[Brown:] Tonight, right here on CNN, a look back at the 2000 presidential election. It was George W. Bush versus Al Gore, the recounts and the Supreme Court. And those in the middle of it knew however it turned out they would be accused of stealing an election. CNN chief political analyst, Gloria Borger, takes a revealing look behind the scenes at a man who was calling many of the shots, an adviser brought in by Republicans to steer the ship.
[Gloria Borger, Cnn Chief Political Analyst:] A well- respected Tallahassee lobbyist with ties to Jeb Bush, and a long history in Republican politics, Max Stipanovich, became Katherine Harris' brain.
[John "max" Stipanovich, Tallahassee Lobbyist:] I explain to her, you don't have any friends. We're going to be loathed by the media for the rest of our lives and through the lives of our grandchildren. That is not what is important today. We are doing to elect a president of the United States today, and that forget all of that other stuff.
[Borger:] As Americans watched partisans watched it be duked out everyday the on TV, Max was plotting the Republican path to victory.
[Stipanovich:] I called the senior staff together and I said that we are not going to break any laws, but I want you to forget about the intent of the laws. We are going to bring in election in for a landing, and we're going fight them tooth and nail and house to house, and hand in hand, and we were going to be holding Florida unless they sent in the federal troops.
[Borger:] He knew exactly what he had to do, stop recounting votes, and preserve Bush's election night lead, no matter how small.
[Stipanovich:] We actually believed the result was right. We said that George Bush has won this election, and it is our job to make it so, and we are going to rapidly as possible close off any option, any path that the could be followed that produces an end result other than that one. And people are going to watch this and be appalled. Oh, my god, the corrupt bastards, they stole the election. No, we won the election.
[Brown:] Gloria Borger joins me now. Just a fascinating look back at this time. From all the reporting you have done about this, 15 years later, are the Democrats over it?
[Borger:] No. They are not over it. They lost the closest election in modern political history. Surprisingly, though, Pamela, they don't think that this election was stolen from them in any way, shape or form. They believe, as do many Republicans, actually, that I spoke with, that more people went to the polls with the intention of voting for Al Gore than George W. Bush, but of the votes that were counted, more people voted for George W. Bush. It's very hard in an election to count or recount intentions of voters, so when they went down to Florida, they knew in a way that they were trying to fix the unfixable. And they also knew that, in looking back, as I talked to them, one of them said to me, "We brought a knife to a gunfight." The Republicans were there to preserve a victory they believed they already had. The Democrats were trying to contest a victory, and that put them in a tough position. And the Republican team, as you just heard from Max Stipanovich, was pretty far out there and willing to do whatever it took. The Democrats just couldn't match them.
[Brown:] Wow. Gloria Borger, cannot wait to see this tonight.
[Borger:] Thank you.
[Brown:] You don't want to miss it. "Bush v. Gore, The Endless Election," it airs tonight, 9:00 p.m., only on CNN. That's it for me. For our international viewers, "Amanpour" is next. For our North American viewers, NEWSROOM with Brooke Baldwin starts right now. Thanks for being here with me.