It's About Coalitions Not Purity, Part Thirty-One

This was originally published in December 2012


"The Contentious Election of 2000" Part One

The election in 2000 was the most controversial in recent times. In a "relatively rare" event in American history, the losing candidate, Al Gore, won the popular vote over George W. Bush, but lost the electoral vote, which is the vote that really counts in American presidential elections.

Al Gore, then Vice President, was the consensus candidate of the Democratic Party and he easily won the party's nomination. The Republican nomination proved to be far more contested, as Senator John McCain of Arizona mounted a serious challenge for a time to Governor George W. Bush of Texas, who was the front runner for the GOP nomination. McCain stunned Bush in the New Hampshire primary, winning by a large margin there. McCain attracted moderate Republicans and independents, as New Hampshire permits independent voters to choose either the Democratic or Republican ballot in primaries. Bush needed a big win in South Carolina, and he got it, although his campaign left McCain embittered by allegations that the Bush campaign had used race and lies to clinch the primary vote in the conservative southern state, by implying that McCain had fathered a child with an African-American woman. How much this influenced the vote, if any, was unclear, but it clearly pointed to how much racial politics had become a part of the GOP.* McCain bounced back, winning a couple of primaries, but Bush won a decisive victory on so called "Super Tuesday" in March, by winning several key states. Generally speaking, McCain tended to do well in states where independents, or even Democrats, could choose the Republican primary ballot, and in states with more moderate Republican voters, and Bush did well in states with large numbers of conservative Republican voters. McCain decided to drop out of the race, leaving Bush with a clear path to the GOP nomination.

In other developments, the "Reform Party," founded by Ross Perot, nominated Pat Buchanan as its presidential nominee, in spite of Perot's personal disapproval of the nominee.** Further, in what may have decided the final outcome of the 2000 election, the Green Party chose Ralph Nader as its candidate. 

Next, in Part Two, "It All Comes Down To A Few Hundred Votes In Florida"

* In fairness, such racial politics had once been part of the Democratic Party, when the South was solidly Democratic, as I mentioned in some previous parts in this series.

** Buchanan's selection showed how Ross Perot had lost control of the movement he generally had started and how it became a coalition which attracted right wing elements. Perot originally had put emphasis on the budget deficits, blaming both parties for deficit spending, including the "voodoo economics" of the Reagan administration, and also criticizing trade deals which sent jobs and investments overseas. Perot had been much more libertarian on social issues, steering clear of them as much as possible, but Buchanan was well known for his tough stance, and rough talk, about many such issues (he was anti-abortion and anti gay rights, in particular). This further added to the Reform Party's coalition.  

WORD HISTORY:
Stub-This word goes back to Indo European "steupb," which had the notion of "hit, beat, knock, push." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "stubjaz," which had the same meanings, but also developed meanings for things from the result of being "hit or pushed." This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "stybb," meaning a "tree stump;" that is, the remnant of a tree after been hit or knocked by humans, wind, lightning. This later became "stubb(e)," before the modern version, and it also broadened in meaning to short, fat objects, as does the derived adjective "stubby." The verb developed from the noun, with the idea of making something "stubby" or leaving a "stub" after pulling, cutting, or hitting (plants, hair/whiskers, tickets), and of course, the OUCH part of hitting your toe or finger against something ("I stubbed my toe!"). Other Germanic languages have: Danish and Norwegian "stubben, Swedish "stubbe," all generally still meaning "tree stump." Dutch had "stubbe" and Frisian once had "steb/stib." West Frisian has a couple of compounds containing "stub," but whether these are survivors of its previous form or borrowings, I'm not sure.