What Would Bush Have Done?
Recently I’ve come across the un-critical and reflexive remark, “Oh, just get over it, Gore lost the election. Period.” After coming across this on a message board, I was reminded of isolated news reports at the time that raised the opposite scenario. That is, in some late polls in 2000 it appeared that Bush would win the popular vote and Gore would go on to carry the electoral college vote. Well, we all know what happened. What’s not well remembered, is that Bush and his campaign had decided that if Gore won the electoral college vote, but not the popular vote, that Bush would contest the election on popular grounds:
The most intriguing scenario has Bush winning with voters while Gore squeaks to victory in the Electoral College.
Such an ambiguous finish to the closest, most hotly contested White House race in decades, would give Gore a legal claim to the presidency - and likely plunge the nation into a messy political crisis.
The Bush camp, sources said, would likely challenge the legitimacy of a Gore win, casting it as an affront to the people’s will and branding the Electoral College as an antiquated relic.
McGovern, however, warned that any Bush legal challenge could tear apart the nation and undermine the presidency.
“If there’s no legal basis for Bush’s case, it would be destructive,” said McGovern.
One informal Bush adviser, who declined to be named, predicted Republicans would likely benefit from a storm of public outrage if Bush won the popular vote but was denied the presidency.
“That’s what America is all about, isn’t it,” said the Bush source. “I’m sure we would make a strong case.”
Boston Herald, Nov 3. 2000 [ Link via EVote.com ]
Now, I’ll grant you this, reports like the one I cited are scattered and hard to find; however, I think that Republicans would’ve been far more rabid if the above scenario had played out, as opposed to what occurred. Perhaps the Democrats and Gore would’ve mounted a far more strenuous challenge, if the Democratic party had controlled the Senate, House and, for all practical purposes, the Judiciary — as the Republican party did then, and does now.
