** the nader vote.
** the unstintingly conservative campaign he ran. two factors to note here: studs terkel's prescient column a few months back (regarding how henry wallace *won* the '48 election for truman by pushing him to the left), and the fact that gore's big post-convention bounce coincided with the sole interlude in which he was talking like a lib/progressive.
** his failure to carry tennessee. if he wins there we aren't having this pageant.
** the clinton factor. a number of exit polls indicate bill's teflon applied only to bill--in my opinion, because (as when gingrich singlehandedly resuscitated clinton's presidency in '95-'96) bill's negatives were outweighed by the public perception that his republican inquisitors were even more venal than he.
** his tactical failure to use clinton to campaign in those areas where he *could* have been an asset, most notably arkansas.
** his choice of joe lieberman, an eastern party hack even more conservative than gore, which contributed to his dismal showing in the south and midwest.
that's five minutes worth off the top of my head. i'm sure there's more.