Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

MyUncle

(924 posts)
Fri May 4, 2012, 12:51 AM May 2012

If Al Gore had won his home state of Tennessee, he would have been POTUS.

Period.

Florida would not have mattered, Bush vs. Gore at the Supreme Court would not have happened. History would be quite different. The POTUS would have been Al Gore on 9/11 and everything that happened afterward would have been a result of Al Gore's Presidency.

If Al Gore won the state that he was born, raised and elected in. If Al Gore won the state that his father was born raised and elected in.

How strange is that? It would be like Obama not winning Hawaii, Carter not winning Georgia, Bush not winning Texas, Clinton not winning Arkansas.

If Al Gore won Tennessee, he' have been President Gore.

All I can say is WTF Tennessee...WTF...

43 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
If Al Gore had won his home state of Tennessee, he would have been POTUS. (Original Post) MyUncle May 2012 OP
Cue the "But it was all Nader's fault" brigade coalition_unwilling May 2012 #1
Nadar was a Florida thang. MyUncle May 2012 #3
Exactly, cu Can I Come Home May 2012 #26
How often does Tennessee go Democratic in the presidential election? Beaverhausen May 2012 #2
Since 1976, about half the time. onenote May 2012 #17
3 out of 9 times is not "about half the time" Marzupialis May 2012 #31
I was only considering elections prior to Bush-Gore. onenote May 2012 #33
There won't be any majority for a "D" for the foreseeable future. SharonAnn May 2012 #42
Tennessee voters voted against their own best interests to please their, yortsed snacilbuper May 2012 #4
There were problems with African American precincts in Tennessee during the 2000 election Tony_FLADEM May 2012 #5
Does not compute, TN is the reason for GW Bush - irregularities aside, TN did this to us.a MyUncle May 2012 #7
Had he won NH, which Kerry did in '04, he would've been President... Drunken Irishman May 2012 #6
Gore was caught napping bluestateguy May 2012 #8
The whole campaign dropped the ball from January until the week before the election... Drunken Irishman May 2012 #9
Gore didn't "use" Clinton very much Art_from_Ark May 2012 #37
Yep. That's what the Republicans tell me every time, too. BlueCaliDem May 2012 #10
The bad part about that is tularetom May 2012 #11
Indeed. MrSlayer May 2012 #12
Bush lost his home state and became President Marzupialis May 2012 #13
Not sure I understand that. MyUncle May 2012 #16
Did Bush represent CT in the House and Senate? n/t Daniel537 May 2012 #19
Bush outspent Gore 3 to 1 One of the 99 May 2012 #14
How do you allow that to happen in a state where your campaign HQ is located? Daniel537 May 2012 #20
Gore just didn't have the money to match Bush One of the 99 May 2012 #23
I don't think there was much of a campaign HQ here in Tennessee. SharonAnn May 2012 #43
If he had won NH he would have been president, or if he had won WVA WI_DEM May 2012 #15
He should have been POTUS but.......... Tippy May 2012 #18
And today TN is a lost cause for Democrats. Daniel537 May 2012 #21
It is. State offices are controlled by the GOP politicasista May 2012 #29
Let's just all agree Proud Public Servant May 2012 #22
So a campaign that started 19 points down in January 2000 One of the 99 May 2012 #24
Mondale no, McGovern yes Proud Public Servant May 2012 #28
So you're going to parrot GOP talking point One of the 99 May 2012 #32
McGovern was "our Goldwater" only in the sense that he lost to an incumbent Art_from_Ark May 2012 #38
Thanks. Ms. Brazille n/t politicasista May 2012 #30
Fuck Ron Paul. Iggo May 2012 #25
heh. BootinUp May 2012 #36
The Gore and Kerry Campaigns Narrowly Focused on a Few Big Swing States Yavin4 May 2012 #27
It was a state he hadn't represented for 8 years Hippo_Tron May 2012 #34
This was the NRA's doing. They spent a ton of money in Tennessee telling residents Gore would take stevenleser May 2012 #35
And if the GOP hadn't blocked minority voters in and cheesed the results in Florida . . . . . Sarcasticus May 2012 #39
A lot of people don't realize TN had election Lars39 May 2012 #40
TN was drifting more and more conservative in the 90's. Jennicut May 2012 #41
 

coalition_unwilling

(14,180 posts)
1. Cue the "But it was all Nader's fault" brigade
Fri May 4, 2012, 12:57 AM
May 2012

in 3 .... 2 ... 1

Seriously, though, I believe Gore was not raised in TN but in the Washington, DC metro area. His father was a fairly influential US Senator from TN.

MyUncle

(924 posts)
3. Nadar was a Florida thang.
Fri May 4, 2012, 01:14 AM
May 2012

I have never and will never forgive Tennessee for doing what they did.

Also, as a Deadhead, I have to say I never liked "Tennesee Jed" and I like it even less now because they gave us G.W. F'#$ing F*^ing, Freaking, F god danm F-ing Bush.

Beaverhausen

(24,467 posts)
2. How often does Tennessee go Democratic in the presidential election?
Fri May 4, 2012, 01:10 AM
May 2012

And I just have to point out that Gore won the popular vote nationwide. Just have to say that and dream about what could have been.

onenote

(42,383 posts)
17. Since 1976, about half the time.
Fri May 4, 2012, 11:27 AM
May 2012

Clinton carried Tennessee in 1992 and 1996. Reagan and Bush 1 carried the state in 1984 and 1988. In 1980, Reagan topped Carter by a few thousand votes (less than 1/2 of one percent). And in 1976, Carter carried the state.

onenote

(42,383 posts)
33. I was only considering elections prior to Bush-Gore.
Sat May 5, 2012, 09:10 AM
May 2012

In any event, the most relevant elections are the ones most immediately preceding the 2000 contest: Clinton won both of those, which certainly doesn't indicate the predisposition against voting Democratic that the post I was responding to seemed to be suggesting was an explanation for Gore's loss.

SharonAnn

(13,767 posts)
42. There won't be any majority for a "D" for the foreseeable future.
Tue May 8, 2012, 09:19 PM
May 2012

I live here and it's getting more and more Republican, right-wing, "Christian" every year since I moved here in 2000.

Tony_FLADEM

(3,023 posts)
5. There were problems with African American precincts in Tennessee during the 2000 election
Fri May 4, 2012, 01:18 AM
May 2012

Some voting precincts did not open on time in areas that had African American voters in that state.

MyUncle

(924 posts)
7. Does not compute, TN is the reason for GW Bush - irregularities aside, TN did this to us.a
Fri May 4, 2012, 01:24 AM
May 2012

United States presidential election in Tennessee, 2000

Party Candidate Votes Percentage Electoral votes

Republican George W. Bush 1,061,949 51.15% 11
Democratic Al Gore 981,720 47.28% 0
Independent Ralph Nader 19,781 0.95% 0
Independent Harry Browne 4,284 0.21% 0
Independent Patrick Buchanan 4,250 0.20% 0
 

Drunken Irishman

(34,857 posts)
6. Had he won NH, which Kerry did in '04, he would've been President...
Fri May 4, 2012, 01:20 AM
May 2012

FWIW, he lost New Hampshire by roughly 7,000 votes.

bluestateguy

(44,173 posts)
8. Gore was caught napping
Fri May 4, 2012, 01:25 AM
May 2012

In 1992 the Clinton-Gore ticket won Tennessee 47%-%42, and only by 48%-%46 in 1996. The Clinton camp never took that state for granted and they sent Gore in to campaign there many times in those elections.

Then in 2000 the Gore people just assumed that Tennessee would be a pretty easy win and didn't pay it much attention. When polls in the summer warned of a dead heat in the state, the Gore people blew it off and figured that Tennessee would just come around on its own. By early October the Gore campaign realized they were in trouble in their home state and Gore was busy campaigning down there, which made for some embarrassing headlines that did not project a lot of strength ("Gore forced to shore up home state", etc.).

A similar error was made in West Virginia. Gore got caught napping and the Bush people were there to take advantage.

James Polk lost his own Tennessee in 1844, BTW.

 

Drunken Irishman

(34,857 posts)
9. The whole campaign dropped the ball from January until the week before the election...
Fri May 4, 2012, 01:29 AM
May 2012

Had Gore campaigned like he did the final week of the '00 election, he would've won. But he didn't. He ran a very tepid campaign, didn't use Clinton nearly as much as he should have, and, as you said, took way too many states for granted. I think they felt once the debates happened, he would surge in the polls and when Bush didn't vomit all over himself, their momentum stalled.

But that end campaign was very good. Gore was in his element and campaigned like mad the final week of the election. It made what was looking like a fairly comfortable Bush win (think '04) and turned it into the horse race we eventually got. Had the election been held only a couple days later, I think Gore becomes President.

Alas...

It's why I'm glad Obama isn't taking any state for granted. You can't in presidential politics.

Art_from_Ark

(27,247 posts)
37. Gore didn't "use" Clinton very much
Mon May 7, 2012, 11:13 PM
May 2012

because of the Monica Lewinski shit and the media's seemingly incessant bloviation about "Clinton fatigue"

 

Marzupialis

(398 posts)
13. Bush lost his home state and became President
Fri May 4, 2012, 08:58 AM
May 2012

So what's up with that? Are you gonna scold him for not winning Connecticut?

MyUncle

(924 posts)
16. Not sure I understand that.
Fri May 4, 2012, 10:39 AM
May 2012

Bushes are TX and Maine people, and I am scolding TN for voting the way they did.

 

Daniel537

(1,560 posts)
20. How do you allow that to happen in a state where your campaign HQ is located?
Fri May 4, 2012, 12:03 PM
May 2012

He must have really taken it for granted.

One of the 99

(2,280 posts)
23. Gore just didn't have the money to match Bush
Fri May 4, 2012, 01:41 PM
May 2012

It was a matter of economics, not of taking things for granted.

WI_DEM

(33,497 posts)
15. If he had won NH he would have been president, or if he had won WVA
Fri May 4, 2012, 09:48 AM
May 2012

which at that time was a reliable dem state in presidential politics (even Dukakis won it), he would have won.

Tippy

(4,610 posts)
18. He should have been POTUS but..........
Fri May 4, 2012, 12:00 PM
May 2012

One of the reasons why he lost TN is he took it for granted. He wanted to be the canidate of the people in other words he moved to far to the center..TN had been a Yellow Dog State for many years..

 

Daniel537

(1,560 posts)
21. And today TN is a lost cause for Democrats.
Fri May 4, 2012, 12:09 PM
May 2012

It was one of only a handful of states that actually took a bigger turn to the right in 2008 than in 2004. Even the Great Harold Ford Jr. couldn't win a Senate seat there in a landslide year for Democrats.

Proud Public Servant

(2,097 posts)
22. Let's just all agree
Fri May 4, 2012, 12:10 PM
May 2012

that the Gore campaign was one of the worst Dem campaigns for president in the history of the party.

One of the 99

(2,280 posts)
24. So a campaign that started 19 points down in January 2000
Fri May 4, 2012, 01:46 PM
May 2012

and yet came back to win the popular vote despite being outspent by Bush 2 to 1 overall, a hostile media that actively lied about Gore and was attacked from the left by Nader was worse than Mondale in '84 and McGovern in '72.

Proud Public Servant

(2,097 posts)
28. Mondale no, McGovern yes
Fri May 4, 2012, 03:45 PM
May 2012

Mondale's campaign was a stone-cold disaster, no doubt about it.

McGovern, though, isn't comperable. He was our Goldwater -- an ideologue who never had a realistic shot at the White House. Campaigning wasn't his problem.

But, oy, Al. Not taking his own home state (even Mondale did that). Doubling down on the DLC by picking Lieberman. Going through so many transparant image makovers it makes Mittens look authentic (the flannel, my god the flannel). But, more than anything, distancing himself from America's most popular postwar president. What the hell? Terrible, terrible campaign.

One of the 99

(2,280 posts)
32. So you're going to parrot GOP talking point
Fri May 4, 2012, 05:00 PM
May 2012

like bogus flannel thing. That still doesn't address how such a bad campaign went from 19 points down to winning the popular vote despite being outspent 2 to 1 (3 to 1 in Tennesee).

Art_from_Ark

(27,247 posts)
38. McGovern was "our Goldwater" only in the sense that he lost to an incumbent
Mon May 7, 2012, 11:25 PM
May 2012

in a landslide. He was by no means an "ideologue"-- he was a good man with a solid record in the Senate who was facing one of the nastiest campaigners in modern presidential politics (does "break-in of Democratic Party headquarters at the Watergate Hotel" ring any bells?). Two other things that really did him in were Nixon's "Southern Strategy" (pandering to the 1968 George Wallace voters) and McGovern's disastrous selection of Thomas Eagleton as his first running mate-- the media had a field day with its reporting of Eagleton's "psychiatric treatment", and McGovern, who originally stood by Eagleton, was eventually forced to dump him. The Eagleton debacle was probably the biggest nail in McGovern's coffin.

Yavin4

(35,357 posts)
27. The Gore and Kerry Campaigns Narrowly Focused on a Few Big Swing States
Fri May 4, 2012, 02:54 PM
May 2012

Unlike the Obama campaign that went after, and got, non-traditional Dem states. That's the big lesson here. Making Ohio and Florida the deciding states is a bad political strategy, and it makes it easier for the Republicans to steal the election.

By putting NC, VA, MO, NV, and AZ all into play, the Obama campaign spreads out the Republican opposition.

--On Edit--

Focusing on a few big swing states is a favorite ploy by inside the beltway political consultants who don't want the campaigns to spend money on going after non-traditional Dem states. They want the campaigns to spend money on their fees.

Hippo_Tron

(25,453 posts)
34. It was a state he hadn't represented for 8 years
Mon May 7, 2012, 06:45 PM
May 2012

And in that time period hebecame more liberal on social issues that are important to Democrats, like abortion. That doesn't play too well in Tennessee.

 

stevenleser

(32,886 posts)
35. This was the NRA's doing. They spent a ton of money in Tennessee telling residents Gore would take
Mon May 7, 2012, 08:06 PM
May 2012

away their guns if elected. Gun ownership is big in Tennessee and Gore had been out of state for 8 years, long enough so that he lost just enough touch with the voters in a red state to where he could lose it.

 

Sarcasticus

(41 posts)
39. And if the GOP hadn't blocked minority voters in and cheesed the results in Florida . . . . .
Mon May 7, 2012, 11:55 PM
May 2012

You're making a strawman argument.

Lars39

(26,093 posts)
40. A lot of people don't realize TN had election
Tue May 8, 2012, 06:08 AM
May 2012

Fraud and voter suppression going on, too...it didn't just happen in Florida. I know the county I voted in had just got those shiny new machines, too...replacing the lever machines, and going red ever since.

Jennicut

(25,415 posts)
41. TN was drifting more and more conservative in the 90's.
Tue May 8, 2012, 12:09 PM
May 2012

Gore had to run pretty conservative as a Dem there just to win it as a Senator to begin with. It helped that his father was a Senator there and well known. The Dems were slowly losing the South anyway. It was just a matter of time and I don't think Gore could have won Tennessee.

Latest Discussions»Retired Forums»2016 Postmortem»If Al Gore had won his ho...