The 2000 United States presidential election is the 54th quadrennial election between the Republican candidate, Governor George W. Bush and Democratic candidate, incumbent vice president Al Gore. George W. Bush narrowly defeated incumbent Al Gore in the Electoral College, with Al Gore winning the popular vote.

This is one of four presidential elections, and the first since 1888, in which the winning candidate lost the popular vote. This is also considered one of the closest presidential elections with long-standing controversy about the result.

The election hinged around Florida, with the returns showing such a close margin that state law required a recount. A month long series of legal battles regarding the Florida recount led to the controversial 5-4 Supreme Court decision in Bush v. Gore, which ultimately ended the recount.

Gore would concede the result in December 13 after the Supreme Court issued its decision regarding Bush v. Gore.

Ignore the usage of JibJab's This Land, it was the closest I could find

Albert Arnold Gore Jr. was the Democratic nominee in the 2000 United States presidential election, previously serving as Bill Clinton's vice president from 1993 to 2001, and a large role in Congress, starting as a House Representative for Tennessee's 4th congressional district from 1977 to 1983 and Senator from 1985 to 1993 from which he represented Tennessee.

During the Democratic primaries, Al Gore faced an early challenge by former New Jersey senator Bill Bradley, whom he was the only candidate to oppose Gore. Gore challenged Bradley in a series of debates, in which he went on the offensive, Bradley's polls tanked and in the Iowa caucus, the unions pledged their support for Gore despite Bradley spending heavily in Iowa. Gore swept the primaries heavily in Super Tuesday, with Bradley dropping the races shortly after and endorsing Gore.

Gore would choose Senator Joe Lieberman as his running mate, with Lieberman becoming "the first person of Jewish faith to run for the nation's second highest office". Pundits described this choosing as for Gore to distance himself from the scandals of the Clinton administration and to stand out as independent from Clinton.

George Walker Bush was the Republican nominee in the 2000 United States presidential election, previously serving as the Governor of Texas from 1995 to 2000, and whom he was a member of the Bush family and eldest son of former United States president George H.W. Bush.

During the Republican primaries, Bush portrayed himself as a compassionate conservative, implying the message that he was more centrist than the other mainstream Republicans. He campaigned on the main messages and platform that included bringing integrity and honour back into the White House, an increase in military spending, cutting taxes, improving education, and aiding minorities.

The primary election would narrow down between George W. Bush and Arizona Senator John McCain. Bush won the Iowa caucuses, despite being heavily favoured to win the New Hampshire primaries, trailed behind McCain by 19% and lost. Despite the defeat, he regained momentum and became the frontrunner for the South Carolina primaries, which made history for the campaign's negativity.

Bush would surprise observers by choosing Dick Cheney as his running mate, who was serving as the head of Bush's vice presidential search committee.

On the campaign trail, it mainly focused mainly on domestic issues, such as the projected budget surplus, the proposed reforms of Social Security and Medicaid, health care, competing plans for tax relief and foreign policy was hardly a focused issue.

Bush criticized the foreign policy of the Clinton administration, with a focus of criticism in their policies in the Balkans and Somalia. Bush promised to also bridge partisan gaps, claiming that the atmosphere in Washington stood in the way of necessary reforms.

Gore, meanwhile, questioned Bush's fitness for the presidency, pointing and citing the gaffes Bush made in interviews and speeches, suggesting to voters that he lacked the necessary experience to become president of the United States.

Bill Clinton's impeachment and scandal cast a dark shadow during the campaign, the Republicans strongly denounced Clinton's scandals and Bush himself promised to "restore honour and dignity" to the White House, making it a centerpiece of his campaign. Gore distanced his relationship from Clinton, avoiding the scandals under Clinton, as did his running mate, Lieberman, even though he was the first Democratic senator to denounce Clinton's misbehaviour.

Gore avoided appearing with Clinton, who was redirected to low-visibility areas to where he was popular. Pundits argued that this decision that this cost Gore votes from some of Clinton's core supporters.

Out of all the third parties, Ralph Nader was the most successful in their campaign. His campaign was marked in "super-rallies" held in sports arenas like Madison Square Garden, with retired talkshow host Phil Donahue as masters of ceremonies. Initially ignoring Nader, Gore tried to reel in votes from Nader in the final weeks, downplaying issues and arguing that Gore's ideas were more similar to Nader's compared to Bush. The Republican Party ran pro-Nader ads in an attempt to split the liberal vote.

The media would initially call Florida to Gore, using the exit polls and early result tallies and information provided by the Voter News Service, an organization aligned with the Associated Press. The call would be retracted in the evening after the finished tallies of heavily Republican counties in Florida, deeming Florida "too close to call".

Because of the narrow margin, under Florida state law, an automatic recount began a day after the election. The recount reduced the state's margin to just over 900 votes, triggering a manual recount.

The Gore campaign requested a manual recount in four select counties. Florida state law at the time allowed a candidate to request a manual recount by protesting the results of at least three precincts. The campaign requested that disputed ballots in Democratic stronghold counties in Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach, and Volusia Counties be counted by hand. Volusia County would start their recount first in November 12, but it would soon to be clear that some counties would not be able to finish their recounts at the November 14 deadline.

Because of the deadline, the Gore campaign, alongside Volusia and Palm Beach Counties sued to have their recount deadlines extended. Meanwhile the Bush campaign worked to stop the recount in which it joined a group of Floridian voters suing in federal district court for a preemptive injunction to stop all manual recounting in Florida statewide, arguing that the recount in Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach, and Volusia Counties violated the 14th Amendment.

With Volusia County's recount complete, the recount narrowed Bush's margin, reducing it a 300-vote lead. On the same day, a state judge upheld the deadline but ruled that further recounts could be considered later.

While the manual recounts ensued, Judge Terry Lewis of Leon County permitted Katherine Harris to certify the election results without the manual recount. On November 21, the Florida Supreme Court unanimously ruled that manual recounts in Broward, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties must be included and set 5:00 pm on November 26 as the earliest time for certification.

The United States Supreme Court would convene to consider Bush's appeal for the Florida Supreme Court's decision extending the certification date.

The United States Supreme Court ordered that the recount must stop in December 12, citing that the state lacked a uniform statewide methodology and there was insufficient time to create and complete the recount. At the same day, the Florida House approved of awarding the state's electoral votes to Bush, but the matter became irrelevant after the Court's ruling.

Gore conceded the election following the decision of the Supreme Court, the day after.