the latter two flipping Republican. Although Kerry flipped New Hampshire, Bush won both more electoral votes and states than in 2000. Some aspects of the election process were subject to controversy, but not to the degree seen in the 2000 presidential election. Bush won Florida by a five-percent margin, unlike his razor-thin 2000 victory margin in the state that led to a legal challenge in Bush v. Gore. In addition, Republicans increased their majorities in both houses of Congress in the concurrent congressional elections, which gave Bush a comfortable congressional majority as he entered his second term. This is the most recent time either major party improved on its electoral vote margin, compared to the preceding election, as well as the last time both major party presidential and vice presidential nominees were white men. Bush served his second term as president and was succeeded by Democrat Barack Obama, who was elected president in 2008, while Kerry continued to serve in the Senate and later became Secretary of State during Obama's second term. Bush's victory also marks the only time in U.S. history that a winning presidential candidate failed to win any electoral votes in the Northeast, as well as the last time a candidate has carried every state from the former Confederacy. This is also the most recent presidential election in which Colorado, Virginia, Nevada, and New Mexico voted Republican, and the last until 2016 in which Florida, Ohio, and Iowa did so. Background George W. Bush won the presidency in 2000 after the Supreme Court's decision in Bush v. Gore remanded the case to the Florida Supreme Court, which declared there was not sufficient time to hold a recount without violating the U.S. Constitution. Just eight months into his presidency, the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, suddenly transformed Bush into a wartime president. Bush's approval ratings surged to near 90%. Within a month, the forces of a coalition led by the United States entered Afghanistan, which had been sheltering Osama bin Laden, suspected mastermind of the September 11 attacks. The Taliban had been removed by December, although a long reconstruction would follow. The Bush administration then turned its attention to Iraq and argued the need to remove Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq had become urgent. The Iraq issue gave Bush an antagonist to present to the people, rallying support against a common enemy rather than gaining voters