1.
United States presidential election, 2000
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The United States presidential election of 2000 was the 54th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on Tuesday, November 7,2000, Bush was seen as the early favorite for the Republican nomination and, despite a contentious primary battle with Senator John McCain and other candidates, secured the nomination by Super Tuesday. Bush chose former Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney as his running mate, both major party candidates focused primarily on domestic issues, such as the budget, tax relief, and reforms for federal social insurance programs, although foreign policy was not ignored. Clinton and Gore often did not campaign together, a deliberate decision resulting from the Lewinsky sex scandal two years prior. This was the closest presidential election in the history, with a. 009% margin,537 votes. The narrow margin there triggered a mandatory machine recount the next day, after which Gore requested recounts in four counties, including populous South Florida, litigation ensued in numerous counties in both state and federal courts, ultimately reaching the Florida Supreme Court and the United States Supreme Court. Nationwide, this was the presidential election in which the winner received fewer votes than his opponent. After the election, recounts conducted by news media organizations continued a primary focus on ballots that machines read as not showing a vote. Based on the review of these ballots, their results indicated that Bush would have won if certain recounting methods had been used, but that Gore might have won under other standards and scenarios. The Green Party gained widespread attention during the 2000 presidential election when the ticket composed of Ralph Nader. Nader was vilified by some Democrats, who accused him of spoiling the election for Al Gore, Naders impact on the 2000 election has remained controversial. Until 2016, this was the last time a Republican candidate won a vote in the region of New England. As of 2017, this was the last election where a Republican candidate won New Hampshire, traditionally, the primary elections are indirect elections where voters cast ballots for a slate of party delegates pledged to a particular candidate. The partys delegates then officially nominate a candidate to run on the partys behalf, President Bill Clinton, a Democrat and former Governor of Arkansas, was ineligible to seek reelection to a third term due to restrictions of the Twenty-second Amendment. In accordance with Section I of the Twentieth Amendment, his term expired at 12,00 noon EST on January 20,2001, Democratic candidates Al Gore, Vice President of the United States Bill Bradley, former U. S. Senator from New Jersey Al Gore from Tennessee was a consistent front-runner for the nomination, of these, only Wellstone formed an exploratory committee. Running an insurgency campaign, Bradley positioned himself as the alternative to Gore, the closest Bradley came to a victory was his 50–46 loss to Gore in the New Hampshire primary. On March 14, Al Gore clinched the Democratic nomination, none of Bradleys delegates were allowed to vote for him, so Gore won the nomination unanimously at the Democratic National Convention
2.
Philadelphia
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In 1682, William Penn, an English Quaker, founded the city to serve as capital of the Pennsylvania Colony. Philadelphia was one of the capitals in the Revolutionary War. In the 19th century, Philadelphia became an industrial center. It became a destination for African-Americans in the Great Migration. The areas many universities and colleges make Philadelphia a top international study destination, as the city has evolved into an educational, with a gross domestic product of $388 billion, Philadelphia ranks ninth among world cities and fourth in the nation. Philadelphia is the center of activity in Pennsylvania and is home to seven Fortune 1000 companies. The Philadelphia skyline is growing, with a market of almost 81,900 commercial properties in 2016 including several prominent skyscrapers. The city is known for its arts, culture, and rich history, Philadelphia has more outdoor sculptures and murals than any other American city. Fairmount Park, when combined with the adjacent Wissahickon Valley Park in the watershed, is one of the largest contiguous urban park areas in the United States. The 67 National Historic Landmarks in the city helped account for the $10 billion generated by tourism, Philadelphia is the only World Heritage City in the United States. Before Europeans arrived, the Philadelphia area was home to the Lenape Indians in the village of Shackamaxon, the Lenape are a Native American tribe and First Nations band government. They are also called Delaware Indians and their territory was along the Delaware River watershed, western Long Island. Most Lenape were pushed out of their Delaware homeland during the 18th century by expanding European colonies, Lenape communities were weakened by newly introduced diseases, mainly smallpox, and violent conflict with Europeans. Iroquois people occasionally fought the Lenape, surviving Lenape moved west into the upper Ohio River basin. The American Revolutionary War and United States independence pushed them further west, in the 1860s, the United States government sent most Lenape remaining in the eastern United States to the Indian Territory under the Indian removal policy. In the 21st century, most Lenape now reside in the US state of Oklahoma, with communities living also in Wisconsin, Ontario. The Dutch considered the entire Delaware River valley to be part of their New Netherland colony, in 1638, Swedish settlers led by renegade Dutch established the colony of New Sweden at Fort Christina and quickly spread out in the valley. In 1644, New Sweden supported the Susquehannocks in their defeat of the English colony of Maryland
3.
Wells Fargo Center (Philadelphia)
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The Wells Fargo Center is a multi-purpose indoor arena located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is the arena of the Philadelphia 76ers of the National Basketball Association, the Philadelphia Flyers of the National Hockey League. The arena lies at the southwest corner of the South Philadelphia Sports Complex, which includes Lincoln Financial Field, Citizens Bank Park and it is owned by Comcast Spectacor, which also owns the Flyers, and is operated by its arena-management subsidiary, Global Spectrum. Since 2010, naming rights have been held by financial services company Wells Fargo, Wells Fargo center has hosted two political conventions, hosting the 2000 Republican National Convention and 2016 Democratic National Convention. In addition, the arena is a venue for concerts. Before its construction, the arena was tentatively called Spectrum II. However, the contract has gone through multiple hands due to bank mergers, first by First Union Bank in 1998, Wachovia in 2003. Installation of the new Wells Fargo Center branding began on July 27,2010, with the removal of the Wachovia Center signage, work was completed in September 2010. The 76ers then signed a sponsorship agreement with Firstrust Bank as their official banking sponsor. The Wells Fargo Center officially seats 20,318 for NBA and NCAA basketball and 19,541 for NHL hockey, with additional standing-room admissions available in luxury and club-box suites, the total paid capacity increases. The Wells Fargo Center has 126 luxury suites,1,880 club-box seats, in addition, the offices, studios, and production facilities of NBC Sports affiliate Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia are all located in the facility. On August 1,2006, Comcast Spectacor announced it would install a new scoreboard to replace the original one made by Daktronics. The new scoreboard, manufactured by ANC Sports, is similar to other scoreboards in new NBA & NHL arenas, an additional linear LED display lining the entire arena was also installed between the suite and mezzanine levels. The PA announcer at the Wells Fargo Center for Flyers games is Lou Nolan, who moved with the team from the Spectrum, matt Cord is the PA announcer for 76ers games. Jim Bachman is the PA announcer for Villanova basketball games, kevin Casey handled PA duties for the Philadelphia Wings during their tenure. The arena has a seating capacity of 21,000 seated. On August 13,1996, a concert by Ray Charles was the first event at the Wells Fargo Center. Each spectator was given a commemorative key acknowledging they helped open the arena, the inaugural concert, on September 2,1996, featured Oasis, with The Manic Street Preachers and The Screaming Trees, before an estimated crowd of 12,000
4.
George W. Bush
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George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States from 2001 to 2009. He was also the 46th Governor of Texas from 1995 to 2000 and he is the eldest son of Barbara and George H. W. Bush. After graduating from Yale University in 1968 and Harvard Business School in 1975, Bush married Laura Welch in 1977 and ran unsuccessfully for the House of Representatives shortly thereafter. He later co-owned the Texas Rangers baseball team before defeating Ann Richards in the 1994 Texas gubernatorial election and he is the second president to assume the nations highest office after his father, following the lead of John Quincy Adams. He is also a brother of Jeb Bush, a former Governor of Florida who was a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in the 2016 presidential election, the September 11 terrorist attacks occurred eight months into Bushs first term as president. Bush responded with what became known as the Bush Doctrine, launching a War on Terror, a military campaign that included the war in Afghanistan in 2001. He also promoted policies on the economy, health care, education, Social Security reform and his tenure included national debates on immigration, Social Security, electronic surveillance, and torture. In the 2004 Presidential race, Bush defeated Democratic Senator John Kerry in another close election. After his re-election, Bush received increasingly heated criticism from across the spectrum for his handling of the Iraq War, Hurricane Katrina. Amid this criticism, the Democratic Party regained control of Congress in the 2006 elections, Bush left office in 2009, returning to Texas where he purchased a home in Crawford. He wrote a memoir, Decision Points and his presidential library was opened in 2013. His presidency has been ranked among the worst in historians polls published in the late 2000s and 2010s. George Walker Bush was born on July 6,1946, at Grace-New Haven Hospital in New Haven, Connecticut, as the first child of George Herbert Walker Bush and his wife, the former Barbara Pierce. He was raised in Midland and Houston, Texas, with four siblings, Jeb, Neil, Marvin, another younger sister, Robin, died from leukemia at the age of three in 1953. His grandfather, Prescott Bush, was a U. S and his father, George H. W. Bush, was Ronald Reagans Vice President from 1981 to 1989 and the 41st U. S. President from 1989 to 1993. Bush has English and some German ancestry, along with more distant Dutch, Welsh, Irish, French, Bush attended public schools in Midland, Texas, until the family moved to Houston after he had completed seventh grade. He then spent two years at The Kinkaid School, a school in Houston. Bush attended high school at Phillips Academy, a school in Andover, Massachusetts
5.
Texas
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Texas is the second largest state in the United States by both area and population. Other major cities include Austin, the second most populous state capital in the U. S. Texas is nicknamed the Lone Star State to signify its former status as an independent republic, and as a reminder of the states struggle for independence from Mexico. The Lone Star can be found on the Texan state flag, the origin of Texass name is from the word Tejas, which means friends in the Caddo language. Due to its size and geologic features such as the Balcones Fault, although Texas is popularly associated with the U. S. southwestern deserts, less than 10 percent of Texas land area is desert. Most of the centers are located in areas of former prairies, grasslands, forests. Traveling from east to west, one can observe terrain that ranges from coastal swamps and piney woods, to rolling plains and rugged hills, the term six flags over Texas refers to several nations that have ruled over the territory. Spain was the first European country to claim the area of Texas, Mexico controlled the territory until 1836 when Texas won its independence, becoming an independent Republic. In 1845, Texas joined the United States as the 28th state, the states annexation set off a chain of events that caused the Mexican–American War in 1846. A slave state before the American Civil War, Texas declared its secession from the U. S. in early 1861, after the Civil War and the restoration of its representation in the federal government, Texas entered a long period of economic stagnation. One Texan industry that thrived after the Civil War was cattle, due to its long history as a center of the industry, Texas is associated with the image of the cowboy. The states economic fortunes changed in the early 20th century, when oil discoveries initiated a boom in the state. With strong investments in universities, Texas developed a diversified economy, as of 2010 it shares the top of the list of the most Fortune 500 companies with California at 57. With a growing base of industry, the leads in many industries, including agriculture, petrochemicals, energy, computers and electronics, aerospace. Texas has led the nation in export revenue since 2002 and has the second-highest gross state product. The name Texas, based on the Caddo word tejas meaning friends or allies, was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves, during Spanish colonial rule, the area was officially known as the Nuevo Reino de Filipinas, La Provincia de Texas. Texas is the second largest U. S. state, behind Alaska, though 10 percent larger than France and almost twice as large as Germany or Japan, it ranks only 27th worldwide amongst country subdivisions by size. If it were an independent country, Texas would be the 40th largest behind Chile, Texas is in the south central part of the United States of America. Three of its borders are defined by rivers, the Rio Grande forms a natural border with the Mexican states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, and Tamaulipas to the south
6.
Dick Cheney
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Richard Bruce Dick Cheney is an American politician and businessman who was the 46th Vice President of the United States from 2001 to 2009, under President George W. Bush. Born in Lincoln, Nebraska, Cheney was primarily raised in Sumner, Nebraska and he attended Yale and then the University of Wyoming, at the latter of which he earned a BA and an MA in Political Science. Cheney was selected to be the Secretary of Defense during the Presidency of George H. W. Bush, during his time in the Department of Defense, Cheney oversaw the 1991 Operation Desert Storm, among other actions. Out of office during the Clinton administration, Cheney was the Chairman, in July 2000, Cheney was chosen by presumptive Republican Presidential nominee George W. Bush as his running mate in the 2000 Presidential election. They defeated their Democratic opponents, incumbent Vice President Al Gore, in 2004 Cheney was reelected to his second term as Vice President, defeating Senator John Kerrys running mate, Senator John Edwards. He was a proponent of Operation Iraqi Freedom and defender of the Administrations anti-terrorism record. He became at odds with President Bushs position against same-sex marriage in 2004 and he has been cited as the most powerful Vice President in American history. At the same time he has been among the least favored politicians in the history of the United States, Cheney was born in Lincoln, Nebraska, the son of Marjorie Lorraine and Richard Herbert Cheney. He is of predominantly English, as well as Welsh, Irish, although not a direct descendant, he is collaterally related to Benjamin Pierce Cheney, the early American expressman. His father was a soil conservation agent for the U. S. Department of Agriculture and his mother was a star in the 1930s. He attended Calvert Elementary School before his family moved to Casper, Wyoming and he attended Yale University, but by his own account had problems adjusting to the college, and failed out twice. Among the influential teachers from his days in New Haven was Professor H. Bradford Westerfield and he later attended the University of Wyoming, where he earned both a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Arts in political science. He subsequently started, but did not finish, doctoral studies at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, in November 1962, at the age of 21, Cheney was convicted of driving while intoxicated. He was arrested for DWI again the following year, Cheney said that the arrests made him think about where I was and where I was headed. I was headed down a bad road if I continued on that course, in 1964, he married Lynne Vincent, his high school sweetheart, whom he had met at age 14. When Cheney became eligible for the draft, during the Vietnam War, he applied for, initially, Cheney was not drafted due to his marriage to Lynne Cheney. When the draft was expanded to include married men without children and he applied for his fifth exemption on January 19,1966, when his wife was about 10 weeks pregnant. He was granted 3-A status, the exemption, which excluded men with children or dependent parents
7.
Wyoming
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Wyoming /waɪˈoʊmɪŋ/ is a state in the mountain region of the western United States. The state is the tenth largest by area, the least populous, Wyoming is bordered on the north by Montana, on the east by South Dakota and Nebraska, on the south by Colorado, on the southwest by Utah, and on the west by Idaho. Cheyenne is the capital and the most populous city in Wyoming, the state population was estimated at 586,107 in 2015, which is less than the population of 31 of the largest U. S. cities. The Crow, Arapaho, Lakota, and Shoshone were some of the inhabitants of the region. Southwestern Wyoming was included in the Spanish Empire and then Mexican territory until it was ceded to the United States in 1848 at the end of the Mexican–American War. The region acquired the name Wyoming when a bill was introduced to Congress in 1865 to provide a government for the territory of Wyoming. The territory was named after the Wyoming Valley in Pennsylvania, with the name ultimately being derived from the Munsee word xwé, wamənk, the mineral extraction industry—especially coal, oil, natural gas, and trona—along with the travel and tourism sector are the main drivers behind Wyomings economy. Agriculture has historically been an important component of the economy with the main commodities being livestock, hay, sugar beets, grain. The climate is generally semi-arid and continental, being drier and windier in comparison to the rest of the United States, except for the 1964 election, Wyoming has been a politically conservative state since the 1950s, with the Republican party winning every presidential election. Wyoming is one of three states to have borders along only straight latitudinal and longitudinal lines, rather than being defined by natural landmarks. Wyoming is bordered on the north by Montana, on the east by South Dakota and Nebraska, on the south by Colorado, on the southwest by Utah, and on the west by Idaho. It is the tenth largest state in the United States in total area, from the north border to the south border it is 276 miles, and from the east to the west border is 365 miles at its south end and 342 miles at the north end. The Great Plains meet the Rocky Mountains in Wyoming, the state is a great plateau broken by many mountain ranges. Surface elevations range from the summit of Gannett Peak in the Wind River Mountain Range, at 13,804 feet, to the Belle Fourche River valley in the states northeast corner, at 3,125 feet. In the northwest are the Absaroka, Owl Creek, Gros Ventre, Wind River, in the north central are the Big Horn Mountains, in the northeast, the Black Hills, and in the southern region the Laramie, Snowy and Sierra Madre ranges. The Snowy Range in the central part of the state is an extension of the Colorado Rockies in both geology and appearance. The Wind River Range in the west central part of the state is remote and includes more than 40 mountain peaks in excess of 13,000 ft tall in addition to Gannett Peak, the highest peak in the state. The Big Horn Mountains in the central portion are somewhat isolated from the bulk of the Rocky Mountains
8.
Alan Keyes
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Alan Lee Keyes is an American conservative political activist, pundit, author, former diplomat, and perennial candidate for public office. A doctoral graduate of Harvard University, Keyes began his career in the U. S. Foreign Service in 1979 at the United States consulate in Bombay, India, Keyes ran for President of the United States in 1996,2000, and 2008. He was the Republican nominee for the U. S. Senate in Maryland against Paul Sarbanes in 1988 and Barbara Mikulski in 1992, in all three cases, Keyes lost by large margins. Keyes hosted a radio show, The Alan Keyes Show, Americas Wake-Up Call. The show was briefly simulcast by National Empowerment Television, in 2002, he briefly hosted a television commentary show on the MSNBC cable network, Alan Keyes Is Making Sense. Since 1998, Keyes has served as a columnist for World Net Daily, born in a naval hospital on Long Island, New York, Keyes was the fifth child of mother Gerthina and father Allison L. Keyes, a U. S. Army sergeant and a teacher. Due to his fathers tours of duty, the Keyes family traveled frequently, Keyes lived in Georgia, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Texas, Virginia and overseas in Italy. After high school, Keyes attended Cornell University, where he was a member of the Cornell University Glee Club and he studied political philosophy with American philosopher and essayist Allan Bloom and has said that Bloom was the professor who influenced him most in his undergraduate studies. Keyes has stated that he received threats for opposing Vietnam war protesters who seized a campus building. Shortly thereafter, he left the school and spent a year in Paris under a Cornell study abroad program connected with Bloom, Keyes continued his studies at Harvard University, where he resided in Winthrop House, and completed his Bachelor of Arts degree in government affairs in 1972. During his first year of school, Keyess roommate was William Kristol. In 1988, Kristol ran Keyess unsuccessful U. S. Senate campaign in Maryland, Keyes earned his Ph. D. in government affairs from Harvard University in 1979, having written a dissertation on Alexander Hamilton and constitutional theory, under Harvey C. Due to student deferments and a draft number, Keyes was not drafted to serve in the Vietnam War. Keyes and his family were supporters of the war, in which his father served two tours of duty. Keyes was criticized by opponents of the war in Vietnam, but he says he was supporting his father and his brothers, Keyes is married to Jocelyn Marcel Keyes, of East Indian descent, from Calcutta. The couple has three children, Francis, Maya, and Andrew, Keyes is a traditional Catholic and a third-degree Knight of Columbus. He is also a friend of Brazilian conservative philosopher and journalist Olavo de Carvalho
9.
Maryland
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The states largest city is Baltimore, and its capital is Annapolis. Among its occasional nicknames are Old Line State, the Free State, the state is named after Henrietta Maria of France, the wife of Charles I of England. George Calvert was the first Lord of Baltimore and the first English proprietor of the colonial grant. Maryland was the state to ratify the United States Constitution. Maryland is one of the smallest U. S. states in terms of area, as well as one of the most densely populated, Maryland has an area of 12,406.68 square miles and is comparable in overall area with Belgium. It is the 42nd largest and 9th smallest state and is closest in size to the state of Hawaii, the next largest state, its neighbor West Virginia, is almost twice the size of Maryland. Maryland possesses a variety of topography within its borders, contributing to its nickname America in Miniature. The mid-portion of this border is interrupted by Washington, D. C. which sits on land that was part of Montgomery and Prince Georges counties and including the town of Georgetown. This land was ceded to the United States Federal Government in 1790 to form the District of Columbia, the Chesapeake Bay nearly bisects the state and the counties east of the bay are known collectively as the Eastern Shore. Close to the town of Hancock, in western Maryland, about two-thirds of the way across the state. This geographical curiosity makes Maryland the narrowest state, bordered by the Mason–Dixon line to the north, portions of Maryland are included in various official and unofficial geographic regions. Much of the Baltimore–Washington corridor lies just south of the Piedmont in the Coastal Plain, earthquakes in Maryland are infrequent and small due to the states distance from seismic/earthquake zones. The M5.8 Virginia earthquake in 2011 was felt moderately throughout Maryland, buildings in the state are not well-designed for earthquakes and can suffer damage easily. The lack of any glacial history accounts for the scarcity of Marylands natural lakes, laurel Oxbow Lake is an over one-hundred-year-old 55-acre natural lake two miles north of Maryland City and adjacent to Russett. Chews Lake is a natural lake two miles south-southeast of Upper Marlboro. There are numerous lakes, the largest of them being the Deep Creek Lake. Maryland has shale formations containing natural gas, where fracking is theoretically possible, as is typical of states on the East Coast, Marylands plant life is abundant and healthy. Middle Atlantic coastal forests, typical of the southeastern Atlantic coastal plain, grow around Chesapeake Bay, moving west, a mixture of Northeastern coastal forests and Southeastern mixed forests cover the central part of the state
10.
John McCain
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John Sidney McCain III is an American politician who currently serves as the senior United States Senator from Arizona. He was the Republican nominee for the 2008 U. S. presidential election, McCain followed his father and grandfather, both four-star admirals, into the United States Navy, graduating from the U. S. Naval Academy in 1958. He became an aviator, flying ground-attack aircraft from aircraft carriers. During the Vietnam War, he was almost killed in the 1967 USS Forrestal fire, in October 1967, while on a bombing mission over Hanoi, he was shot down, seriously injured, and captured by the North Vietnamese. He was a prisoner of war until 1973, McCain experienced episodes of torture, and refused an out-of-sequence early repatriation offer. His war wounds have left him with physical limitations. He retired from the Navy as a captain in 1981 and moved to Arizona, elected to the U. S. House of Representatives in 1982, McCain served two terms. He was first elected to the U. S. Senate in 1986, winning re-election easily five times, while generally adhering to conservative principles, McCain at times has had a media reputation as a maverick for his willingness to disagree with his party on certain issues. He is also known for his work in the 1990s to restore relations with Vietnam. McCain ran for the Republican nomination in 2000 but lost a primary season contest to George W. Bush of Texas. He subsequently adopted more orthodox conservative stances and attitudes and largely opposed actions of the Obama administration, by 2013, however, he had become a key figure in the Senate for negotiating deals on certain issues in an otherwise partisan environment. In 2015, McCain became chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, John McCain was born on August 29,1936, at Coco Solo Naval Air Station in the Panama Canal Zone, to naval officer John S. McCain Jr. and Roberta McCain. He has a brother named Joe and an elder sister named Sandy. At that time, the Panama Canal was under U. S. control, McCains family tree includes Scots-Irish and English ancestors. Both his father and his grandfather, John S. McCain Sr. became four-star United States Navy admirals. The McCain family followed his father to various postings in the United States. Altogether, he attended about 20 schools, in 1951, the family settled in Northern Virginia, and McCain attended Episcopal High School, a private preparatory boarding school in Alexandria. He excelled at wrestling and graduated in 1954, following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather, McCain entered the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis
