United States presidential primaries, 2000
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This article discusses the primary elections to nominate candidates for the 2000 U.S. presidential election.
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[edit] Democratic primary
The sitting U.S. Vice President, Albert A. Gore Jr., was the natural choice for a nominee, and most potential candidates avoided the race. Former U.S. Sen. William W. Bradley (N.J.), a former NBA star, was the only other major candidate who participated in the primaries. Bradley ran to the left of Gore, who was seen as the heir to the centrist Clinton administration, but Gore had the backing of most party leaders and was able to win the initial New Hampshire primary narrowly, and then won all subsequent primaries with increasing margins. Bradley was never able to build significant support outside the Northeast, and endorsed Gore in the general election.
[edit] Republican primary
The Republican Party primary began with a fairly wide field, as the Republicans lacked an incumbent President or Vice President. Texas Governor George W. Bush, son of the last Republican president, took an early lead with the support of much of the party establishment and a strong fund-raising effort. However, Arizona Senator John McCain, considered a dark horse, won 48% of the vote to Bush's 30% in the New Hampshire primary, the first primary held, giving his campaign a great boost of energy, volunteers, and donations.
The main primary season, then, came down to a race between Bush and McCain. McCain's campaign, centered on campaign finance reform, drew the most press coverage and the greatest popular excitement. Many Republicans complained that Democrats and other non-Republicans enrolled in the party for the express purpose of voting for McCain, thus skewing the results.[citation needed] Bush's campaign focused on "compassionate conservatism", including a greater role for the federal government in funding education and large reductions in the income and capital gains tax rates.
In the South Carolina primary, Bush halted McCain's momentum by appealing to conservatives and painting McCain as too liberal. McCain won primaries in Michigan, his home state of Arizona, and a handful of Northeastern states, but faced difficulty in appealing to conservative Republican primary voters in spite of demonstrated support from Democrats and independents. Bush's victories in states like California and New York as well as conservative southern states gained him the nomination long before the Republican Convention.
Allegations were made that Karl Rove was responsible for a South Carolina push poll that used racist innuendo intended to undermine support for McCain: "Would you be more likely or less likely to vote for John McCain for president if you knew he had fathered an illegitimate black child?"[1]. Although McCain campaign manager Richard Davis said he "had no idea who had made those calls, who paid for them, or how many were made," the authors of the 2003 book and subsequent film Bush's Brain: How Karl Rove Made George W. Bush Presidential, allege that Rove was involved. In the movie, John Weaver, political director for McCain's 2000 campaign bid, says "I believe I know where that decision was made; it was at the top of the [Bush] campaign." Rove has denied any such involvement.
Other candidates included social conservative activist Gary Bauer, businessman Steve Forbes, Utah Senator Orrin Hatch, former Ambassador Alan Keyes, former Tennessee Governor Lamar Alexander, former Red Cross director Elizabeth Dole, Ohio Congressman John Kasich, former Vice President Dan Quayle. Bauer and Hatch campaigned on a traditional Republican platform of opposition to legalized abortion and reductions in U.S. taxes. Keyes had a far more conservative platform, calling for the elimination of all federal taxes except tariffs. As in 1996, Forbes campaigned on making the federal income tax non-graduated, an idea he called the flat tax, although he increased his focus on social conservatives in 2000. Although Forbes came a close second to Bush in the Iowa caucuses, none of these other candidates won a primary.
[edit] Reform Party primary
In the 1996 election, the Reform party had nominated Ross Perot for president, and Pat Buchanan had run for and lost the nomination of the Republican Party. In 2000, Buchanan ran for the Reform Party nomination. A faction of Reform Party supporters who did not agree with some of Buchanan's views tried to nominate John Hagelin, the candidate for the United States Natural Law Party. The Reform Party convention ended with the Hagelin supporters walking out and conducting a parallel convention. Eventually, the results of a lawsuit decided that Buchanan's faction was the true Reform Party and thus entitled to public financing due to Perot's showing in the previous election.
