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Presidential Transitions: 2000
The transition between Bill Clinton and George W. Bush that took place in 2000 was marred by damage, vandalism, pranks and accusations of theft. The White House General Accounting Office estimated the cost of pranks played by the outgoing Clinton staff at between thirteen and fourteen thousand dollars. Press secretary Ari Fleischer produced a list ( Read more... ) -
Presidential Transitions: 1828
It must have been a very tense transition in the White House following the election of 1828. Not only was the campaign a nasty one, which included a personal attacks against the wife of the victorious candidate, but the stress of those attacks may well have killed poor Rachel Jackson, and the President-elect was never known for his forgiving nature ( Read more... ) -
Presidential Transitions: 1860
Perhaps the most difficult presidential transition in history took place in 1860, when Abraham Lincoln was elected to succeed James Buchanan. It was a time when sectional strife and division rose to such a high level that it split the Democratic Party and caused many to worry that the president-elect would not live to see his inauguration.
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The Making of the President 2024: A Post Mortem Opinion
The following is a reprint of an editorial in the New York Times, November 6, 2024 edition, written by Carlos Lozada. It is entitled "Stop Pretending Trump Is Not Who We Are". It is provocative, and I think a brilliant take on the election. Please reserve judgement until you've read it and then please answer the poll that follows.
I remember when ( Read more... ) -
Presidential Transitions: 1932
With an uncomfortable presidential transition in the offing, lets look at some of the transitions in the past, some of which have also been uncomfortable ones. Take 1932 for example. In that year the United States was in the grip of the Great Depression. It began in the summer of 1929, when the United States economy first went into an economic ( Read more... ) -
The Making of the President 2024: Trump Wins
Repeating a feat only achijeved once in history, by Grover Cleveland in 1892, Donald Trump has been elected to a second, non-consecutive term as President of the United States. Five states still have to be confirmed, but even without their results, Donald Trump has been acknowledged to be the winner of at least 277 electoral votes, more than the ( Read more... ) -
Potus Geeks Book Review: Fools on the Hill by Dana Milbank
Congress is dysfunctional. Everyone knows that, or at least everyone assumes that. Just how dysfunctional it is, is the subject of Washington Post columnist Dana Millbank's latest book Fools on the Hill: The Hooligans, Saboteurs, Conspiracy Theorists, and Dunces Who Burned Down he House.
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Election Day 2024
Too close to call. That's what all the pollsters are saying about how they read the tea leaves today. After four years of campaigning, Americans are divided on who they want to choose as their next President. Their division is bases mainly on each of the candidates' negatives rather than their positives. Donald Trump is remembered for his failure ( Read more... ) -
The Election of 1948: The One the Pollsters Got Very Wrong
The 1948 election wasn't a close one as it turned out. But it did illustrate how the polls can get it wrong, in this case, very wrong.
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The Closest Presidential Elections in History: 2000 (Bush vs. Gore)
The 2000 presidential election was held on Tuesday, November 7, 2000. The contest was between Republican candidate George W. Bush, who was the incumbent governor of Texas and son of former president George H. W. Bush and Democratic candidate Al Gore, the incumbent vice president, as well as various third-party candidates including the well-known ( Read more... )