92 Politics and elections
sion. Equally in the cliff-hanger of 2000 the switch of a few thousand votes
from one candidate to the other in one or more states could have changed
the outcome. Yet, although the campaign allows the electorate to see and
choose between rival candidates, it also fulfils a deeper function in the politi-
cal system. It is the first step by which the future president is recognised as
the leader of the nation and seeks to establish a basis for the exercise of
the presidential authority. Every president has in some degree to establish a
charismatic authority over this diverse and individualistic nation; for, as we
shall see later, it is in the ability to claim the status of national leader that the
main strength of the president lies. The powers of the presidency are great,
but the constitutional machinery is so complex, with so many barriers to the
effective exercise of power, that a president has to try to impose his policies
on the machine by sheer force of will, and to do this successfully must have
popular support. With the exception of someone like General Eisenhower,
few of those who enter the presidential race have a truly national reputation
when they first make a bid for the office.
With the coming of television and the aeroplane, the means are at hand
with which the candidates can attempt to impress their personality upon a
nation of 280 million people spread over thousands of miles. The discussion
of policies may be important in the campaign, according to the circumstances
of the time, but essentially the campaign is a battle of personalities. It is
perhaps in the very nature of this democratic system that, in attempting to
create a position of authority, the candidates must submit to a process that
is almost lethal in the demands it makes upon them, and that will almost
certainly involve them in embarrassing, even humiliating, situations. In the
course of the campaign a candidate may travel 50,000 miles, making speech-
es on both sides of the continent in a single day. The candidate will address
great rallies and speak to a handful of voters at a street corner, shaking as
many hands as is humanly possible, being photographed wearing the comic
headgear of this or that association or, like the president of the United States
campaigning for re-election in 1964, give cowboy whoops from the saddle of
a horse while his audience laughed and clapped in appreciation. The person
who wishes to be president has to convince the electors that he or she is an
ordinary citizen who understands the problems of everyday living and, at one
and the same time, is capable of dealing with complex questions involving
war and peace, and of making decisions daily that deeply affect the welfare
of all Americans.
The election of 2000
The presidential election of the year 2000 was an extraordinary affair. It was
the closest election since 1960; it was the most extended in modern history,
the result not being declared for five weeks after the election; it was extremely
controversial, culminating in a decision of the United States Supreme Court.
The Democratic candidate, Al Gore, won the popular vote, with a majority of