| Candidate |
Electoral |
States
Won |
| Bush (R) |
254 |
28 |
| Kerry (D) |
252 |
20 |
Nothing was settled or conceded in the first
light of day, but Kerry faced a daunting task trying to deny Bush an electoral
majority that was almost within reach. The Democrat's campaign planned a
statement by midday, advisers said.
"We are convinced that President Bush has won re-election,"
said White House chief of staff Andy Card. But that conviction did not sway
Democrats, who insisted Kerry was still in contention for Ohio's decisive cache
of 20 electoral votes.
Bush himself planned to declare victory before long.
Republican Party Chairman Marc Racicot said the president put it off temporarily
as a courtesy to Kerry, "to allow the opportunity to look at the situation in
the cold hard light of day."
White House Chief
of Staff Andy Card declares victory in the reelection of U.S. President
George W. Bush at an election night rally in Washington, DC November 3,
2004. [Reuters] |
Before both sides retired
for an hour or two of sleep, one top Kerry adviser said the Democrat's chances
of winning Ohio, and with it the White House, were difficult at best. Advisers
planned one last look for uncounted ballots that might close the gap before
meeting with the candidate Wednesday to determine whether he should concede or
fight on.
Kerry's braintrust met first thing Wednesday and planned at
least one other session before taking their recommendation to the senator, said
several officials involved in the deliberations.
"We will fight for every vote," John Edwards, Kerry's running mate, told supporters in Boston in the wee hours
Wednesday. "We've waited four years for this victory. We can wait one more
night."
Continuity was the result elsewhere in government, with the
GOP padding its Senate majority — knocking out Democratic leader Sen. Tom
Daschle of South Dakota in the process — and easily hanging on to the House.
That will be the state of play on Capitol Hill for the next two years, with the
chance of a Supreme Court nomination fight looming along with legislative
battles.
Glitches galore cropped up in overwhelmed polling places as
Americans voted in high numbers, fired up by unprecedented registration drives,
the excruciatingly close contest and the sense that these were unusually
consequential times.
"The mood of the voter in this election is different than
any election I've ever seen," said Sangamon County, Ill., clerk Joseph Aiello.
"There's more passion. They seem to be very emotional. They're asking lots of
questions, double-checking things."
Republicans flocked to the morning talk shows to promote a
sense of inevitability about a Bush victory. Racicot, on NBC's "Today" show,
said it was "almost mathematically impossible" for Kerry to overcome Bush's lead
in Ohio.
The country exposed its rifts on matters of great import in
Tuesday's voting. Exit polls found the electorate split down the middle or very
close to it on whether the nation is moving in the right direction, on what to
do in Iraq, on whom they trust with their security.
The electoral map Wednesday looked much like it did before;
the question mark had moved and little else.
Bush built a solid foundation by hanging on to almost all
the battleground states he got last time. Facing the cruel arithmetic of
attrition, Kerry needed to do more than go one state better than Al
Gore four years ago; redistricting since then had left
those 2000 Democratic prizes 10 electoral votes short of the total needed to win
the presidency.
Supporters of US
Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., watch election
returns at Pennsylvania Democratic Party election night headquarters in
Philadelphia Tuesday Nov. 2, 2004. [AP
Photo] |
Florida fell to Bush again, close but
no argument about it.
And so all eyes turned to Ohio, where Democrats clung to
hopes that provisional ballots would overcome Bush's lead. With Bush leading by
145,000 votes, one top Kerry adviser said the Democrat's chances were tough.
Bush's relentless effort to wrest Pennsylvania from the
Democratic column fell short. He had visited the state 44 times, more than any
other. Kerry picked up New Hampshire in perhaps the election's only turnover.
In Ohio, Kerry won among young adults, but lost in every
other age group. One-fourth of Ohio voters identified themselves as born-again
Christians and they backed Bush by a 3-to-1 margin.
A sideline issue in the national presidential campaign, gay
civil unions may have been a sleeper that hurt Kerry — who strongly supports
that right — in Ohio and elsewhere. Ohioans expanded their law banning gay
marriage, already considered the toughest in the country, with an even broader
constitutional amendment against civil unions.
In all, voters in 11 states approved constitutional
amendments limiting marriage to one man and one woman.
Barney, pet terrier
of the U.S. first family, walks away from a group picture of the Bush
family including U.S. President George W. Bush (L) as they watch the
election results of the 2004 presidential election in the West Sitting
Hall of the White House residence November 2, 2004. Members of his family
are (L-R) daughter Barbara Bush, first lady Laura Bush, father and former
President George Bush, first lady Barbara Bush, sister Doro, sister-in-law
Maria Bush, brother Neil and family friend Lois Betts.
[Reuters] |
For all the stumping in Ohio, nine
in 10 voters had made up their minds before the last week, and they favored
Bush. True to his reputation as a strong closer, Kerry performed better than
Bush among those who decided late.
In Florida, Kerry again won only among voters under age 30.
Six in 10 voters said Florida's economy was in good shape, and they voted
heavily for Bush. Voters also gave the edge to Bush's handling of terrorism.
In Senate contests, Rep. John Thune's victory over Daschle
represented the first defeat of a Senate party leader in a re-election race in
more than a half century. Republicans were assured of at least 53 seats in the
coming Senate, two more than now.
Republicans made gains in the House, too, where they had
prevailed for a decade.
The dispute in Ohio concerned provisional ballots — those
cast by people whose qualifications to vote were challenged or whose names were
missing from the voter rolls.
Nationwide, with 98 percent of the precincts reporting, 112
million people had voted — up from 105 million in 2000. Bush was ahead in the
popular vote, which he lost in 2000, and independent Ralph Nader was proving to
be much less of a factor this year than four years ago.
Exit polls conducted for The Associated Press and the
television networks by Edison Media Research and Mitofsky International
suggested that slightly more voters trusted Bush to handle terrorism than Kerry.
A majority said the country was safer from terrorism than in 2000, and they
overwhelmingly backed Bush.
But many said things were going poorly in Iraq, and they
heavily favored Kerry. And with nearly 1 million jobs lost in Bush's term, Kerry
was favored by eight of 10 voters who listed the economy as a top
issue.
