at this point I think he is the clear favorite to become the next President of the United States

King: Any thoughts of how this could have been you

Bush: No that is in the past now , and right now I am just thinking about if Senator McCain wins how I can work with him to make my state of Texas a better place and help in making our country a better place too

King: Would you accept a cabinet role

Bush: I promised the voters of Texas that I would not leave my job for any position except if I was elected President and I intend to keep that promise

King: Which states do you think Senator McCain will carry

Bush: He definitely will carry Nevada and New Mexico, at this point i have a hard time seeing him lose Pennsylvania and Wisconsin and given the polls have not been off much at all tonight I think he will win Oregon narrowly too giving him at least 271 electoral votes and making him the President-Elect

King: Ok thanks for coming on


10:22:

Woodruff: In the state of Missouri we can project that the late Governor Mel Carnahan will defeat Senator John Ashcroft and due to that due to the Missouri governor saying he would appoint his wife to that seat, we can say that Jean Carnahan will be the next senator of that state.

Seats Currently Held By Republicans:
Deleware
Florida
Michigan
Minnesota
Missouri
Montana
Pennsylvania
Washington

Seats Currently Held By Democrats:
Nebraska
Nevada
New Jersey
Virginia

10:33:

Breaking News: Republicans to Retain Control of the United States Senate
Woodruff: We have some major news to announce and that is the Republicans will retain control of the United States senate as CNN can now project that Representative Bob Franks will defeat the Democrat Jon Corzine to become the next Senator of the state of New Jersey and will be the first Republican to win a senate race here since 1976. The Reason we can say that is the Republicans will now have 50 seats and even if Democrats now sweep the rest of the senate seats and Vice President Gore wins tonight then Republican Governor Jeb Bush would appoint the replacement for Senator Bob Graham which would give the Republicans 51 seats in that case meaning they will have the majority now no matter what happens in the Presidential Race .


Seats Currently Held By Republicans:
Deleware
Florida
Michigan
Minnesota
Missouri
Montana
Pennsylvania
Washington

Seats Currently Held By Democrats:
Nebraska
Nevada
New Jersey
Virginia


Shaw: In the Presidential Race we can also project that Senator McCain will win the states of Nevada and New Mexico which while expected does put him closer to the 270 number and in Maine while we cant project the winner of the state we believe both candidates will win at least 1 electoral vote in that state

McCain 227
Gore 155

Greenfield: Now looking at the major states still out while Vice President Al Gore still leads in Pennsylvania its dropping every time new precients come in and really with more Republican areas still out at this point I would say Senator McCain will win that state , in Wisconsin while McCain is doing pretty will in the swing Driftless Area leading in some key counties like Grant and in Dane the Nader factor and Senator McCain popularity with younger voters compared to most Republicans has made it so that Vice President Gore isnt getting the margins he needs to win the state. Although he hopes that depressed conservative turnout in the Milwaukee suburbs would reduce Senator McCain margins there and make it a wash. In Minnesota again the nader factor is affecting him here plus a deent perforamnce by Senator McCain in the Minneapolis suburbs  and his strong performance in the rural parts of the state could give McCain Minnesota too though that is at this a point a total wash. In Michigan though we would say that the Vice President is favored .

[OSR stands with Israel]

CNN: Election Night in America 2000(Part 5)



11:00:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rchmoqssrQw&t=0s

Shaw: The polls have closed in the West and we can now project that the largest state in the Union , the state of California will be won by Vice President Gore along with the island state of Hawaii

McCain 227
Gore 213

Greenfield: California is a state that went for the Republicans 9 of 10 times between 1952 and 1988 but the past decade has been a really bad decade for the California Republican party with the sudden collapse of the defense industry down there which happened under a Republican president , a massive tech boom which happened under a Democratic President and the state Republican party alienating the fastest demographic group in the state , Hispanics, has led to a steep decline for the party when just a decade prior you could argue the California Republicans had their best decade since the 1950s. Our exit poll though shows that Senator McCain should be able to keep it within 9-10 points here and to see how that affects house races lets go over to Wolf

Blitzer: Well our exit poll in California shows that Democrats will only gain only around between one or two seats here with Democrats expected to gain 3 seats and Republicans either 1 or two with the 20th district being a pure tossup and them favored to gain the 49th district. That is a disappointment as many Democrats hoped for 5 maybe 6 gains earlier this year.

Greenfield: Maybe this night could begin a new chapter for the California Republicans.

Shaw: Before we go over to Judy for a senate call , we just want to let you know that in Pennsylvania now Senator McCain leads here which bodes really good for his chances here as there are still more Republican areas to report in. Ok lets go see what the senate call is now

Woodruff: We can now project that in Nebraska the Democrat Governor Ben Nelson will win the seat of the outgoing Democratic Senator Bob Kerrey and that means the Democrats at worst will break even in the senate tonight

Schnedier: If Vice President Gore can win and Democrats take just two of those races he could be able to have a better chance to pass his agenda than Presdent Clinton has in the last 6 years


Seats Currently Held By Republicans:
Deleware
Florida
Michigan
Minnesota
Missouri
Montana
Pennsylvania
Washington

Seats Currently Held By Democrats:
Nebraska
Nevada
New Jersey
Virginia


11:35:

Shaw: CNN can now project Arkansas, the home state of President Clinton will be won by Vice President Gore which is a huge sigh of relief for the Gore camp as without Arkansas this race would probably be pretty much over .

Greenfield: Yes with Pennsylvania at this point seemingly almost guaranteed to go to Senator McCain and with Vice President Gore again not getting the margins he needs in Dane or SW WI it will be hard for him to win assuming we see major drop in conservative turnout in the Milwaukee suburbs and while we are seeing a drop its not that much to make up for the other two. That means Senator McCain would have 264 electoral votes and Arkansas would give Senator McCain 270. He still needs a win in Oregon which given how things have gone tonight seem unlikely but at least he can have a chance while without Arkansas even winning Oregon wont be enough

Shaw: That drop in turnout is helping him in Iowa though

Greenfiled : Yes it is , that drop of turnout in the Western Part of Iowa is helping Vice President Gore in Iowa as unlike in Wisconsin Nader is failing to get even 3%. Now lets look at the map

McCain 227
Gore 219

Woodruff: We have another Senate projection to make and that is Senator Spencer Abraham will barley hold on and be reelected in Michigan by around 1.5 points.

Seats Currently Held By Republicans:
Deleware
Florida
Michigan
Minnesota
Missouri
Montana
Pennsylvania
Washington

Seats Currently Held By Democrats:
Nebraska
Nevada
New Jersey
Virginia

Schneider: Yes it was expected that Senator Abraham would outrun Senator McCain by around two-three points here so given how close Senator McCain is here its no surprise then Senator Abraham would be reelected. Senator McCain probably wont win the state but its close enough for it for the Repubican senator of the state to be reelected. On the other hand the opposite is true in Minnesota in which he is expected to underperform Senator McCain here by around a point.


11:52:

Shaw: We have a major projection to make right now and that is that Senator John McCain will carry Pennsylvania and its very crucial 23 electoral votes

McCain 250
Gore 219

King: At this point if I make a sports analogy and that is currently the chances of Vice President Gore winning are basically a sports team coming from 3-0 down with game 7 being played on the road. The reason is in Wisconsin really again looking at these numbers I dont see a pathway for Vice President Gore to win here , and in Oregon right now he is losing in Washington county, losing Clackmus by 3 points, Senator McCain is getting 30% in Multnomah and there is a strong Nader factor so really its very hard to see how he wins Oregon

Greenfield: Yes but remember those are still early numbers in Oregon and if those numbers hold say by 1 am then we would be able to call it for Senator McCain. Again though in Washington its a head heat with Senator McCain winning in Clark County by around 8, basically tied in Pierce County so really at this point you can make an argument that Senator McCain is the extremely narrow favorite in Washington if you had to pick so I agree that right now Senator McCain is the huge favorite to win the Presidency but lets wait till for another hour - hour and half before declaring he has won it as its better to be cautious than wrong

Schneider: And those Washington numbers are really good news for Senator Gorton

Shaw: Yes they are yes they are. We will take a break now and come back in a few minutes

[OSR stands with Israel]

CNN: Election Night in America 2000(Part 6)



12:00

Shaw: The polls have closed in Alaska and we can now project that state will be won by Senator McCain but more critically we can project the battleground state of Wisconsin and its 11 very important electoral votes will be won by Senator McCain

McCain 264
Gore 219

Shaw: That means with the exception of Maine , any state left on the map would put Senator McCain over the top if he won those states electoral votes. The Good news for the McCain camp is that the numbers we reported to you from Oregon are holding and if they hold by the top of the next hour we should be able to project the election for Senator McCain

King: So while that time hasnt officially come what are some names that you think would serve in a potential McCain cabinet. I think people like Colin Powell, Tom Ridge are pretty much guaranteed sports but what about some others


Greenfield: Well I think people like George Pataki, Phil Gramm could get roles to but a critical thing people forget when discussing these kinda of things are the appointments the President makes to run their party. With Senator McCain stance on an issue of campaign finance reform, he potentially could shake up the RNC in major ways which in turn rehshapes the party as well so that part is forgotten when discussing these things.


12:33:

Shaw: Some sigh of relief for the Gore campaign is that we are now able to project that Vice President Gore will carry the state of Michigan and its 18 electoral votes as well.

McCain 264
Gore 237


Shaw: Now lets go over a rundown of the remaining key states

Oregon- Senator McCain leads so far in Washington County, winning Clackmus by around 3.5 points and till getting over 30% in Multnomah and in eastern and southern Oregon is doing really well too. So at this point its hard to see how Vice President Gore can win here at this point

Minnesota: Senator McCain is up here but this has gone back and forth but strong performance in the suburbs and western part of the state along with a strong nader favor in Minneapolis has helped Senator McCain hold on to the lead. In the senate race though the Democrat is winning at the moment

Iowa: This is a state Vice President Gore is winning in due a strong performance in Eastern Iowa, not much of a nader factor here and depressed turnout in Western Iowa which has more than so far made up Senator McCain making some gaines in Des Moines. Right now Id say Vice President Gore is favored at the moment

Washington: This is another state that has been going back and forth due to both Senator McCain and Vice President Gore needing do what they need to in key counties and right now it seems like whoever wins Pierce County will indeed likely win the state and right now Senator McCain leads but its going back and forth there as well. In the senate though it seems like Senator Gorton is in great shape and at this point probably will be reelected by around 4 points.


12:51:

Woodruff: CNN is now able to project that in Washington- Senator Slade Gorton will be reelected which will mean the Republicans will have at least 52 Senate Seats when the night is all concluded


Seats Currently Held By Republicans:
Deleware
Florida
Michigan
Minnesota
Missouri
Montana
Pennsylvania
Washington

Seats Currently Held By Democrats:
Nebraska
Nevada
New Jersey
Virginia


Schneider: So that will leave the Republicans with either 52 to 54 senate seats this January but what should be some encouraging news for Democrats is the Democratic candidate is winning in the two outstanding senate races so far

[OSR stands with Israel]

Breaking News: John McCain Elected President
1:05:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rchmoqssrQw&t=0s

Shaw: CNN Can Now project that John McCain will be the next President of the United States as CNN can now project that the state of Oregon and its 7 electoral votes will be won by Senator McCain which takes him up from 264 to 271 electoral votes which will the long time Arizona Senator the President-Elect of the United States.

McCain 271
Gore 237

Greenfield: President-Elect McCain ran one of the best campaigns I have ever seen, just a year ago nobody believed he had a chance to even make it to Super Tuesday but a year later he has doing what many people thought was impossible, win the presidency of the United States . To do so he had to defeat two of the biggest political powerhouses a candidate ever has seen: a candidate with the support of both the establishment and ideological wing of the party in George W Bush, and the Vice President to a popular administration in a time where most Americans think is a period of peace and prosperity.

King: He did it cause what ever you think about John McCain one thing you cannot deny is he is one of the most honorable and patriotic people you could ever meet. In a time when many people were being discouraged with the way the political system was working he in many ways was the perfect candidate to run.

Schnider: In my opinion, he has many similarities to  Teddy Roosevelt but except this time Presidents have much more power over their parties than they did back then. So if he is successful he will be able to successfully remake his party . Both he and Teddy Roosevelt were anti establishment maverick Republicans who both lamented what Teddy Called the monopolistic control over politics and McCain called the lobbyists control, both are environmentalist Republicans and both were very nationalistic as well.

Woodruff: Both were also war heroes as well

Schnider: Yup that is true


Woodruff: Ok now we have a senate call to make and that is that Republican Slade Gorton will be reelected in Washington state

Seats Currently Held By Republicans:
Deleware
Florida
Michigan
Minnesota
Missouri
Montana
Pennsylvania
Washington

Seats Currently Held By Democrats:
Nebraska
Nevada
New Jersey
Virginia


Woodruff: Wolf how are the House results going


Blitzer: So far at the end of the night we expect the Republican will have anywhere between 226 and 228 house seats at the end of tonight which will mark a net gain of anywhere from 3 to 5 seats

Shaq: We have some breaking news to report and that is that we have just received word that Vice President Gore has called Senator now President-Elect McCain to concede the election and is heading over now to give his concession speech

[OSR stands with Israel]

Excerpts of Vice President Gore's Concession Speech:



Gore: I just had the opportunity to speak with President-elect John McCain and congratulate him on winning the election. I told him that while we two may have many disagreements he now will be all of our President and I wish him success(Applause) as his success will now be our nation's success. John McCain despite our differences is also one of the most honorable people I know, and I know that he will do his utmost to serve our country with honor like he has done his entire adult life(Applause) and will do his best to help unite this nation after this close and hard-fought election(Applause).

I want to thank Senator Bob Graham for all the hard work he put into this campaign and I couldn't be prouder to have named him as my running mate and I know he continue to be a great senator for Florida(Applause). I also want to thank all the people who worked and volunteered for not only this campaign but since I made my first senate run in 1984 and without your hard work I would not be anywhere close to where I was today(Applause). I want to let you know that while we lost this election , that doesnt mean our fight is over and that we have come back from much worse defeats before and we will come back from this one if you keep your hopes and spirits up and continue to fight for what you think is right(Applause). Thank You May God Bless You and May God Bless America


Excerpts of President-Elect McCain Victory Speech:



Source: https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/arizona/2018/04/02/john-mccain-2000-republican-presidential-campaign-george-w-bush-arizona-senator/537969001/


McCain: Thank You Thank You. I just had the honor of speaking to Vice President Gore who congratulated us on winning the election and I congratulated him of running a tough campaign and on all the years he gave in service of this nation(Applause). I told him that I look forward to working with him over the next few weeks to help unite our nation after this hard-fought campaign because we are not Republicans first or Democrats first but Americans first which is why to all the people who didnt not vote for me , I pledge to do my utmost to making you proud as well(Applause). We may have differences in our solutions but we all want to solve the same problems from our broken political system, to make sure more people can have access to healthcare, to keeping our environment clean, to fixing our education system and I look forward to working with both parties to do so.

While many people may have thought that what this result today was impossible, well I can tell you that nothing is impossible in America and this nation proves time and time again why the people and not the politicians are the ones who bring change to this nation(Applause). Like President Reagan said it wasnt his revolution but the people's revolution and if we hopefully are able to succeed in making the changes we set out to make it wont be because of me but because of you(Applause). Thank You May God Bless You and May God Bless America

[OSR stands with Israel]

CNN: Election Night in America 2000(Rest of Results)



2:36
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rchmoqssrQw&t=0s

Shaw: We can now project that in Minnesota - President-Elect McCain will be the first Republican to win the state since 1972 with just over 99% of the precincts in by around a fourth of a percentage point while we can project that Vice President Al Gore will win the state of Maine

McCain 281
Gore 239

Greenfield: The reason he won MN is cause Nader got nearly 6% here so that was  a major factor and the inraods he has made in the rural parts of the state and good margins in the suburbs but even then not by much.

Woodruff: We can also project in the seante race in that state the Democrat Mark Dayton will be the next Senator of the state

Seats Currently Held By Republicans:
Deleware
Florida
Michigan
Minnesota
Missouri
Montana
Pennsylvania
Washington

Seats Currently Held By Democrats:
Nebraska
Nevada
New Jersey
Virginia

Schnieder: That means Democrats will gain at least one seat in the seante tonight which is a silver lining in otherwise was close and painful defeats across the board.

Greenfield: The Green party not being much of a factor there is why I think Democrats won the senate race there but not the Presidential one


3:30
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rchmoqssrQw&t=0s

Shaw: We can project that Vice President Gore will win Iowa and its 7 electoral votes

McCain 281
Gore 246

Greenfield: The reason he won here and not in Minnesota is that the Nader factor was far less in Iowa with nader getting under 3 points

Woodruff: In the Montana Senate Race we can project the Democrat Brian Schweitzer will be the next senator of that state defeating Republican senator Conrad Burns

Seats Currently Held By Republicans:
Deleware
Florida
Michigan
Minnesota
Missouri
Montana
Pennsylvania
Washington

Seats Currently Held By Democrats:
Nebraska
Nevada
New Jersey
Virginia

Schinder : That means the Democrats will gain 2 senate seats tonight

Shaw: Alright all of us will be signing off now but we will have others here too see if we can call Washington tonight


5:21:


Harris: CNN is finally able to make a projection in Washington and that is that Senator McCain will narrowly carry the state and its 11 electoral votes

McCain 292
Gore 246