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Edmund Sixtus Muskie, March 28, 1914 - March 26, 1996, had a noteworthy career in state and federal government that spanned five decades. Beginning as a member of the House of Representatives from 1946 to 1951 and later serving as governor of Maine from 1955 - 1959, Muskie served in the U.S. Senate from 1959 - 1980. Muskie, an environmental advocate during his time as governor, brought his love of the environment to the U.S. Senate. His work in the Senate led to the passage of the Clean Air Act in 1970 and the Clean Water Act in 1972. In 1968, he was the Vice Presidential Democratic nominee. In 1972, Muskie was the front runner for the Democratic Presidential nomination losing to George McGovern. In 1980, he was appointed Secretary of State by President Jimmy Carter and served until the end of President Carter’s term in January 1981.

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The quote “If God had wanted us to vote he’d have given us candidates” originated with American comedian Jay Leno. Leno is best known for hosting NBC’s The Tonight Show with Jay Leno from 1992 to 2009. 

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"I worship the quicksand he walks on" is a quote from 1966 by Washington Post columnist Art Buchwald. The President he was referring to was President Lyndon B. Johnson. However, the quote has been used several times to describe other, mainly conservative, presidents as well. 

Popik, B. (2016). Retrieved from http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/i_worship_the_quicksand_he_walks_on

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The United States Presidential Election of 2000 between George W. Bush and Al Gore, the Supreme Court’s decision on Bush v. Gore, and the inauguration of Republican President Bush that followed are points of contention in democracy’s recent history. One of the closest elections in United States history, no official winner was declared on election night. When Florida’s votes were finally counted, the margin was so small that law required a recount of the votes. During the following month, several counties from Florida had to manually recount all votes. Bush v. Gore was the United States Supreme Court case to settle to recount dispute. While the election took place on November 7, 2000, the court ruling and outcome of the election were not decided until December 12, 2000. Although Al Gore had won the popular vote with 50,999,897 votes and 48.4% of the total votes cast, George W. Bush was announced the winner because he had 271 of the electoral votes, which is 1 more than the majority. The reason the recount had been so important in Florida was because the recount could have potentially tipped the number of electoral votes in favor of Al Gore, winning him the presidential election.
Many people were outraged by the Supreme Court decision claiming that the court had chosen their president and not the people’s votes. This spurred a group of more than 20,000 protestors to gather for Bush’s inauguration. There were approximately 10,000 law enforcement officials on Pennsylvania Avenue on the day of the inauguration. The number of law enforcement officers outnumbered the protestors in the actual demonstration area near the inauguration. Security for entering all areas was much tighter than previous inaugural days.