Electing The President 2000

Addresses issues surrounding a Presidential election including media, ballot issues, liberal and conservative viewpoints, election budgets, travel, and campaigning.

Offers pointers for getting the most out of the election by directing you to the best political Web sites, helping you evaluate news coverage and what to look for when watching debates & conventions.

The key Gore and Bush strategists from the 2000 election contribute their insights to this unique bi-partisan exploration of the most contentious election in U.S. history. Original.

"Chapters in this book were originally commissioned for a conference ... held at the Mershon Center on the Ohio State University campus, March 7-10, 2002"--Preface.

In The Perfect Tie: The True Story of the 2000 Presidential Election, James W. Ceaser and Andrew E. Busch continue their study of national elections and their broader implications for American politics and society. With groundbreaking research of electoral politics and penetrating discussions of divided government, independent candidates, party platforms, realignment theory, the electoral college, and campaign strategies, Ceaser and Busch attempt to make sense of the 2000 presidential election. By separating myth from fact in presidential contests and by emphasizing the significance of frequently overlooked issues, such as foreign policy, this book is essential reading for courses in American Government, Campaigns and Elections, and Presidential Politics, as well as for any American interested in the real and lasting importance of the 2000 elections.

Discusses the people and events of the controversial 2000 presidential election, the results of which were not decided until over one month after election day.

"Covers the primaries and caucuses, the national conventions, and the fall campaign season. Brief profiles of the people expected to run for president as Democrats, Republicans, third-party candidates, or independents. The guide also contains numerous tables and figures, exercises for students, brief bibliographies, and online sources." -- Back cover.

Provides reference tools on the controversial 2000 presidential election, including an overview, chronology, annotated bibliography, primary documents, biographies, vote totals, & discussion of the eletoral college, political & legal issues, & the election's long-term significance.

Contents: (1) Intro.; (2) Competing Approaches: Direct Popular Election v. Electoral College Reform; (3) Direct Popular Election: Pro and Con; (4) Electoral College Reform: Pro and Con; (5) Electoral College Amendments Proposed in the 111th Congress; (6) Contemporary Activity in the States; (7) 2004: Colorado Amendment 36; (8) 2007-2008: The Presidential Reform Act (California Counts); (9) 2006-Present: National Popular Vote -- Direct Popular Election Through an Interstate Compact; Origins; The Plan; National Popular Vote, Inc.; Action in the State Legislatures; States That Have Approved NPV; National Popular Vote; (10) Prospects for Change -- An Analysis; (11) State Action -- A Viable Reform Alternative?; (12) Concluding Observations.

A New Statesman Book of the Year “America’s greatest historian of democracy now offers an extraordinary history of the most bizarre aspect of our representative democracy—the electoral college...A brilliant contribution to a critical current debate.” —Lawrence Lessig, author of They Don’t Represent Us Every four years, millions of Americans wonder why they choose their presidents through an arcane institution that permits the loser of the popular vote to become president and narrows campaigns to swing states. Congress has tried on many occasions to alter or scuttle the Electoral College, and in this master class in American political history, a renowned Harvard professor explains its confounding persistence. After tracing the tangled origins of the Electoral College back to the Constitutional Convention, Alexander Keyssar outlines the constant stream of efforts since then to abolish or reform it. Why have they all failed? The complexity of the design and partisan one-upmanship have a lot to do with it, as do the difficulty of passing constitutional amendments and the South’s long history of restrictive voting laws. By revealing the reasons for past failures and showing how close we’ve come to abolishing the Electoral College, Keyssar offers encouragement to those hoping for change. “Conclusively demonstrates the absurdity of preserving an institution that has been so contentious throughout U.S. history and has not infrequently produced results that defied the popular will.” —Michael Kazin, The Nation “Rigorous and highly readable...shows how the electoral college has endured despite being reviled by statesmen from James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, and Andrew Jackson to Edward Kennedy, Bob Dole, and Gerald Ford.” —Lawrence Douglas, Times Literary Supplement