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The Daily

The Shadow of the 2000 Election

The Daily

The New York Times

Daily News, News

4.4102.8K Ratings

🗓️ 27 October 2020

⏱️ 33 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

What does the specter of the 2000 election mean for the upcoming election? The race between George W. Bush and Al Gore that year turned on the result in Florida, where the vote was incredibly close and mired in balloting issues. After initially conceding, Mr. Gore, the Democratic nominee, contested the count. What followed was a flurry of court cases, recounts, partisan fury and confusion. It would be months until — after a Supreme Court decision — Mr. Bush would become the 43rd president of the United States. The confrontation held political lessons for both sides. Lessons that could be put to the test next week in an election likely to be shrouded in uncertainty: The pandemic, the volume of mail-in voters and questions around mail delivery could result in legal disputes. Today, we take a look back at the contest between Mr. Gore and Mr. Bush. Guest: Jim Rutenberg, a writer-at-large for The New York Times and The Times Magazine. For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily Background reading: A number of legal battles over voting rights are in the pipeline. Any ruling could resonate nationwide.Elections supervisors say they have learned the hard lessons of the 2000 presidential recount and other messes. But challenges are already apparent.

Transcript

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0:00.0

From New York Times, I'm Michael Babaro. This is a Daily.

0:10.0

Today, both the Trump and Biden campaigns

0:14.0

are quietly preparing for the possibility of a contested election next week

0:19.0

that could involve recounts, lawsuits, and court cases.

0:24.0

My colleague Jim Rudenberg, on what Democrats and Republicans have learned from the last time that happened.

0:33.0

It's Tuesday, October 27th.

0:39.0

Jim, we are a week from the election.

0:41.0

And it is an election that, for a variety of reasons, the pandemic,

0:45.0

the volume of mail-in-balloting, questions about mail delivery,

0:49.0

could end up being bogged down in a lot of uncertainty and in legal disputes,

0:54.0

and could end up being contested.

0:56.0

And the last time that that happened, that we had a contested presidential election,

1:00.0

was in 2000.

1:02.0

And just to start, what were you doing back then, the night of November 7th, 2000?

1:08.0

Oh, God, it's like an acid flat back.

1:11.0

I would know what that is like.

1:13.0

But of course not.

1:14.0

It was, and in saying night, I was a real cub reporter.

1:18.0

Covering the networks, covering the election night.

1:27.0

There was so much pomp and circumstance around these election nights.

1:32.0

It had become its own show.

1:34.0

Good evening, and welcome to what promises to be a long and exciting night.

...

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