It's Nov. 1, 2024, the day of the week when I reprise a quotation intended to be uplifting or enlightening. Four days before Election Day, I found inspiration in the words of the two candidates who contested the 2000 presidential campaign: George W. Bush and Al Gore. Especially Gore.
Four years ago this week, the Electoral College made it official: Joseph R. Biden Jr. won 306 electoral votes in the 2020 presidential election – the exact number Donald J. Trump earned in 2016. In both years, the results in several key battleground states were exceedingly close. Also, in both years Trump trailed significantly in the national popular vote: Hillary Clinton outpolled him by 2.87 million votes six years ago; Biden beat Trump by 7 million votes four years later.
Certainly, it's an emotional blow to lose any presidential election, whether narrowly or in a landslide, but winning the national popular vote and losing the presidency seems exceptionally excruciating – for the candidate and the candidate's supporters.
Sixteen years before Hillary Clinton's defeat, another contentious presidential election took place between Texas Gov. George W. Bush and Vice President Albert Gore Jr. It was ultimately decided at the Supreme Court, which was forced to weigh the confusing and razor-thin election results in Florida.
Bush was eventually declared the winner, and so it fell to Gore to conclude the process by delivering a concession speech. Americans learned an important civics lesson that year – at least we should have – and that lesson is this: The candidate's concession speech is more than a formality and more than good manners. It is part of the election process. It signals to partisans that the campaign is over and that the losing side is moving on. Without it, mistrust ensues – or worse, as the entire world learned on Jan. 6, 2021.
Things didn't come to that in the Bush-Gore race. On Dec. 13, 2000, Al Gore discharged his patriotic duty with a brief address noteworthy for its grace. And on Jan. 6, 2001, he met his constitutional responsibilities by certifying the electoral votes.
Until then, the anomaly of a popular vote winner losing in the Electoral College had happened only three times in U.S. history. The first, and most notorious, instance came in 1824. In a four-man race, Andrew Jackson won the popular vote and bested John Quincy Adams in the Electoral College. But Jackson lacked the required majority of electors, so the issue was thrown to the House of Representatives, which chose Adams.
For Al Gore, the 2000 election returns were triply painful. First, he lost in the Electoral College by so narrow a margin that a switch of even the smallest state from Bush to Gore would have made the difference. Second, it seems apparent that third-party candidate Ralph Nader cost him New Hampshire – and almost certainly Florida. Third, Gore won the popular vote by some half-million ballots, a foreshadowing of the 2016 election.
Despite all that, Gore met the moment. Speaking from the vice president's office, he began with a lighthearted quip: "I promised him that I wouldn't call him back this time." This was a reference to the election-night concession to Bush that Gore issued and then retracted an hour later. Then Gore turned serious: "I offered to meet with him as soon as possible so that we can start to heal the divisions of the campaign and the contest through which we just passed."
Gore made it clear he disagreed with the Supreme Court's decision, and yet would abide by it. He turned rhetorically to Abraham Lincoln to make sense of things. "Almost a century and a half ago, Senator Stephen Douglas told Abraham Lincoln, who had just defeated him for the presidency, ‘Partisan feeling must yield to patriotism. I'm with you, Mr. President, and God bless you.'"
American politicians often quote Lincoln, but Gore didn't do it casually. He was reminding his own supporters of the "better angels" of their nature. In cadences and prose that deliberately evoked the 16th U.S. president, Gore added: "Neither he nor I anticipated this long and difficult road; certainly, neither of us wanted it to happen. Yet it came, and now it has ended – resolved, as it must be resolved, through the honored institutions of our democracy."
For his part, down in Texas, Gov. Bush also alluded to Lincoln that day, saying in his long-delayed victory speech that the nation "must rise above a house divided."
"Americans share hopes and goals and values far more important than any political disagreements," Bush added. "Republicans want the best for our nation, and so do Democrats. Our votes may differ, but not our hopes."
Twenty-four years later, Americans in both parties wonder if that is still true. But one way to rekindle those feelings is to reach across the divide in a personal way. Bush did that, too, and today, four days before another election, we can only hope that Donald Trump and Kamala Harris will be able to do the same.
"Vice President Gore and I put our hearts and hopes into our campaigns," President-elect George W. Bush said that day. "We both gave it our all. We shared similar emotions, so I understand how difficult this moment must be for Vice President Gore and his family. He has a distinguished record of service to our country as a congressman, a senator and a vice president."
Bush added a verbal "salute" to Al Gore and wished him every success.
That wished-for success came, too, for both men. George W. Bush served two terms in office, teamed up with Bill Clinton and Bono to fight AIDS and malaria in Africa, raised money for victims of tsunamis in Asia, and after leaving office taught himself to paint. He's a surprisingly able artist. Al Gore went on to become a spokesman for our planet's ecology, an Academy Award winner, and a Nobel laureate. In other words, F. Scott Fitzgerald wasn't just wrong about there being no second acts in American life, he was spectacularly wrong: There are second, third, fourth acts.
But on Jan. 6, 2001, it fell to Gore himself, as the ceremonial presiding officer of the Senate, to affirm his rival as the 41st president of the United States. Gore played his part with conspicuous class. Disregarding the rules, a smattering of House Democrats, including Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., had risen to object the proceedings. Gore gaveled them into silence, firmly but not harshly.
"The chair thanks the gentlemen from Illinois, but hey …" At this, Gore smiled and spread his arms spread wide and was interrupted by clapping from both sides of the aisle as he continued: "On the basis previously stated, the objection is not in order."
Gore then performed his constitutional duty with poise. "George W. Bush of the state of Texas has received, for president of the United States, 271 votes," he intoned. "Al Gore of the state of Tennessee has received 266 votes."
Al Gore then concluded to proceeding simply: "May God bless our new president and our new vice president," he said. "And may God bless the United States of America."
And that is our quote of the week.
Carl M. Cannon is the Washington bureau chief for RealClearPolitics. Reach him on X @CarlCannon.
