Bush's Late Strategy

[Bo]

Because he felt that he already had enough support to win and he wanted to show his bipartisanship by showing Democratic voters that he is camapigning in states he can't win just to listen to the people in those states.

[Bo]

Bush was arrogant.

Gore, on the other hand pulled an all nighter campaigning in the only state where he outspent Bush, Florida. Gore said that Florida would come down to 1 vote per precinct. Of course, even that estimate was too high.

If Gore had asked Clinton to campaign in FL for the last several days, attacked Bush Jr. on his DUI story much more severely, and consistenly asked people if they were better off than there were eight years ago right before the election, Gore would ahve probably won Florida by several thousand (not hundred) votes, if not more.

[Bo]

Bush was arrogant.

Gore, on the other hand pulled an all nighter campaigning in the only state where he outspent Bush, Florida. Gore said that Florida would come down to 1 vote per precinct. Of course, even that estimate was too high.

If Gore had asked Clinton to campaign in FL for the last several days, attacked Bush Jr. on his DUI story much more severely, and consistenly asked people if they were better off than there were eight years ago right before the election, Gore would ahve probably won Florida by several thousand (not hundred) votes, if not more.

I'm sure that some seemingly completely irrelevant things could have swung the necessary 0.004% people to vote differently (0.0015% for Gore to have led in the recount).

Still, it's surprising that Bush led in the national polls by 4-10% before his DUI story was released, and then ended up losing the PV and winning the election itself by the narrowest of margins.

[Bo]

The late strategy should have been abandoned once the DUI story broke imo. It was a good play if it hadn't.

Agreed. After the DUI story broke out, Bush should have immediately went to Florida and campaign there for the final several days. That way, his victory there would have likely been undisputed and there would have been no recount battles and court battles. That would have also improved his reputation with Democrats, since many of them perceived the 2000 election as stolen due to the SC stopping the recount in the middle without ordering a new one.

[Bo]

The late strategy should have been abandoned once the DUI story broke imo. It was a good play if it hadn't.

Agreed. After the DUI story broke out, Bush should have immediately went to Florida and campaign there for the final several days. That way, his victory there would have likely been undisputed and there would have been no recount battles and court battles. That would have also improved his reputation with Democrats, since many of them perceived the 2000 election as stolen due to the SC stopping the recount in the middle without ordering a new one.

Maybe he should have gone to Pennsylvania to strengthen support there. That way, he would let Florida do what it wanted to do and have a second lifeline to the oval office if Florida did not go his way.

Bad move. FL was always must closer than PA, and Bush ended up losing PA by 4% while winning FL by less than 0.01%. I don't see Bush causing a 2% swing in PA by camapigning there for just several days before the election. FL was always a much safer bet.