Afterward—The Millennial Election (also titled, 2000 Presidential Election)

The conclusion to the 2000 presidential election was the most dramatic outcome in over 100 years. George W. Bush joins John Quincy Adams (1824), Rutherford B. Hayes (1876) and Benjamin Harrison (1888) as only the fourth president to win in the Electoral College despite losing the popular vote. Bush received 271 electoral votes to 267 for Gore. In the popular vote, Gore won 48.4 percent compared to 47.9 percent of the popular vote for Bush—that translates into a 540,000 vote margin out of 105 million cast in the election.

The onus the new president carries on his shoulders to succeed is immense because one-half of the country has its doubts about him after the election. Yet, other presidents such as Abraham Lincoln and Franklin D. Roosevelt succeeded facing greater odds due to national traumas of impending war and economic depression when they entered the Oval Office.

The Florida recount and controversy is emblematic of a democracy in mid-life crisis. On the one hand, the razor thin election in Florida demonstrates a civics lesson— every vote does count. Even a presidential election can turn on a few votes. In this case less than a thousand out of 5.8 million cast by Florida residents. On the other hand, the outcome demonstrates that there are deep divisions in the country between Republicans and Democrats—not only what counts as a vote, but also on policy issues ranging from the environment to tax reform to foreign and defense policies. The fact that the election was nearly a tie for the two houses of Congress and the White House reflects a voting public that is also very divided. No where was this division more apparent than in the court case of Bush v. Gore when the Supreme Court decided by a 5-4 vote that the Florida Supreme Court had acted outside its jurisdiction to reorder a further recount not authorized by the state legislature.

As President Bush assumes office, his success or failure will be determined by his nimbleness to traverse the minefield of political opposition that will appear before him in the coming months. Democrats and Republicans have both talked about cooperation—whether it is cooperation or conflict will depend on what the two parties can agree to in the short term. In nine short months the campaign will begin for the first midterm election in the millennium, in 2002. Thus, the new president and congress have a daunting challenge before them, but as Benjamin Franklin once said, "necessity is the mother of invention."