crazy
All of this is a preamble to looking back at some of the closest presidential elections in history:
1. The Election of 1800: Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr each received the same number of electoral votes (73). It was expected that Burr would defer to Jefferson, who was supposed to be the lead name on the ticket, but Burr decided that he wanted the big chair. The tie was broken by the House of Representatives, sparking a series of events that led to the passing of the Twelfth Amendment. The whole kerfuffle is the subject of Edward J. Larson's book A Magnificent Catastrophe: The Tumultuous Election of 1800, America's First Presidential Campaignreviewed here.
2. The Election of 1876: What a mess! Four states were in dispute, with voter fraud being alleged on both sides. A congressional commission was struck to decide the outcome which awarded all four disputed states to Rutherford B. Hayes, giving him 185 electoral votes, one more than his challenger, Governor Samuel Tilden of New York, who ended up with 184. Tilden ended up with 51% of the popular vote, compared to 47.9% for Hayes, but he still lost. The story is told in Michael F. Holt's nerdy tome By One Vote: The Disputed Election of 1876reviewed here. More details of the election are contained in this past post.
3. The Election of 2000: We all remember how this one ended right? It all came down to the state of Florida and its 25 electoral votes. Without Florida, George W. Bush had 246 electoral votes and Al Gore had 266. Florida would seal the deal. It took until December 12th for the US Supreme Court to order the stoppage of further recounts (all of which had gone in Bush's favour, but by declining margins) and uphold Florida's Secretary of State Katherine Harris, who had certified the state's electoral votes for Bush. An earlier journal entry here gives more details.
4. The Election of 1916: Woodrow Wilson ran for re-election against Charles Evans Hughes in an election that many believe Hughes could have won if he hadn't snubbed Calfironia Governor Hiram Johnson. Wilson received 277 electoral votes, to 254 for Hughes. Wilson won California by 0.3%. That state's 13 electoral votes made the difference. I've journalled more about this one here.
5. The Election of 1824: This was the only election in which the candidate with the most electoral votes didn't win. Andrew Jackson received 99 electoral votes to 84 for John Quincy Adams, 41 for William Crawford and 37 for Henry Clay. The constitution provided that where there wasn't a clear winner, the race was decided by the House of Representatives. When the House chose Adams over Jackson, the General charged that there had been a "corrupt bargain" made between Adams and Clay because Adams later selected Clay to the prestigous post of Secretary of State (which at the time was a springboard for the Presidency.) Jackson got his revenge. Adams was soundly defeated in the next election by Jackson, who served two terms in office. As for Henry Clay, he epitomized the saying "always a bridesmaid, never a bride."
Hopefully 2012 will be free of this kind of drama, and if not, 2012 will go down as a great year for business in tv advertising and for campaign lawyers too.