Electing the President, 2000: The Insider's View

The presidential election of 2000 was one of the most memorable of the century, a race so close it was decided by 537 votes in Florida. Two months after the Supreme Court put an end to the Florida recounts, key strategists from the Gore and Bush campaigns gathered in Philadelphia to analyze their successes and failures. In an unusually frank discussion, they disclosed the intentions, the research, and the tactics behind their decision-making on matters ranging from message development to campaign advertising to debate strategy.

Why did the Gore team not enlist President Clinton's help more extensively in the campaign? How did the Bush campaign undercut Gore's strategy on Social Security? Why was Gore unable to take credit for the strong economy? Was the press fair to the candidates? Did the mistaken calls made by the networks on election night affect the election's outcome? In Electing the President, 2000, campaign insiders offer their answers to these and many other questions.

Both candidates' inner circles are well represented. Representatives of the Bush campaign include senior adviser Karl Rove and ad producers Mark McKinnon and Alex Castellanos. Representatives of the Gore campaign include advisers Bob Shrum and Carter Eskew and pollster Stanley Greenberg. With its wealth of behind-the-scenes information, Electing the President, 2000 is required reading for anyone seeking to understand this most unusual presidential race.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0812218027
• ISBN13: 9780812218022
• Release Date: September 2001
• Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 0.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.5" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

An interesting read

This book, like Larry Sabato's but unlike almost all others on Election 2000, is an attempt to be unbiased. Unlike Sabato's book, however, it is "The Insiders' View." That is to say, it was produced from a conference attended by many of the principals: Gore workers, Bush workers, and media workers. And I found it interesting as a guide to what the people were thinking as they managed the two campaigns and the media coverage. I enjoyed it, though it was not as much an analysis of the election (which most of the books were) as the campaign. It's certainly a worthwhile read.

A look back at Campaign 2000

There is much that can be learned from this compilation of the campaign strategists holding forth on Election 2000 -- much more so than in any of the other popularized accounts of the campaign and the "36 days." Especially if Bush and Gore wind up facing each other again in three years, this is a book to refer back to.Several things struck me from this volume. One of them was the completely unrepentant manner the TV network representative dealt with the badly botched Florida call on election night. Every indication is that the media in future elections will continue to rely on the same pseudoscientific models that led to more than one mistaken call that night -- rather than relying on the actual results, which are really the only story one should follow. Other revelations from this book will fascinate political junkies: why Karl Rove says Bush lost Iowa, how Al Gore's handlers tried to test ad hominem attacks on Bush in focus groups, why Clinton never really campaigned with Gore. Sure -- none of these revalations are juicy enough to make the pages of the National Enquirer, but they are nonetheless an impressive addition to our body of knowledge about how political campaigns are planned and executed at the highest levels.