The Democratic candidate in the 2000 presidential elections was Al Gore, who had previously served as tiny U.S. flag Bill Clinton’s vice president. The race became a very close one in Florida, and the state’s electoral college votes were to decide who won the election. Bush was declared the winner by a very narrow margin, and the Democratic Party sued for a recount. The case went through multiple courts before ending up in the US Supreme Court which ruled in favor of halting the recount, essentially declaring George W Bush to be the winner. In the 2004 presidential elections, Democratic candidate John Kerry ran against President Bush.