Gore started his term on a shaky footing, owing to the unprecedented closeness of the 2000 election (some Republicans believed fraud had been committed against their candidate, or that somehow the election was stolen from them, as Bush had led, if barely, for most of the summer and fall ... question: this would have been with a recount in Florida, right? It would have been determined that Gore won that state by multiple recounts if it were really that close. If that is true, this branch of the Republican Party would have been relatively small, and they would have not had much of an argument, as multiple recounts confirmed a Gore presidency. This might have affected the Republican nomination and/or Gore's reelection loss). Worse, the economy began to sour and gas prices increased, bringing