A Counterfactual

In 2000, the "Butterfly" ballot is not printed, but a more clear standard form is used.

Al Gore becomes president.

When warnings of an Al Qaida attack surface, the Gore White House goes on alert, asking for any scrap of intelligence, and reminding all agencies to be on full alert, just as the Clinton White House did in 1999 when the millennium threats arose.

The Al Qaida plot is nipped in the bud.

Gore calls a press conference to announce the thwarting of a plot to hijack four airline planes and crash them into the twin towers, the Pentagon, and the Capitol.

The reaction from the press:

"There goes Gore, exaggerating again."