George W. Bush 2000 presidential campaign facts for kids

Quick facts for kids George W. Bush for President 2000
Campaign	2000 United States presidential election (Republican primaries)
Candidate	George W. Bush 46th Governor of Texas (1995–2000) Dick Cheney 17th United States Secretary of Defense (1989–1993)
Affiliation	Republican Party
Status	Announced: June 12, 1999 Official nominee: August 3, 2000 Won election: November 7, 2000 Court ruling: December 12, 2000
Headquarters	Austin, Texas
Key people	Donald Evans (Campaign chairman) Joe Allbaugh (Campaign manager) Karl Rove (Chief strategist) Karen Hughes (Press secretary) Joshua Bolton (Policy director) Ken Mehlman (National field director) Matthew Dowd (Director of polling and media planning) Dick Cheney (VP Selection Committee Leader)
Receipts	US$196,844,696.87 (2000-12-31)
Slogan	Reformer with Results Compassionate conservatism A Fresh Start Real Plans for Real People

The 2000 presidential campaign of George W. Bush was a major event in American politics. George W. Bush was the 46th Governor of Texas. He was also the eldest son of former President George H. W. Bush. He officially started his campaign on June 14, 1999. He wanted to become the Republican Party candidate for President.

George W. Bush's 2000 Presidential Campaign

Bush started his campaign as the top choice among Republicans. Many people already knew his name. He also had a lot of money for his campaign. Plus, he was the governor of Texas. Polls from 1997 showed Bush was far ahead of other possible candidates.

Winning the Republican Nomination

The main person challenging Bush was Senator John McCain. McCain was popular with Republicans who were more moderate.

Bush won most of the early primary elections. These are contests where voters choose their party's candidate. After the "Super Tuesday" contests in March 2000, Bush had many more delegates than McCain and Alan Keyes. Delegates are people who vote for a candidate at the party's convention.

On August 3, 2000, Bush officially became the Republican candidate. This happened at the Republican Convention. He had the support of 2,058 delegates. Dick Cheney, who used to be the U.S. Secretary of Defense, was chosen as his running mate for Vice President.

The Close Presidential Election

During most of the campaign, polls showed Bush leading over his opponent, Al Gore. The election day was November 7, 2000. On that day, it looked like Bush had won Florida. Florida had 25 electoral votes, which were very important.

Al Gore won the total number of votes from people across the country. This is called the popular vote. However, the Gore campaign lost the electoral college vote. The electoral college is how the U.S. actually chooses its president. There was a big legal fight over counting votes in Florida. This legal battle was known as Bush v. Gore. In the end, Bush won the election with 271 electoral votes to Gore's 266.

Images for kids

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  George W. Bush in Concord, New Hampshire, signing to be a presidential candidate

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  Governor Jane Dee Hull

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  Former presidential candidate Ross Perot who was accused of being a spoiler candidate in the 1992 and 1996 presidential elections.

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  President George W. Bush