Packed boxes lay scattered around Donna Brazile's Kennedy School office, where the former campaign manager for Al Gore `69 has served as a spring fellow at the Institute of Politics (IOP) for the last three months.

Still on the shelves are four large black binders, each filled with news clippings and articles on state efforts at electoral reform after the 2000 presidential election. Her computer screen shows a copy of a report she has been compiling, providing recommendations on ways to overhaul the voting system in the United States.

"I still don't know who to submit it to," the charismatic Brazile laughs as she looks over the report. "That's the difficult question. Who wants it? Who cares?"

"I care," Brazile adds with characteristic straightforwardness. "I deeply care how states will improve their system of voting to ensure every vote is counted."

Besides the candidates themselves, few people had a greater stake than Brazile in the outcome of the November election-an election that lasted through December, ending with the Supreme Court injunction to stop a recount in the state of Florida, the deciding factor that propelled then-Texas Gov. George W. Bush into the While House over former Vice President Gore.

Brazile has moved on since then, returning to Washington, D.C. last week to delve back into national politics after a brief stop to discuss the election and politics with students at the IOP.

But exactly six months after Election Day 2000, Brazile still carries the memories of one of the most controversial and hotly contested presidential elections in United States history, using the outcome to teach her valuable political lessons for the future.