Why did W get elected twice?

[DKW 86 7,440]

I think he was elected by default. The Reps wanted someone to beat Gore, They found out that the Bush name was available and had plenty of early $$$ to launch a campaign in 2000.

[sogaaufan 27]

My vote goes to other. He was elected due to a lack of competition. He was the least bad choice.

[Bottomfeeder 244]

He is the bumbling idiot, and James Baker helped his 2000 selection through the atrocities in Florida. Clearly, 2004 was stolen election via Diebold in Ohio. Alabama is historically a red state, so I would expect nothing different from them.

[quietfan 233]

Elected twice? ...you must be counting 2000?

[Just kidding, folks! It was too good a shot to pass up. In reality, I've never been one to argue that Gore really won in 2000. I wish the 2000 election had gone over with fewer miscues at some polling places, but I accept that Bush was and is our legitimate president. I've rarely liked his decisions, but I've never argued against his legitimacy.]

Seriously, I believe his 2004 victory was partly the "Don't change horses in the middle of a war" syndrome and partly that the Democrats didn't offer a stronger candidate.

I think 2000 was essentially a tie, with Bush winning by an eyelash due to the peculiarities of the electoral college system. But Americans do seem to like to change White House parties fairly regularly anyway (Reagan and GHW Bush being the longest one-party streak since FDR/Truman) and Gore had nowhere near the charisma of Clinton.