Well, you had Lieberman; and Gore spent practically his entire campaign in the state. Ironic, as a couple of visits to his home state, West Virginia, or New Hampshire might have sealed the deal for him. Oh well. He ran a spectacularly crappy campaign.
I remember that in September 2000 (or October), the media told that Bush and Gore would fight for the small states, because among the big states, it was certain that Gore would carry New York and California, and Bush would carry Texas and Florida. But after that, Gore almost won Florida.
In the recent elections, only in 2000 Ohio was more Republican than Florida. Maybe, Gore should have visited Ohio more times.