You misremember the process, or you misunderstand what I'm saying.

Neither. You're misrepresenting the reality, presenting "alternative fact" version.

The Daily Show started picking up momentum during the 2000 campaign.

FYI, the campaign ran through 1999 and 2000, which also happens to be BEFORE election day. You falsely tried to say this momentum happened AFTER that, which of course is factually wrong. Maybe you're just repeating false information someone gave you, but regardless, your alternative fact version is truthy but untrue.

We're talking about the improvement of the show over time.

No, you're deliberately trying to misrepresent the dates and the time scale. And you're doing that because the current Daily Show has been tanking for two years and you desperately want to believe that's normal, and you want company to share your misperception.

That's one aspect that is nearly universally accepted

Universally by you, but not by most other people.