The Real Reason Al Gore Lost the 2000 Election
Blame Congress, not the Supreme Court
In the 2000 presidential race, George W. Bush squeaked out an Electoral College victory against then Vice President Al Gore. Gore got half a million more votes than Bush, but he garnered only 266 Electoral votes to Bush’s 271.
Bush had the dubious honor of being only the fourth candidate in history to win the presidency while losing the popular vote. After his victory — and after Trump joined the “loser but still winner” club in 2016 — calls to abolish the Electoral College reached a fever pitch.
And don’t get me wrong. I’m all for chucking it. The arguments in favor of the Electoral College never held much water. If you think it protects rural voters from getting swamped by big cities, the rural voters of California or Minnesota might not agree. And anyway, the rule is supposed to be “one person, one vote.” It’s not “one person, one vote if you life in a city, but 1.3 votes if you live in the country.”
And definitely don’t feed me any lines about needing the Electoral College to foster “consensus.” Real consensus might be forged if presidential candidates had to campaign in every state, for every vote. As it stands, the election is decided by half a dozen states, so that’s where candidates spend all their time. The issues…