The 2000 presidential election demonstrates how a third-party candidate can influence election outcomes. Explain

how a third party influenced this election.

Ralph Nader and the Green party earn votes, but it all comes down to Florida.

The election was so tight that it took a 36-day legal battle and a controversial 5-4 Supreme Court ruling before Al Gore conceded, although he won the national popular vote by more than a half-million votes.

The race not only centered on the candidates from the Democratic and Republican parties, Al Gore and George W. Bush, but on third-time presidential candidate Ralph Nader. An American lawyer, political activist and consumer advocate Nader was Green Party candidate.

Nader hoped to earn 5 percent of the popular vote, which would have given his party access to federal matching funds in the following presidential election. Nader fell short of his goal, receiving 2.9 million votes and less than 3 percent of the popular vote. However, some believe Nader's third-party candidacy siphoned enough votes from the Democratic nominee, Vice President Al Gore, to swing the victory to Republican George W. Bush.

The difference was Florida, which Bush won by fewer than 600 votes to give him a 271-to-266 Electoral College edge. Had even a small percentage of the nearly 100,000 votes garnered by Nader in Florida shifted to Gore, the Democratic candidate would have won the election. In addition, the 22,000 votes won by Nader in New Hampshire were three times the size of Bush's margin of victory in that state. If New Hampshire had flipped to Gore, that too would have given him the victory.

Committee members are elected or chosen by the state convention. They might also be chosen at the primary level, depending on the state. The committee's chairperson is chosen by the presidential candidate. The national committee oversees the party's national operation at its headquarters in Washington, DC. The committee is responsible for organizing the party's national convention and large campaign events. Explanation: what it should be on edg.