Hanging Chads: The Inside Story of the 2000 Presidential Recount in Florida [Hardcover]

Julian M. Pleasants (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1403966931 | ISBN-13: 978-1403966933 | Publication Date: August 26, 2004 | Edition: First Edition

What's the real story behind the 2000 presidential election fiasco? Until now, there have only been biased accounts from both sides. Hanging Chads presents candid and insightful interviews with eleven of the key figures in the post-election recount in Florida, which decided whether Al Gore or George W. Bush would win the closest presidential contest ever. The book features an introduction that clearly explains the often complex and convoluted legal maneuvering that occurred during those tense thirty-six days of the recount, a timeline laying out the sequence of events, a cast of characters that identifies the key players on both sides, and a glossary of the court cases and legal terminology that came into play. Pleasants interviews the two main Florida lawyers, Dexter Douglass for Gore and Barry Richard for Bush, and discusses the decision-making process with three judges involved in key cases. The book includes the viewpoint of the press and key political players like Tom Feeney, the Florida legislature's Speaker of the House, and Mac Stipanovich, a key political advisor to Katherine Harris. In addition, Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Theresa LePore explains why she chose the infamous butterfly ballot that sent the whole process into motion.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

If you want a straight story, says popular wisdom, the best place to get it is from the horse’s mouth. This hoary dictum has been heartily embraced by Pleasants (Orange Journalism: Voices from Florida Newspapers), a history professor at the University of Florida who offers a new take on the infamous presidential election of 2000. The majority of chapters consist of question-and-answer interviews—all but one conducted by the author—with key figures in the Sunshine State’s election debacle. They include Supervisor of Elections Theresa "Madame Butterfly Ballot" LePore; St. Petersburg Times Tallahassee Bureau Chief Lucy Morgan; Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives Tom Feeney; Florida Supreme Court Justice Major Harding; Judges Terry Lewis and Nikki Clark, who handed down critical decisions during the 36-day battle for votes; and Mac Stipanovich, a powerful Republican lobbyist and advisor to Secretary of State Katherine Harris. In addition to these Q&As, there’s a concise introduction chronicling the events that ended with the federal Supreme Court’s landmark decision, a helpful "cast of characters" section and a compendium of court cases and legal terms that comes in handy when navigating the judicial jungle surrounding the election. Pleasants is an able and astute interviewer, but the book contains a considerable amount of padding. Still, the volume is intriguing as a collection of primary observations, unvarnished and unfiltered by a secondary voice. Although the election results may forever remain in doubt, this is a worthwhile addition to the growing body of literature on the 2000 election.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

"Julian Pleasants has given us the definitive book on the disputed presidential election of 2000. Hanging Chads reveals how a badly flawed Florida ballot and the denial of a recount awarded the presidency to a candidate who lost by half a million votes in the popular count."--George McGovern, former U.S. Senator and 1972 Democratic Presidential Candidate

"Julian Pleasants has provided readers with a very valuable, well researched, and dispassionate story of the very controversial presidential election of 2000 in Florida. Combining an extended introduction with informative interviews with all of the key people involved in the disputed election, Pleasants allows readers to see for themselves how events transpired in 2000. His introduction alone is worth the price of this book. Anyone interested in his fascinating story of perhaps the closest election in American history must read this book."--Reubin O'D. Askew, Governor of Florida, 1971-1979

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan; First Edition edition (August 26, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1403966931
• ISBN-13: 978-1403966933
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,267,724 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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