eric houston has been arrested. >> it's weird way human beings are. you can only keep one thing in your head at a time i guess. >> jeffrey dahmer's stay in akron may have been brief, but his effect on the city may last for sometime to come. as one spectator put it, it may be gruesome, but it's history 9:00 eastern time. there's a bunch of poll closings right here. this could be a real turning point. >> nbc news has projected al gore the winner in florida. >> the stories you are about to see were reported in the news on november 6th and 7th, 2000. >> cable news, the presidential election is your super bowl, so we knew it was going to be big. >> florida has been prematurely called. we realize this story is getting even bigger. >> nbc news is now taking florida out of vice president gore's column. >> there were so many headlines that could have come out of november 7th. >> thank you, new york. >> hillary clinton, she put her hat in the ring to run for senate from new york. >> there's a new senator from the state of new york. her name is hillary rodham clinton. >> the death of a senate candidate, the governor by

itself, would have been a huge story. >> as election coverage overwhelms the news cycle, one of the biggest drug busts in u.s. history is under way at an abandoned missile silo in rural kansas. >> at the time, i don't believe anybody else in the country knew what was going on here. they were probably watching the election results. it truly is very similar to the "breaking bad" tv series. they had the capability of making 2.8 billion dosage units with a b. that's enough lsd to get every man, woman, and child in the western hemisphere high. >> the biggest story can no longer become the biggest story in a matter of seconds.

candidates sprint for the finish. well, it is a blitz indeed. >> everybody knows it is so close. >> gore and bush trying to get the most mileage out of the time remaining. each stumping in the battleground states which could well determine the outcome of tomorrow's election. >> there was kind of this pent up partisan fervor. >> give us a chance to restore honor to the white house. >> there was a red and blue thing going on at the time. i was told to ditch the jacket, roll up the sleeves, and we were full bored into presidential politics. it was going to be a turning point in america in some form or fashion. i think people sensed that. >> thank you. >> while gore and bush continue to battle it out on the campaign trail, dea agents are moving in on a tiny town in kansas.

>> the assistant chief mike baker stopped and told me there were a lot of activity without state cars. and he had stopped several of those vehicles for speeding, and he identified them as dea agents. told me that they were up near the missile base watching it. we didn't know at the time if they were on surveillance or what they were doing. we knew they were around. we knew there was quite a few of them. >> these concrete bunkers for these atlas missile silos, in way they're a good location for drug traffickers because you're so far away from the neighbors there's no odors. out there in the flat plains of kansas, you can pretty easily see if someone is following you in a vehicle. >> i was pretty aggressive to find out what they're doing. they eventually told me that i needed to leave. i was not to interfere with their investigation. >> but people were speculating. >> there was some rumors that

there could be some drug activity, but nothing that would indicate what was coming. watch out for the power of hillary rodham clinton being elected senator from the state of new york. >> 1300 miles east of kansas, the media and new york focuses on one of the most anticipated senate races of 2000. nine months earlier, hillary clinton had made her intentions public. >> i am honored today to announce my candidacy for the united states senate from new york. >> a lot of people were skeptical of the idea of a first lady running for senate. >> that race was supposed to be the greatest senate race of all time because her initial opponent was rudy giuliani. >> arkansas is the place for them. i don't think it's new york. i think that new yorkers are going to end up voting for the senate for someone who has lived here. >> hillary had no ties to new york. zero. she was a chicago girl. >> i may be new to the

neighborhood, but i'm not new to your concerns. >> hillary clinton did come into that campaign with not just carpet bagging, but all the baggage, if you will, coming from bill clinton's presidency. she had some very high negatives. the parallel to that of course is in 2016 she is the most unpopular candidate ever to run for president other than one person, donald trump. >> in missouri, three weeks before election day, a plane crash has thrown another hotly contested senate race into chaos. >> it is with great sadness that we report that earlier this evening a plane believed to be carrying governor mel carnahan, his son roger, and his senior campaign adviser went down in jefferson county. there were no survivors.

>> jefferson county sheriff says several witnesses reported seeing the twin engine cessna flying low and later heard what they thought was a crash and explosions. carnahan has a wife, two grown children, and four grandchildren. >> republicans were making some noise about this, whether or not mel carnahan was to be taken off the ballot. >> mel carnahan is running against john ashcroft in one of the most watched senate races in the country. >> 2000 was quite a year. had some interesting quirks. i guess you could consider electing a dead man an interesting quirk. one state over in kansas, the drug enforcement agency prepares to launch one of the biggest busts in history. >> in dea we always try to work with the state and local police

as much as possible. but when you have a case as big as this one, sometimes we wait until the last minute just so somebody doesn't accidentally say something. we didn't start the coordination with the local police there until we were getting ready to conduct the raid. >> the dea's target suspected drug manufacturer william leonard pickard. >> william leonard pickard was truly an anomaly. this was a man who was a buddhist monk. he had a master's degree from harvard, was a vegetarian. just not what you typically picture as a drug lord, especially one who is producing over 90% of the world's supply of lsd. with lsd, it is considered more dangerous than a meth lab as far as chemical contamination. we didn't want to execute a raid on the location for safety reasons.

we preferred to do a ruse and get him out of there. >> with the help of an inside informant, the dea lays a trap for pickard. >> it was arranged for pickard to come pick up the lab. we arrived in a ryder truck. we didn't want to reveal the dea was on to the case, so we arranged to have two highway patrol officers pull over both the ryder truck and the surveillance vehicle that pickard was driving. one way we did underestimate pickard is we didn't know he was a marathon runner. he started to race away, but then he jumped off road and ran into the kansas woods. so now we had a manhunt. we're waiting for governor bush, but obviously he's going to speak after vice president gore. >> we got a call from a network correspondent saying don't concede. the florida numbers are wrong. >> al gore is still planning to be here to give his speech, which we consider will be a concession speech.

after all of the shouting and all of the scandal, we can begin again. >> drive into the future with the democrats going in the right direction. >> by this time tomorrow, the candidates will be back in their home states waiting for the results, but until then it is a nonstop day campaigning the battleground states. >> it was becoming clearer and clearer that this was going to be a closed race. >> pushing signs rapidly. they're going out in truckloads. >> let's not forget it wasn't just bush and gore. >> let's have affordable tax cuts for middle-class working families. >> hillary clinton was running for u.s. senate. >> another headline would have been the death of a senate candidate, a governor, three weeks before the election. >> there's just so much going on. your vote is going to make a difference. >> one of the things i've seen in over 30 years in this business is things move so fast. >> today it's george w. bush's past that's being looked at. >> in the final frenzied push to

the bush-gore faceoff, a past scandal emerges, something that could break the dead heat. >> on the thursday night before the election, there came a 30-year-old story about george w. bush being arrested for driving under the influence. >> they want to know if there's more to this, george w. bush's 1976 dui arrest in which he paid $150 fine and had his license suspended in maine for a time. >> it was so close to the election there was no real polling on its effect. >> there was no measuring what impact would be. >> we're going to take a break from decision 2000 to give you some of the other headlines outside the presidential race. >> of course the one we're all talking about is mel carnahan. >> in missouri, the death of mel carnahan three weeks before the election triggers a crisis. >> under missouri law, it's too late.

too close to election day to take carnahan's off the ballot, so it will remain, leaving open the possibility that his name could win. >> many republicans may challenge saying you have to be an inhabitant of the state when elected and how can a dead man be an inhabitant of the state. >> 14 days before the election, the new governor of missouri offers to appoint carnahan's grieving widow. >> it is my intention to ask jean carnahan if she would fill that spot. >> a lot of the political process rubbed off on her. i mean, she had just spent eight years in the governor's mansion. >> missourians will reaffirm their belief in self-government by going to the polls to vote. my husband's name will be on that ballot. >> everything in our lives changed. we had to plan for three funerals that week, and then we had, of course, to make the decision as to whether we were going to accept the offer. >> when i think about dad, the thing i'll always remember more than anything else before he walked out in the morning before

he went to work, he'd say don't let the fire go out. >> robin carnahan in her eulogy said her dad would always keep the fire going on at night to keep the house warm. >> so i'm here to say, dad, we promise. we won't let the fire go out. >> as you know, this has been a very difficult time for me and my family. >> i made a commercial. i didn't know even then whether or not i was going to accept or not. and so the fellow who was making the commercial said, well, why don't you make one in which you say, yes, you'll do it. then we'll write one. no, with the support of my family, i decided to do what i think mel would want me to do, what he wants all of us to do, to keep fighting with all the strength we can muster for the values and ideals at he lived

for. >> we read one that said yes. then we stopped and had a bite to eat. we went back and he said, well, are you ready to do the next one? and i said, no. i think we'll just go with the first one. >> in any other election where you didn't have bush v. gore and hillary clinton would be the first most important story by a long shot. >> if and when his wife will actually be appointed to that job. >> it felt like the third most important story. i've been told there's an ongoing federal investigation, and they've asked for our cooperation by not commenting. >> even farther from the media glare in tiny wamego, kansas, a suspect in a massive dea drug bust is on the run. dea summons local law enforcement to assist in the manhunt. >> the chief of police came across the police scanner. all police officers and all reserve officers.

meet him up in front of wamega city hospital. i figured that someone had walked away from the nursing home next door. when i first drove up, i realized the dea probably wasn't here to help locate someone who walked away from the nursing home. >> when we went to the hospital that night, they briefed us. and at that time, i believe we were told how big it was. >> one of the dea agents turned around and asked who i was with, and i introduced myself. i said, hi, i'm mark portel with "the wamego times." he essentially said, oh, bleep, the bleeping media. >> i think that's the first time that we knew that this was a huge operation. >> he was a brilliant chemist. very similar to the "breaking bad" tv series except in this case a card was producing lsd instead of methamphetamine. lsd is much more complicated than methamphetamine. they had the capability to make

2.8 billion dosage units of lsd. that's enough lsd to get every man, woman, and child in the entire western hemisphere high. i feel less empathy for picard than i do the common criminal because he had the opportunity, you know, harvard education, wealthy family, but he also had a great cover for his drug trafficking. he was a drug policy analyst from the university of california in l.a. he was so smart he went over to czechoslovakia. he found an old formula and he smuggled that into the united states. that's what enabled him to have such a huge production capability. >> the dea mobilizes its forces to track down picard. >> we started canvassing the town, walking, going door to door, trying to find out where he'd went. he wasn't found that night even with the helicopter. it had an infrared device to detect body heat. >> there were 50 law enforcement

officers and hounds searching the kansas woods for him. >> at the time, i don't believe anyone else in the country knew what was going on here. they were probably watching the election. i still don't think people realized how big of an event this was. >> i didn't even want to do my work outside that night, knowing that somebody could be out there. >> most of the town knew there was a bad guy running loose, but that's all they knew.

it's too close to election day to take carnahan's name off the ballot. >> you have to be an inhabitant of the state when elected and how can a dead man be an inhabitant of the state. >> two men were seen leaving this missile site. election night 2000. in every way and sense a barn burner.

>> you can see the lines of people waiting to vote. >> nothing is easy for governor george w. bush of texas or vice president al gore. >> wow, that was fast. look at that. >> november 7th, 2000, an election day like no other begins. >> among the high profile races, the first lady of the united states, new york senator. >> hillary clinton's run has been full of twists and turns. since the beginning of the campaign, her expected opponent was rudy giuliani, but six months prior to the election he drops a bombshell. >> when i was first told i had cancer, i thought this was going to be a much easier decision. >> in giuliani's place steps rick lazio, a moderate congressman from long island. >> today, i announce i'm a candidate for united states senate from new york. >> at the time, it was a remarkable campaign not just because the first lady was running for the senate, but also because it was at that point the most expensive senate campaign in all of history. >> i'm willing to say we will neither raise nor spend a dime of soft money.

ask all outside groups to stay away. if my opponent is willing to do the same. >> anybody who followed that election in 2000 can't forget that first debate. >> let's just get this deal done right now. right here. here it is. let's sign it. it's the new york freedom from soft money pact. >> he confronts her to try to get her to sign a pledge about money and politics. >> i'm asking you to sign it. >> i'll be happy to when you give me the signed letters -- >> sign it right here. >> we'll shake on this, rick. >> he walks across the stage. he thought he was looking tough and confrontational. >> why don't you show some leadership. >> he kind of towered over her. he wagged his finger at her. it looked like somebody trying to intimidate a much shorter woman. >> it was perhaps the most embarrassing gaffe ever seen in the televised public debate. >> in new york city, the initial reports say voting has been brisk, turnout high. >> as the polls open on election day, clinton has surged to a

ten-point lead. meanwhile in wamego, kansas, a massive manhunt is under way as the dea tracks a fugitive drug lord. >> so now it turned into a manhunt reminiscent of "the fugitive." they were looking for him for 18 hours. >> over 50 local and national law enforcement officers scour the countryside. for suspected drug kingpin william leonard picard. >> we were out there for a long time, checking people, walking through neighborhoods looking. >> the dea's november 7th takedown of pickard's lsd empire began months earlier when todd skinner turned informant. >> todd skinner was also from a very wealthy family, and he had convinced his mother to buy this decommissioned missile silo as a front to produce springs for

their spring company in oklahoma that his mother owned. instead it was turned into an underground palace for drug experimentation and sex and that type of stuff. he spend hundreds of thousands of dollars. he put italian marble floors in the missile silo. they had a lot of exotic animals in there. >> todd skinner was kind of known throughout the community as a real flamboyant fellow. he was very unusual. living out there at the missile base, there was curiosity as to what went on out there. while allegedly laundering his lsd profits at a local casino, skinner was arrested. >> he contacted dea headquarters through his attorney to try and get an immunity agreement, and he ended up as an informant against pickard. >> 18 hours after pickard escapes from authorities, law

enforcement gets a tip from a farmer about four miles away. >> we started going door to door through town, walking to neighborhoods, talking to people. then a few miles southwest of the town of wamego, a local farmer found an individual in one of his vehicles. in florida, the polls have barely been open and the first reports of voting irregularities begin to surface. >> i got a call from my sister early in the morning who lived in boca raton, florida, at the time and who said i think the ballot here is very confusing. i just looked at it and looked at it and looked at it. it took me about 10 to 15 minutes to try to make sure i voted for al gore. we didn't have a name for it at that point, but it was called the butterfly ballot. >> they had that so-called butterfly ballot where a lot of people presumably voted for al gore, but the way it was

actually done they voted for pat buchanan. >> there was nothing we could do about it. i went to the garage. i walk over and found him in my truck. i politely asked him, what the hell are you doing in my truck.

i'm todd piro with breaking news. a powerfulering -- earthquake struck italy. the epicenter was 80 miles northeast of rome. it brought down buildings and caused injuries. there are no immediate reports of deaths. four senate democrats have demanded for information about hillary clinton's email investigation to director james comey. now back to "in other news." we're so grateful for your support. we understand we can't do it alone. >> we're going to win this election, and we're going to win

the future for american families. >> there were so many headlines that could have come out of november 7th. the death of a senate candidate, a governor, by itself that would have been a huge story. obviously, we thought we would have a president. that's a pretty big headline. hillary clinton, that she put her hat in the ring to run for senate from new york, but then the biggest story can no longer can become the biggest story in a matter of seconds. as the election dominates the headlines, the manhunt for drug fugitive william leonard pickard stretches into its 18th hour. law enforcement receives a tip off. >> i had no idea that i would be

involved. when we got through eating dinner, i went to the garage. i walk over and found him in my truck. and i politely asked him, what the hell are you doing in my truck. and he wanted to go to manhattan. i said, yeah, i can take you to manhattan, but i have to tell my wife. instead of talking to her, i talked to the police and they immediately came out. well, this fugitive took off running when he heard the police cars' siren. >> but this time it was a flat field. one of them raced in the vehicle and cut him off, and finally he threw his hands up and said, i give up. i'm cold. i'm tired. >> officers arrested 55-year-old william pickard on drug charges. >> so the sheriff was unlike any prisoner he had before. this guy, he wanted to wear sandals and eat vegetarian diet, and kind of stuck out from your run of the mill prisoners in wamego city jail.

the story of pickard's capture is overshadowed as drama at the polls eats up the news cycle. in missouri, voter turnout could tip the scales in a highly unusual senate race. >> voting is so heavy in st. louis, the democratic party is filing an emergency petition asking the hours of voting be extended in st. louis to accommodate huge crowds. >> we're down to three dozen votes. >> there was hundreds of people there, and it was chaos. and the police have to be called. again, that's why the democrats in the city of st. louis had gone to court to try to keep the polls open. >> the court case is probably going to go on all night. mel carnahan tragically dies in a plane crash. at the time of his death, he was five percentage points behind. since then, that five-point lead has evaporated. people are saying missouri could turn not just the senate

election, but the national election. >> the very same day as the election, a popular internet company makes a stunning announcement. >> other economic news tonight. there is a new victim of a falling fortunes of the new economy. pets.com is closing down. >> the demise of pets.com is one of the first needles to punch a whole in the internet bubble. >> basically, you had a new attitude towards business. people were investing in companies that showed promise, that didn't necessarily show revenues. >> internet mania, that short lived rush by investors to pump money into anything with a dot-com in its name and by those companies to turn around and pour that cash into advertising. >> there was this whole new kind of lexicon not just in the tech world.

dot-com became part of the mainstream terminology. >> pets.com will sell off a majority of its assets and lay off 255 of its 320 employees. >> pets.com was one of the first e-commerce companies. we sold everything for pets from food to toys. >> their business plan was to reach as many people as possible, to create volume, but they were losing money on every piece of pet food they sold. >> pets.com reported sales of $9.4 million, but those goods cost the company $9.6 million before expenses like marketing. >> it wasn't about revenue. what it was about is perception. and they, perhaps more than any other company, had a hold on perception, exemplified by this sock puppet mascot. >> at the 2000 super bowl, they had probably what was the most talked about ad. then by november of that year they were self-liquidating. it happened that quickly. it was the perfect symbol for that era. the steep rise and then the rapid fall. >> what's your idea of which

investments are safe bets now? >> certainly not internet stocks. >> there was this enormous snowball effect. basically, you had one of many that were rapidly closing their doors. >> out of the hundreds of tech company ipos that existed by 1999, only one in six would still be in existence two years later. whoever wins the presidential election is destined to inherit the fallout of the dot-com bubble. but a clear winner has yet to emerge. >> it's already clear here at 7:30 eastern time in new york that the road to 270 electoral votes for either george w. bush or al gore will be long and torturous before this evening is out. connecticut no surprise, al gore. kansas, the projected winner is texas governor george w. bush. texas, george w. bush is the winner there. >> every election is good television because it is the suspense program.

the election of 2000 was something more than that because in addition to the suspense -- and the suspense was enormous, maybe more than we've ever had before on television because of how close the race was. >> we're going to now project an important win for vice president al gore. nbc news projects that he wins the 25 electoral votes in the state of florida. >> it's really hard to cover an election that close and feel the pressure of, a, getting it on quickly, and, b, getting it right.

missouri could turn not just the senate election, but the national election. >> there's a bunch of poll closings ready. this could be a real turning point. >> an important win for vice

president al gore. nbc news projects that he wins the 25 electoral votes in the state of florida. >> that is a very, very, very important state for al gore, and now the pressure is on george w. bush. >> florida is called for vice president al gore and gore's march to the white house picks up momentum. >> that sent a little bit of a shock wave of panic through the headquarters. karl rove to his credit recognized that there was something wrong with the results. >> and i'd also suggest that florida has been prematurely called. first of all, i thought it was a little bit irresponsible of the networks to call it before the polls closed in the western part of florida. >> as the day progressed on november 7th, you got nothing but good news. florida, pennsylvania, and michigan in his column. >> we had set up a speech prep room for al gore to practice his victory speech.

i told eli addy, who was the speech writer, that we also needed the alternative version. >> as the presidential election enters a state of emergency, dramatic results from other races race for the headlines. >> there's a new senator from the state of new york. her name is hillary rodham clinton. >> when she was running, i do believe there were nine female senators. the year she was elected it bounced up to 13, so she was part of a gradual growth of female senators in the senate. >> 16 months, 3 debates, 2 opponents, and 6 black pantsuits later because of you here we are.

>> her vote margin was over 800,000 votes. it was roughly 55% to 43%. that's pretty close to a landslide in most people's books. >> we have a lot of work to do, and i am looking forward to doing that work with all of you from one end of the state to the other. >> it was such a momentous time for her because she knew where she was going. >> thank you, thank you, thank you, and god bless you all. thank you and good night. >> i think she knew then that she would be running for the presidency. >> as hillary clinton wins her seat in the senate, the drug bust in wamego begins to wind down. but with william pickard safely behind bars, his former accomplice creates his own horrific headlines. >> todd skinner, after pickard was convicted, he fell in love with this girl who was a bondage stripper. they went down to tulsa, oklahoma, and he had a little cult group down there where he would give catholic communion

wafers laced with lsd to this group. he gave this brandon green a knockout drug in the communion wafer. and the poor kid, he woke up naked, tied up, gagged in a hotel room in oklahoma, and he tortured the kid and just dropped him off in the desert in texas. they left him for dead. >> skinner is brought to justice in 2003 and convicted of kidnapping, conspiracy to commit kidnapping, and assault battery with a dangerous weapon. he's now serving life plus 90 in oklahoma. nbc news is now taking florida out of vice president gore's column and putting it

back in the too close to call column. >> it had to be the political equivalent of an earthquake. all of the networks were pretty trusting of this whole business of polling to have to flip it. you know, that's like cracking the tablets with the ten commandments. >> there was just kind of this moment of like, what's going on here. do we not have a winner? even then you're like too close to call, they're going to get this figured out in a few minutes. >> jeb bush, who is the governor

of state of florida, we're told just a few moments ago that jeb bush told his dad, george h.w. bush, that we won't know about florida until at least midnight, between midnight and 1:00 a.m. >> just as sort of devastating was the call of florida for gore originally, their retraction was like a shot of adrenaline. the hope was alive and we all got energized again. >> we've got a stunning piece of news for you in missouri. nbc news is projecting that mel carnahan who was killed in a plane crash has been elected over john ashcroft, the republican incumbent. that means jean carnahan will go to the united states senate. there will be a special election in two years. >> they were calling the race in missouri for mel carnahan, and of course there were not the usual cheers that you hear. there were only tears. >> missourians clearly realized that if they voted for mel carnahan, they knew that jean carnahan was going to replace him in washington, d.c. >> that is a pick up for the democrats, so there remains the possibility that the democrats before this night is out could get close to, if not take control by one vote or so of the united states senate. >> and just 20 minutes later, the election takes another unexpected turn. >> there's no question that in a time of peace and prosperity like this for the country to have such a division like this. >> stop. >> uh-oh, something has happened. george w. bush is the president elect of the united states. he has won the state of florida,

according to our projections. >> that was an incredible moment for us. a lot of hugging, a lot of high-fives, a lot of tears. rushed out of the headquarters building on to congress street to go back up to the state capitol, which was beautifully back-lit. it was 40 degrees and raining and a miserable night. nobody cared. just won the presidency of the united states. >> al gore stood up and said let's get this thing over with. i'm going to go down, put my suit on, we're going to the war memorial, and i'm conceding. >> that began a bit of a comedy of errors. >> brian, we are expecting the vice president to show up any moment. >> the vice president called bush and conceded before he left for the war memorial. >> we did see some dejected types walk away, but the vast majority of people stayed here. >> i missed the motorcade and i

got a call from a network correspondent saying don't concede. the florida numbers are wrong. >> apparently, al gore is still planning to be here and give this speech which we certainly expect will be a concession speech. >> i called carter in the motorcade and said, we can't concede. he said to me, by the way, where are you? i'm in the hotel. i missed the motorcade. you have to get here. my assistant drove me. when i got to the perimeter, i pointed to my secret service badge and jumped over parameters. the vice president wasn't answering his phone. >> i've just been given a two-minute warning for the appearance of al gore.

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there is a new senator from the state of new york. her name is hillary rodham clinton. mel carnahan has been elected over john ashcroft. we're going to stay for a little

while longer until we hear from george w. bush and vice president al gore. >> al gore's campaign strategist rushes to warn him not to concede. >> the only thing you could do because the vice president wasn't answering his phone was call david moorehouse. so the car pulls up. gore gets out. he said, i'm going straight to the stage. david said, no, we have to go to the holding room. carter and bob said we have to go to the holding room. i arrived breathless in the holding room as he was wrapping

up his phone conversation with george w. bush where he was withdrawing his concession. >> are you going to go out there like a man and say we're waiting for the recount? >> but there was a great moment where bush says, my brother says i won. i don't think your brother gets to decide if you're president of the united states. >> the secretary of state has al gore trailing the president elect in the state proved to be pivotal by 565 votes. >> and there are some votes -- >> that's not even a wide spot in the road. >> and there are still some votes that have not been counted. >> just a couple hours ago, the tv networks called this race for governor bush. it now appears that their call was premature. >> so when the networks called florida for george bush, the margin as we left the headquarters was about 50,000 votes. by the next morning, the margin was 1200 votes with 6 million votes being cast. that was certainly within the range of an automatic recount in florida. i remember telling my wife that based on all the other recounts

that i had done in house and senate races that this would be white hot through the weekend and it wouldn't last more than ten days or maybe two weeks at the most. i was wrong. >> for the next five weeks, the press frenzy around the recount continues. but in kansas, the story that didn't catch the headlines comes to an end. william leonard pickard is convicted of conspiracy to manufacture lsd and possession with intent to distribute lsd and is now serving two consecutive life sentences. >> the significance of this case today here we are 15 years later and we still see lsd seizures 95% less than they were for these characters that were arrested, which is why i consider this to be the most successful case in drug law enforcement history. on november 9th, jean

carnahan gives her first press conference. >> yesterday, i began a new chapter in my life. and though the pain and the tears still come at unexpected times, i now see a renewed purpose to my life. my first press conference after the election was held in jefferson city. i was wondering how the press was going to accept me, what they were going to do. and i found out they were rather tender with me. then as the press conference got to close, one of them got a little braver and said since you've never held public office, could it be that maybe you're not -- and he paused for a little bit -- qualified for this job? >> a lot of people questioned my husband, and i suggested they not do that with me. >> all the eyebrows in the room shot up. i think i just figured out what the ten-second sound bite should

sound like. the press conference ended, and i went to washington. >> in the end, the court's decision to shut the polls despite unprecedented voter turnout couldn't stop carnahan's victory in missouri, but it may have impacted other races. >> al gore was only one of two democrats in missouri that were running statewide who lost that night. what was intriguing to me and i always thought this was overlooked, al gore barely lost missouri. if he carried missouri, it wouldn't have mattered if he carried florida or not. >> an american presidential race has entered a new round of campaigning after election day because there is still no clear winner and there are still votes to be counted in florida and beyond. >> everybody in the election business says if you get a very, very, very close election, it exposes all kinds of problems. >> we have a voting system in this country that's still a mess.

gore voters insist they were confused by what they call an illegal ballot. as a result, 19,000 ballots were tossed out because they contained a double punch or double votes for presidential candidates. >> several weeks later, we got to saying we want every ballot recounted. in the meantime, as this process is going on, we have the phenomenon of the hanging chad. which led to these extraordinary television pictures of people looking like this. you could certainly have another situation where the election was very close. it was in a state where the election processes are defective, and you had a huge controversy about which ballots to count and which ballots not to count. do i think it's likely? no. >> what happened in 2000 with the presidency of the united states coming down to the state of florida was something nobody could see. totally unanticipated and probably will be unique in our history.

>> in a country of more than 275 million people, the presidency may be settled by a few hundred votes and no one is just sure when. >> these voters want a new election. >> election day headlines of voter fraud, hanging chads, and dubious results will continue to dominate the news for weeks to come. >> we knew there were issues in florida. i don't think at the time we had any idea the u.s. supreme court would determine who the president was going to be. >> i, george walker bush, do solemnly swear -- >> that i will faithfully execute the office of president of the united states. >> that i will faithfully execute the office of president of the united states. >> what happened to al gore is a once in a million kind of thing. >> thank you, thank you, thank you, and god bless you all. thank you and good night. >> hillary's success in 2000 was clearly to many, many, many

people, and it certainly was to me, breaking the glass ceiling of running for president. >> there were so many headlines that could have come out of november 7th. all those, you know, couldn't compare to we don't have a president. know, couldn't compare to, we don't have a president. >> michael jackson died today. he was only 50 years old. >> this is equivalent to elvis passing away. >> this was a huge international story. >> the stories you're about to see were reported in the news on june 25th and 26th, 2009. >> think of influence and power to stop world news. >> the king of pop's sudden death rockets across the world and other stories are buried in its wake. >> so many things got overshadowed that day. >> the past three days have been some of the most violent in iran since the protests began. >> actress farrah fawcett has lost her three year battle with cancer. >> mark sanford revealed yesterday he was in argentina to visit his