On November 2, 2004, George Walker Bush was reelected president of the United States. Bush and his running mate, Vice President Dick Cheney, won a closely contested race with Democratic candidate John Kerry, a senator from Massachusetts, and his running mate, Senator John Edwards of North Carolina.
For the second consecutive presidential race, the results were too close to call the morning after the vote. As of Wednesday morning, Bush and Cheney had won the majority of the popular vote and appeared headed toward victory. But neither Bush nor Kerry had captured the 270 electoral college votes needed to win the presidency. Bush had 254 electoral votes and Kerry had 252. Ohio, with 20 electoral votes, had more than 250,000 votes to count and was too close to call. The presidential races in Iowa and New Mexico also remained undecided. When the tallying indicated that Bush would win Ohio, Kerry conceded the election in a call late Wednesday morning to President Bush.
The importance of a single state in the election results also occurred in the 2000 presidential election, in which Florida and its 25 electoral college votes proved to be the key. Despite a turnout in Florida of more than 6 million voters, only a few hundred votes separated the two candidates, with Bush in the lead. Weeks of ballot recounts and legal maneuvering—including decisions by the Florida Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court—followed as the two candidates strove to win the state's electoral votes. Gore conceded the election on December 13, after the U.S. Supreme Court reversed a Florida Supreme Court ruling that allowed a statewide hand recount of ballots.
The president of the United States is often considered the most powerful elected official in the world. The president leads a nation of great wealth and military strength. Presidents have often provided decisive leadership in times of crisis, and they have shaped many important events in history.
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