It's been done before, three times

WASHINGTON - Republican George W. Bush will become only the fourth President in United States history who lost the popular vote, but went on to the White House.

In 1824, John Quincy Adams, the son of the second US President, was elected the sixth President by the House of Representatives because none of four candidates won a majority of electoral votes.

Andrew Jackson, the military hero of the 1812 war against the British, received 99 electoral votes in that election, compared with Adams' 84 votes, but that fell far short of the needed 131. After losing in the House, Jackson spent four years campaigning for the job he felt should have been his, and won it in 1828.

In the election of 1876, which pitted Republican Rutherford B. Hayes against Democrat Samuel J. Tilden, Hayes lost the popular vote, but three southern states submitted two sets of electoral votes, which left the result unclear for 16 weeks.

The election was ultimately resolved by an ad hoc Electoral Commission created by Congress, which awarded all the contested electoral ballots to Hayes, allowing the Republican to win the presidency by one electoral vote, 185-184.

In 1888, President Grover Cleveland, a Democrat, won the popular vote but lost the Electoral College to Republican Benjamin Harrison, who served one term before Cleveland wrested the presidency away from him again in 1892.

In this year's election, Vice-President Al Gore won the popular national vote by about 300,000 votes, but failed to prevail in a series of lawsuits challenging Florida's decision to certify Bush the winner of that state's presidential ballot.

Florida's 25 electoral votes gave Bush 271, one more than needed to win.

- REUTERS

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