As noted by BuzzFeed editor-in-chief Ben Smith, the S&P 500 is almost exactly where it was when George W. Bush and Al Gore were battling for the US presidency. On Election Day 2000, the S&P closed at 1430.86. Today, Election Day 2012, it closed at 1428.38. In between, the index hit a peak of 1561.80 in October 2007, before the financial crisis.