- guardian.co.uk,
- Tuesday November 07 2000 10:54 GMT
But even more than Gore, Bush's candidature suggests that the US is not quite the land of open-for-all opportunity people think it is.
If George Bush is elected to the White House, it will have as much to do with his father's reputation and fund-raising powers as it will with Bush's own character.
Nonetheless, he is typical of his generation and his country. A Spanish-speaking millionaire who has moved with the nation from his east coast roots to the booming south-west - in his case, Texas - he grew up more involved in baseball than in anything else.
He studied at Yale, where he was noted more for his personality than for his academic skills. After a spell in the Texas National Guard (which earned him exemption from serving in Vietnam) he spent the early 1970s apparently lost. He partied, drank and - though the details are unclear - took drugs. In 1976, he was convicted of drink driving.
After a failed bid for a seat in Congress, Bush made - and lost - money in the oil business as his father became first vice-president and then president. He married and his wife, Laura, helped him put his unsettled past behind him.
In 1994, after his father's defeat by Bill Clinton, he beat the Democratic governor of Texas, Ann Richards, in a tough fight. Bush took notably conservative positions - on homosexuality, the death penalty and youth crime.
In office, he stuck to them - although he worked with Democrats on his only real political passion, education. By keeping his election promises, Bush was re-elected in 1998 with 68% of the vote.
That success made him a natural front-runner for the Republican nomination. He won it by portraying himself as a "compassionate conservative" - able to work across party lines and take tough decisions on social issues.
Critics pointed to his record on the death penalty (150 people have been executed in Texas during his time as governor, one a fortnight) and on pollution.
No issue caused more controversy than his decision to allow the execution of Karla Faye Tucker. Convicted of a double-murder, she appealed for clemency on national television. After what he described as one of the hardest decisions he had ever had to take, Bush allowed her to die.
Early this year, he beat a strong challenge from the reformist Republican John McCain in the primary vote to decide the Republican candidate, and built a lead over Al Gore which, though wavering, has endured to the eve of polling day.
Critics have pointed to his lightweight past, and his verbal slips. Even supporters admit that he is not a man for detail, but say he is a good delegator. That is one strength. His amiability and apparent self-confidence are others.
American voters connect with him in a way they do not with Al Gore, and that may be enough to see him to victory on polling day.
Useful links
Full list of candidates standing for president
Bush 2000: official site
Official site of the governor of Texas
The buying of the president: George W Bush
The complete Bushisms
Net election