The networks quickly threw their attention to the Southeastern state of Florida. Carrying 25 electoral votes within its borders, many pundits predicted that the fourth most populated U.S. state1 could very well swing this election either way. Since the top three states, California, New York and Texas, were already believed to be going to Gore, Gore and Bush respectively, Florida stood as the most populated state that both candidates had a chance at. As a result, the two frontrunners both made sure their campaign trails stopped in Florida within 48 hours of the election4. George W. Bush’s brother, Jeb, was the governor of the state and thus gave the Republicans a distinct advantage. However, the Democrats won the state four years ago and many on-screen pundits at the time were favoring Gore to take it. These beliefs seemed to be confirmed at 8 PM when ABC’s Peter Jennings reported that the Voter News Service was calling the state in favor of the Gore-Lieberman Campaign3. With an entire nation in belief that the Peninsula went to the Vice President, those on screen were predicting a Gore blowout by 8:30 as he all but took Pennsylvania and Michigan (41 votes in total) 5. NBC’s Tim Russert claimed that Bush’s only chance for victory was to “run the table” of the remaining states and CBS’s Dan Rather Bush’s chances of winning were “shakier than cafeteria Jell-o3.

With most of the Western Hemisphere asleep, the Republican ticket was gaining significant ground. To Gore’s dismay, when the state was thrown on the undecided block about three hours before, the lead that Gore thought he had was dwindling even more. By the time PM became AM, Gore was trailing in the hotly contested peninsula. At 2:16 AM, the cable network FoxNews was the first to call it; George W. Bush had taken Florida. Two minutes later, the other networks quickly followed suit and CNN’s Bernard Shaw was the first to put two and two together and make the call. “At eighteen minutes past two o’ clock Eastern Time, CNN declares that George Walker Bush has won Florida’s 25 electoral votes and…will become 43rd president of the United States.”3 By 2:30, Gore made his concession phone call to Bush and it seemed that the drama was over. The Governor had upset the Vice President by getting one vote more than the necessary 2704.

After the dust settled, the election saw many other losers other than the former Vice President. When all was said and done, the media came under heavy fire from Washington and from the players in the event for their handling of the election news6. Klock even went on record as stating that “had the networks had not announced that Gore had won Florida at 8 P.M. EST, when the entire Panhandle still had an hour to vote, I do not think that the result would have been that close at all.7 (Florida sits between two time zones1 and it is believed that many of the voters in that panhandle area, which goes by central time, were discouraged from voting after the networks called Florida to Gore3).” Many newspapers, like The Tampa Tribune and The Orlando Sentinel, issued morning editions on November 8th that had “BUSH WINS!” headlines gracing their covers6. But by far the group that came most under fire was the Voter News Service, the group that fed the major networks most of t

Some topics in this essay:
Voter Service, Supreme Court, Vice President, Gore Camp, Election Day, Little America, Tim Russert, FOX CBS, Joseph Klock, Western Hemisphere, supreme court, florida supreme, o’ clock, election day, florida supreme court, vice president, george walker bush, voter service, 25 electoral, electoral votes, major networks, hand counts, 25 electoral votes,