2004 United States Presidential Election (ITEOAH)

The **2004 United States presidential election** was the 55th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 2, 2004. The Democratic ticket of incumbent President Al Gore and Vice President Joe Lieberman defeated the Republican ticket of Incumbent Arizona Senator John McCain and Maine Senator Susan Collins. At the time Gore's popular vote total was the most votes ever received by a presidential candidate, a total that has since been surpassed; additionally, McCain's total was the second most.

Gore and Lieberman were renominated by their party with no difficulty. McCain and Collins also won their nominations with relative ease, despite challenges from Governor Mitt Romney of Massachusetts.

Gore popularity had soared early in his first term after the September 11 attacks in 2001, but it had declined significantly by 2004. Foreign policy was the dominant theme throughout the election campaign, particularly Gore's handling of the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq in 2001 and 2003, specifically. Gore presented himself as a decisive leader and attacked McCain as a "flip-flopper," while McCain criticized Gore's conduct of the Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Domestic issues were debated as well, including the economy and jobs, health care, abortion, and same-sex marriage.

Gore won by a landslide margin of 140 electoral votes and won over 51 percent of the popular vote. Gore also managed to flip the southern states of Missouri, Arkansas, and his home state of Tennessee. While McCain managed to hold the states of Georgia and Colorado, which were expected to flip, he wasn't even close to defeating Gore.

This would be the last election the Democrats won the popular vote in decisively until 2036. Gore served his second term as president and was succeeded by Republican Barack Obama, who was elected president in 2008, while McCain continued to serve in the Senate and later became Secretary of Defense during Obama's first term.

## Primaries:

### Democratic Primaries:

Gore and Lieberman won their specific nominations with no difficulty, and were prepared for their election.

 Al Gore

### Republican Primaries:

Similarly to Gore and Lieberman, McCain won his nomination with relative ease, after being the runner up in 2000 primaries. After winning the nomination, he named Maine Senator Susan Collins as his running mate, making the latter the first female on a major party ticket.

 John McCain

## Campaign/Issues Unique to the Election:

### Democratic Campaign:

Gore campaigned himself as a decisive leader while accusing McCain of being a flip flopper, who wouldn't be able to make definite decisions. Gore also campaigned to expand LGBT rights and environment policies.

### Republican Campaign:

McCain criticized Gore's handling of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and felt he could continue success made by the military, and fix problems made by the Gore administration. He also advocated for state rights in matter of abortion, same-sex marriage and other topics.

### The War on Terror:

After the attacks of September 11, 2001, Gore declared war on Afghanistan to overthrow the Taliban. He later declared war on Iraq due to hysteria of leader Sadam Hussien. McCain criticized Gore's handling of the war, and advocated for less presence in Iraq.

### The Economy and Jobs:

After passing pro-environment laws, jobs in coal mining started to decrease. McCain accused Gore of trying to stop the economy in favor of an idea that could not even be true.

### Health Care:

Gore had advocated for public funded health care during his Presidency. McCain had frequently criticized this, wanting to privatize health care in America.

### Abortion:

Gore had always abided by Roe v. Wade and always criticized Republicans for trying to overrule it. McCain didn't want to outlaw abortion entirely, rather leave it up to the states to decide.

### LGBT Rights:

Gore accused the GOP of blatant homophobia and transphobia, and attacked McCain and accused him of the same. McCain denied such claims, again wanting to leave this mater to the states.

## Results and Aftermath:

Gore managed to win in a landslide, flipping the states of Arkansas, Missouri, Ohio, and Tennessee. While McCain somewhat overperformed, Gore was still able to win easily.

Gore would remain in office until 2009, when he was ineligible to run for a second term.