nc33/MultiSpan_SQUAD huggingface dataset:
United_States_presidential_election,_2004

One elector in Minnesota cast a ballot for president with the name of "John Ewards"  [sic] written on it. The Electoral College officials certified this ballot as a vote for John Edwards for president. The remaining nine electors cast ballots for John Kerry. All ten electors in the state cast ballots for John Edwards for vice president (John Edwards's name was spelled correctly on all ballots for vice president). This was the first time in U.S. history that an elector had cast a vote for the same person to be both president and vice president; another faithless elector in the 1800 election had voted twice for Aaron Burr, but under that electoral system only votes for the president's position were cast, with the runner-up in the Electoral College becoming vice president (and the second vote for Burr was discounted and re-assigned to Thomas Jefferson in any event, as it violated Electoral College rules).

Question: Who received a certified ballot from the Electoral College, despite his name being spelled incorrectly on the ballot?
Answer: John Edwards

Question: Had there ever been a time where an elector voted for the same candidate to be both president and vice president?
Answer: This was the first time in U.S. history

Question: Which candidate won the unanimous vote for vice presidency?
Answer: All ten electors in the state cast ballots for John Edwards for vice president

Question: What is different in comparison between the 1800 electoral system and the system in place in 2004?
Answer: under that electoral system only votes for the president's position were cast, with the runner-up in the Electoral College becoming vice president

Question: In the 1800 election, why did Thomas Jefferson get the second vote?
Answer: it violated Electoral College rules
United_States_presidential_election,_2004

The morning after the election, the major candidates were neck and neck. It was clear that the result in Ohio, along with two other states who had still not declared (New Mexico and Iowa), would decide the winner. Bush had established a lead of around 130,000 votes but the Democrats pointed to provisional ballots that had yet to be counted, initially reported to number as high as 200,000. Bush had preliminary leads of less than 5% of the vote in only four states, but if Iowa, Nevada and New Mexico had all eventually gone to Kerry, a win for Bush in Ohio would have created a 269–269 tie in the Electoral College. The result of an electoral tie would cause the election to be decided in the House of Representatives with each state casting one vote, regardless of population. Such a scenario would almost certainly have resulted in a victory for Bush, as Republicans controlled more House delegations. Therefore, the outcome of the election hinged solely on the result in Ohio, regardless of the final totals elsewhere. In the afternoon Ohio's Secretary of State, Ken Blackwell, announced that it was statistically impossible for the Democrats to make up enough valid votes in the provisional ballots to win. At the time provisional ballots were reported as numbering 140,000 (and later estimated to be only 135,000). Faced with this announcement, John Kerry conceded defeat. Had Kerry won Ohio, he would have won the election despite losing the national popular vote by over 3 million votes, a complete reversal of the 2000 election when Bush won the presidency despite losing the popular vote to Al Gore by over 500,000 votes.

Question: Why was there tension the day after the election?
Answer: It was clear that the result in Ohio, along with two other states who had still not declared (New Mexico and Iowa), would decide the winner

Question: Despite an apparent lead by Bush early on, what was thought to be a concern?
Answer: provisional ballots that had yet to be counted, initially reported to number as high as 200,000

Question: How would it be determined who would win, in the event of an electoral tie?
Answer: The result of an electoral tie would cause the election to be decided in the House of Representatives with each state casting one vote, regardless of population

Question: Which state became the most important to secure Bush's presidential election?
Answer: the outcome of the election hinged solely on the result in Ohio

Question: Who did Bush lose the popular vote to in the 2000 election for presidency?
Answer: Al Gore
United_States_presidential_election,_2004

At the official counting of the electoral votes on January 6, a motion was made contesting Ohio's electoral votes. Because the motion was supported by at least one member of both the House of Representatives and the Senate, election law mandated that each house retire to debate and vote on the motion. In the House of Representatives, the motion was supported by 31 Democrats. It was opposed by 178 Republicans, 88 Democrats and one independent. Not voting were 52 Republicans and 80 Democrats. Four people elected to the House had not yet taken office, and one seat was vacant. In the Senate, it was supported only by its maker, Senator Boxer, with 74 Senators opposed and 25 not voting. During the debate, no Senator argued that the outcome of the election should be changed by either court challenge or revote. Senator Boxer claimed that she had made the motion not to challenge the outcome, but to "shed the light of truth on these irregularities."

Question: Was there any debate about the voting process in Ohio?
Answer: a motion was made contesting Ohio's electoral votes

Question: What was the decision regarding the motion to re-count the votes, after each House finalized their debates?
Answer: During the debate, no Senator argued that the outcome of the election should be changed by either court challenge or revote

Question: Who was the lone supporter of the motion, from the Senate?
Answer: Senator Boxer

Question: Why did Senator Boxer say she voted the way she did?
Answer: Senator Boxer claimed that she had made the motion not to challenge the outcome, but to "shed the light of truth on these irregularities."

Question: How many people from the House of Representatives did not vote?
Answer: Not voting were 52 Republicans and 80 Democrats
United_States_presidential_election,_2004

Kerry would later state that "the widespread irregularities make it impossible to know for certain that the [Ohio] outcome reflected the will of the voters." In the same article, Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean said "I'm not confident that the election in Ohio was fairly decided... We know that there was substantial voter suppression, and the machines were not reliable. It should not be a surprise that the Republicans are willing to do things that are unethical to manipulate elections. That's what we suspect has happened."

Question: What did Kerry say affected the ability to know if the results of the Ohio vote was unbiased?
Answer: "the widespread irregularities make it impossible to know for certain that the [Ohio] outcome reflected the will of the voters."

Question: Which Democratic official supported Kerry's theory about the Ohio votes?
Answer: Howard Dean

Question: What was said about the devices used to collect the votes, in Ohio?
Answer: the machines were not reliable

Question: Who was targeted for defrauding the electoral process, in Ohio?
Answer: the Republicans are willing to do things that are unethical to manipulate elections
United_States_presidential_election,_2004

At the invitation of the United States government, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) sent a team of observers to monitor the presidential elections in 2004. It was the first time the OSCE had sent observers to a U.S. presidential election, although they had been invited in the past. In September 2004 the OSCE issued a report on U.S. electoral processes and the election final report. The report reads: "The November 2, 2004 elections in the United States mostly met the OSCE commitments included in the 1990 Copenhagen Document. They were conducted in an environment that reflects a long-standing democratic tradition, including institutions governed by the rule of law, free and generally professional media, and a civil society intensively engaged in the election process. There was exceptional public interest in the two leading presidential candidates and the issues raised by their respective campaigns, as well as in the election process itself."

Question: Who was called in to watch over the presidential election in 2004?
Answer: the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) sent a team of observers to monitor the presidential elections in 2004

Question: Was this the only occasion the OSCE was invited to preside over a presidential election?
Answer: It was the first time the OSCE had sent observers to a U.S. presidential election, although they had been invited in the past.

Question: What were the findings of the OSCE team?
Answer: mostly met the OSCE commitments included in the 1990 Copenhagen Document

Question: What type of values did the OSCE determine were adhered to during the election process?
Answer: long-standing democratic tradition
United_States_presidential_election,_2004

The 2004 election was the first to be affected by the campaign finance reforms mandated by the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (also known as the McCain–Feingold Bill for its sponsors in the United States Senate). Because of the Act's restrictions on candidates' and parties' fundraising, a large number of so-called 527 groups emerged. Named for a section of the Internal Revenue Code, these groups were able to raise large amounts of money for various political causes as long as they do not coordinate their activities with political campaigns. Examples of 527s include Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, MoveOn.org, the Media Fund, and America Coming Together. Many such groups were active throughout the campaign season. (There was some similar activity, although on a much lesser scale, during the 2000 campaign.)

Question: What finance act affected the 2004 election?
Answer: the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002

Question: Where did the moniker McCain-Feingold Bill come from?
Answer: its sponsors in the United States Senate

Question: How did the 527 groups come up with their title?
Answer: Named for a section of the Internal Revenue Code

Question: What stipulation enabled the 527 groups to campaign for funds?
Answer: as long as they do not coordinate their activities with political campaigns

Question: What is one of the named 527 groups from the 2004 election?
Answer: MoveOn.org
United_States_presidential_election,_2004

To distinguish official campaigning from independent campaigning, political advertisements on television were required to include a verbal disclaimer identifying the organization responsible for the advertisement. Advertisements produced by political campaigns usually included the statement, "I'm [candidate's name], and I approve this message." Advertisements produced by independent organizations usually included the statement, "[Organization name] is responsible for the content of this advertisement", and from September 3 (60 days before the general election), such organizations' ads were prohibited from mentioning any candidate by name. Previously, television advertisements only required a written "paid for by" disclaimer on the screen.

Question: How were viewers able to determine who endorsed political campaign ads, they saw in advertisements??
Answer: required to include a verbal disclaimer identifying the organization responsible for the advertisement

Question: What was disallowed in advertising during the two months prior to the general election?
Answer: 60 days before the general election), such organizations' ads were prohibited from mentioning any candidate by name

Question: Official advertisements generally contained what phrase?
Answer: "I'm [candidate's name], and I approve this message."

Question: Independent advertisements generally contained what phrase?
Answer: "[Organization name] is responsible for the content of this advertisement"

Question: What was the tag line requirement before?
Answer: Previously, television advertisements only required a written "paid for by" disclaimer on the screen.
United_States_presidential_election,_2004

A ballot initiative in Colorado, known as Amendment 36, would have changed the way in which the state apportions its electoral votes. Rather than assigning all 9 of the state's electors to the candidate with a plurality of popular votes, under the amendment Colorado would have assigned presidential electors proportionally to the statewide vote count, which would be a unique system (Nebraska and Maine assign electoral votes based on vote totals within each congressional district). Detractors claimed that this splitting would diminish Colorado's influence in the Electoral College, and the amendment ultimately failed, receiving only 34% of the vote.

Question: What action suggested by a state, would have affecting the outcome of the electoral votes?
Answer: ballot initiative in Colorado, known as Amendment 36

Question: What unique change to the electoral voting process did Colorado suggest should happen?
Answer: under the amendment Colorado would have assigned presidential electors proportionally to the statewide vote count, which would be a unique system

Question: Which two states designated their assigned votes based on their districts?
Answer: Nebraska and Maine assign electoral votes based on vote totals within each congressional district)

Question: Did everyone agree that Amendment 36 was a good idea?
Answer: Detractors claimed that this splitting would diminish Colorado's influence in the Electoral College

Question: Did Amendment 36 get passed?
Answer: the amendment ultimately failed
Liberal_Party_of_Australia

The contemporary Liberal Party generally advocates economic liberalism (see New Right). Historically, the party has supported a higher degree of economic protectionism and interventionism than it has in recent decades. However, from its foundation the party has identified itself as anti-socialist. Strong opposition to socialism and communism in Australia and abroad was one of its founding principles. The party's founder and longest-serving leader Robert Menzies envisaged that Australia's middle class would form its main constituency.

Question: What is economic liberalism sometimes also referred to?
Answer: New Right

Question: Does the Liberal Party of Australia consider itself socialist or anti-socialist?
Answer: anti-socialist

Question: Who was the Liberal Party of Australia's longest-serving leader?
Answer: Robert Menzies

Question: Who founded Australia's liberal party?
Answer: Robert Menzies
Liberal_Party_of_Australia

Throughout their history, the Liberals have been in electoral terms largely the party of the middle class (whom Menzies, in the era of the party's formation called "The forgotten people"), though such class-based voting patterns are no longer as clear as they once were. In the 1970s a left-wing middle class emerged that no longer voted Liberal.[citation needed] One effect of this was the success of a breakaway party, the Australian Democrats, founded in 1977 by former Liberal minister Don Chipp and members of minor liberal parties; other members of the left-leaning section of the middle-class became Labor supporters.[citation needed] On the other hand, the Liberals have done increasingly well in recent years among socially conservative working-class voters.[citation needed]However the Liberal Party's key support base remains the upper-middle classes; 16 of the 20 richest federal electorates are held by the Liberals, most of which are safe seats. In country areas they either compete with or have a truce with the Nationals, depending on various factors.

Question: Whom are referred to as "The forgoten people?"
Answer: the middle class

Question: In what year were the Australian Democrats founded?
Answer: 1977

Question: Which former liberal founded the Australian Democrats in 1977?
Answer: Don Chipp
Liberal_Party_of_Australia

Domestically, Menzies presided over a fairly regulated economy in which utilities were publicly owned, and commercial activity was highly regulated through centralised wage-fixing and high tariff protection. Liberal leaders from Menzies to Malcolm Fraser generally maintained Australia's high tariff levels. At that time the Liberals' coalition partner, the Country Party, the older of the two in the coalition (now known as the "National Party"), had considerable influence over the government's economic policies. It was not until the late 1970s and through their period out of power federally in the 1980s that the party came to be influenced by what was known as the "New Right" – a conservative liberal group who advocated market deregulation, privatisation of public utilities, reductions in the size of government programs and tax cuts.

Question: Did Mezies and Malcom Fraser raise, mainain, or lower tariff levels?
Answer: generally maintain

Question: Which group is currently known as the "National Party"?
Answer: the Country Party

Question: What is the "New Right"?
Answer: a conservative liberal group who advocated market deregulation, privatisation of public utilities, reductions in the size of government programs and tax cuts

Question: Were utilities publically or privately owned in Menzie's economy?
Answer: publicly
Liberal_Party_of_Australia

The Liberals' immediate predecessor was the United Australia Party (UAP). More broadly, the Liberal Party's ideological ancestry stretched back to the anti-Labor groupings in the first Commonwealth parliaments. The Commonwealth Liberal Party was a fusion of the Free Trade Party and the Protectionist Party in 1909 by the second prime minister, Alfred Deakin, in response to Labor's growing electoral prominence. The Commonwealth Liberal Party merged with several Labor dissidents (including Billy Hughes) to form the Nationalist Party of Australia in 1917. That party, in turn, merged with Labor dissidents to form the UAP in 1931.

Question: Which group was predecessor to the Liberals?
Answer: United Australia Party (UAP)

Question: From where did the ideology of the Liberals stem?
Answer: anti-Labor groupings in the first Commonwealth parliaments

Question: What did the Commonwealth Liberal Party merge to form?
Answer: Nationalist Party of Australia

Question: In what year was the Nationalist Party of Australia formed?
Answer: 1917
Liberal_Party_of_Australia

The UAP had been formed as a new conservative alliance in 1931, with Labor defector Joseph Lyons as its leader. The stance of Lyons and other Labor rebels against the more radical proposals of the Labor movement to deal the Great Depression had attracted the support of prominent Australian conservatives. With Australia still suffering the effects of the Great Depression, the newly formed party won a landslide victory at the 1931 Election, and the Lyons Government went on to win three consecutive elections. It largely avoided Keynesian pump-priming and pursued a more conservative fiscal policy of debt reduction and balanced budgets as a means of stewarding Australia out of the Depression. Lyons' death in 1939 saw Robert Menzies assume the Prime Ministership on the eve of war. Menzies served as Prime Minister from 1939 to 1941 but resigned as leader of the minority World War II government amidst an unworkable parliamentary majority. The UAP, led by Billy Hughes, disintegrated after suffering a heavy defeat in the 1943 election.

Question: What economic event influenced the 1931 Election?
Answer: the Great Depression

Question: How many consecutive elections did the Lyons Government win?
Answer: three

Question: What event caused Robert Menzies to become Prime Minister?
Answer: Lyons' death in 1939

Question: What years did Robert Menzies serve as Prime Minister?
Answer: 1939 to 1941
Liberal_Party_of_Australia

Menzies called a conference of conservative parties and other groups opposed to the ruling Australian Labor Party, which met in Canberra on 13 October 1944 and again in Albury, New South Wales in December 1944. From 1942 onward Menzies had maintained his public profile with his series of "The Forgotten People" radio talks–similar to Franklin D. Roosevelt's "fireside chats" of the 1930s–in which he spoke of the middle class as the "backbone of Australia" but as nevertheless having been "taken for granted" by political parties.

Question: To what are Menzies' "Forgotten People" radio talks compared to?
Answer: Franklin D. Roosevelt's "fireside chats"

Question: How did Roosevelt refer to the middle class?
Answer: "backbone of Australia"

Question: Was the meeting at Canberra a group of people supporting or opposed to the Australian Labor Party?
Answer: opposed

Question: Where was the second anti-Labor Party held in 1944?
Answer: Albury, New South Wales
Liberal_Party_of_Australia

After an initial loss to Labor at the 1946 election, Menzies led the Liberals to victory at the 1949 election, and the party stayed in office for a record 23 years—still the longest unbroken run in government at the federal level. Australia experienced prolonged economic growth during the post-war boom period of the Menzies Government (1949–1966) and Menzies fulfilled his promises at the 1949 election to end rationing of butter, tea and petrol and provided a five-shilling endowment for first-born children, as well as for others. While himself an unashamed anglophile, Menzies' government concluded a number of major defence and trade treaties that set Australia on its post-war trajectory out of Britain's orbit; opened Australia to multi-ethnic immigration; and instigated important legal reforms regarding Aboriginal Australians.

Question: How many years did the Liberals stay in office after the 1949 election?
Answer: a record 23 years

Question: What promises did Menzies make in the 1949 election?
Answer: end rationing of butter, tea and petrol and provided a five-shilling endowment for first-born children

Question: During what period did Australia experience long-term economic growth?
Answer: the post-war boom period of the Menzies Government (1949–1966)
Liberal_Party_of_Australia

Menzies came to power the year the Communist Party of Australia had led a coal strike to improve pit miners' working conditions. That same year Joseph Stalin's Soviet Union exploded its first atomic bomb, and Mao Zedong led the Communist Party of China to power in China; a year later came the invasion of South Korea by Communist North Korea. Anti-communism was a key political issue of the 1950s and 1960s. Menzies was firmly anti-Communist; he committed troops to the Korean War and attempted to ban the Communist Party of Australia in an unsuccessful referendum during the course of that war. The Labor Party split over concerns about the influence of the Communist Party over the Trade Union movement, leading to the foundation of the breakaway Democratic Labor Party whose preferences supported the Liberal and Country parties.

Question: What was a key political topic in the 1950s and 1960s?
Answer: Anti-communism

Question: What actions showed Menzies' anti-Communist beliefs?
Answer: committed troops to the Korean War and attempted to ban the Communist Party of Australia in an unsuccessful referendum during the course of that war

Question: Over what did the Labor party divide?
Answer: concerns about the influence of the Communist Party over the Trade Union movement,