Bush to declare victory, Kerry camp says race not over (posted at 10h00 GMT)

WASHINGTON – President George W Bush prepared to declare re-election victory in the wee hours of Wednesday and Democratic rival John Kerry refused to concede as results in Ohio and three other states remained too close to call.

“We will fight for every vote,” said Kerry running mate John Edwards. After winning Nevada and pulling within 16 electoral votes of the 270 required for a second term, Bush was laying claim to Ohio’s 20 electoral votes over Kerry’s objections.”We will not base our decision on a concession,” said Bush adviser Dan Bartlett.The Electoral College count was excruciating: Bush won 28 states for 254 votes.Kerry won 18 states plus the District of Columbia for 242 votes.Ceding nothing, Kerry dispatched running mate John Edwards to tell supporters in Boston: “We’ve waited four years for this victory.We can wait one more night.”The remarks were an eerie echo of 2000 when advisers to both Bush and Democrat Al Gore told supporters that the race was too close to call _ setting off a 36-day recount and a Supreme Court ruling that put Bush in office.”We will fight for every vote,” Edwards said, borrowing a line from Gore.Both campaigns considered sending political and legal teams to Ohio, already the scene of dueling lawsuits over provisional ballots.Republicans expanded their majority in the 100-seat Senate, knocking off Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle in a grim night for Democrats.The Republicans also extended its decade-long hold on the 435-seat House of Representatives for another two years, knocking off four veteran Texas Democrats.As for Bush, declaring victory is nothing more than a weapon in political warfare.It has no bearing on who will serve as president a minute past noon Jan.20, 2005, but the White House hopes the tactic will undercut challenges and create a sense of inevitability about Bush’s second term.Not so fast, said Kerry’s team.Democrats were considering sending political and legal teams to Ohio, already the scene of dueling lawsuits over provisional ballots.Inside the Bush campaign, an intense debate waged into the wee hours as some aides said parachuting teams into Ohio would only create a political stalemate in a state Bush hopes he has already won.Bush, 58, won Florida with relative ease this time, while Kerry took New Hampshire from Bush _ the first and perhaps only state to switch parties _ but it has just four electoral votes.In addition to Ohio, results were too close to call in Wisconsin, which has 10 electoral votes, Iowa (7) and New Mexico (5).Bush’s advisers told their boss he had won Ohio, but they nervously awaited confirmation.”I believe I will win, thank you very much,” Bush said while watching results with his family and dog Barney.The holdup was over provisional ballots — those cast by people whose qualifications to vote were challenged.At 0800GMT, Bush had a lead of 125 000 votes; there were more provisional ballots outstanding.”There’s no mathematical path to victory for Kerry in Ohio,” said Nicolle Devenish, spokeswoman for the Bush-Cheney campaign, arguing that Bush would get his share of the provisional ballots.Nationwide, with 10 per cent of the ballots still uncounted, 105 million people had voted — the same as in 2000.Bush was winning the popular vote by around 3,8 million, or 51.3 per cent to Kerry’s 47,8 per cent.A 269-269 tie in the Electoral College would throw the presidential race to the House of Representatives, controlled by the Republicans.In the 34 Senate races, Republicans won Democratic seats in Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Louisiana while Democrats took Republican-held seats in Colorado and Illinois.State Senator Barack Obama won easily in Illinois; in January, he will be the third black US senator since Reconstruction.Eleven gubernatorial contests also were being decided Tuesday, along with 5 800 legislative seats in 44 states.Alongside the White House and congressional races, a full roster of propositions and local offices kept voters busy.Among the notable ballot measures, voters in 11 states approved propositions that would ban gay marriage.In California, voters approved spending US$3 billion on stem-cell research.But all eyes were focused on Kerry’s bid to make Bush the first president voted out of office in the midst of a war.”I’ve given it my all,” Bush said after voting in a firehouse at Crawford, Texas, hoping to avoid being the first wartime president bounced from office.The incumbent hoped to avoid the fate of his father — former President George HW Bush, who was ousted by voters in 1992 after waging war against Iraq and overseeing an ailing economy.Legions of lawyers and election-rights activists watched for signs of voter fraud or disenfranchisement.New lawsuits sought clearer standards to evaluate provisional ballots in Ohio and a longer deadline to count absentee ballots in Florida.While complaints were widespread, they weren’t significant.”So far, it’s no big, but lots of littles,” said elections expert Doug Chapin.Voters were torn over the presidential race, in ways all too familiar.Exit polls suggested that slightly more voters trusted Bush to handle terrorism than Kerry.A majority said the country was safer from terrorism than four years ago, and they overwhelmingly backed Bush.However, among those who said they were very worried about a terrorist strike, Kerry held a slight lead.A majority of voters said things were going poorly in Iraq, and they heavily favoured Kerry.With nearly 1 million jobs lost in Bush’s term, Kerry was favoured by eight of 10 voters who listed the economy as a top issue.The nation’s mood? There was division on that, too.Half said the country was headed in the right direction, a good sign for the incumbent.Voters welcomed an end to the longest, most expensive presidential election on record.”It’s the only way to make the ads stop,” Amanda Karel, 25, said as she waited to vote at a banquet hall in Columbus, Ohio.Both sides spent a combined US$600 million on TV and radio ads, more than twice the total from 2000.Bush won among white men, voters with family incomes above US$100 000 and weekly churchgoers.Three-fourths of white voters who described themselves as born-again Christians or evangelicals supported Bush.The president had hoped to increase his support among this group since 2000, but exit polls suggest there was little change.Kerry retained Gore’s margins among blacks and union households, key parts of the Democratic base.His voters named the economy and Iraq as top issues.One in 10 voters were casting ballots for the first time and fewer than 10 per cent were young voters, hardly the groundswell that experts had predicted.Kerry was favoured by both groups, according to the surveys conducted for The Associated Press by Edison Media Research and Mitofsky International.Kerry’s aides tried to boost turnout in Hispanic areas by having the candidate’s wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, do Spanish-language television interviews.Exit polls showed the Democrat winning the Hispanic vote, but not by as much as Gore in 2000.Bush won Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia and Wyoming.Kerry won California, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington and statewide in Maine.- Nampa-APAfter winning Nevada and pulling within 16 electoral votes of the 270 required for a second term, Bush was laying claim to Ohio’s 20 electoral votes over Kerry’s objections.”We will not base our decision on a concession,” said Bush adviser Dan Bartlett.The Electoral College count was excruciating: Bush won 28 states for 254 votes.Kerry won 18 states plus the District of Columbia for 242 votes.Ceding nothing, Kerry dispatched running mate John Edwards to tell supporters in Boston: “We’ve waited four years for this victory.We can wait one more night.”The remarks were an eerie echo of 2000 when advisers to both Bush and Democrat Al Gore told supporters that the race was too close to call _ setting off a 36-day recount and a Supreme Court ruling that put Bush in office.”We will fight for every vote,” Edwards said, borrowing a line from Gore.Both campaigns considered sending political and legal teams to Ohio, already the scene of dueling lawsuits over provisional ballots.Republicans expanded their majority in the 100-seat Senate, knocking off Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle in a grim night for Democrats.The Republicans also extended its decade-long hold on the 435-seat House of Representatives for another two years, knocking off four veteran Texas Democrats.As for Bush, declaring victory is nothing more than a weapon in political warfare.It has no bearing on who will serve as president a minute past noon Jan.20, 2005, but the White House hopes the tactic will undercut challenges and create a sense of inevitability about Bush’s second term.Not so fast, said Kerry’s team.Democrats were considering sending political and legal teams to Ohio, already the scene of dueling lawsuits over provisional ballots.Inside the Bush campaign, an intense debate waged into the wee hours as some aides said parachuting teams into Ohio would only create a political stalemate in a state Bush hopes he has already won.Bush, 58, won Florida with relative ease this time, while Kerry took New Hampshire from Bush _ the first and perhaps only state to switch parties _ but it has just four electoral votes.In addition to Ohio, results were too close to call in Wisconsin, which has 10 electoral votes, Iowa (7) and New Mexico (5).Bush’s advisers told their boss he had won Ohio, but they nervously awaited confirmation.”I believe I will win, thank you very much,” Bush said while watching results with his family and dog Barney.The holdup was over provisional ballots — those cast by people whose qualifications to vote were challenged.At 0800GMT, Bush had a lead of 125 000 votes; there were more provisional ballots outstanding.”There’s no mathematical path to victory for Kerry in Ohio,” said Nicolle Devenish, spokeswoman for the Bush-Cheney campaign, arguing that Bush would get his share of the provisional ballots.Nationwide, with 10 per cent of the ballots still uncounted, 105 million people had voted — the same as in 2000.Bush was winning the popular vote by around 3,8 million, or 51.3 per cent to Kerry’s 47,8 per cent.A 269-269 tie in the Electoral College would throw the presidential race to the House of Representatives, controlled by the Republicans.In the 34 Senate races, Republicans won Democratic seats in Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Louisiana while Democrats took Republican-held seats in Colorado and Illinois.State Senator Barack Obama won easily in Illinois; in January, he will be the third black US senator since Reconstruction.Eleven gubernatorial contests also were being decided Tuesday, along with 5 800 legislative seats in 44 states.Alongside the White House and congressional races, a full roster of propositions and local offices kept voters busy.Among the notable ballot measures, voters in 11 states approved propositions that would ban gay marriage.In California, voters approved spending US$3 billion on stem-cell research.But all eyes were focused on Kerry’s bid to make Bush the first president voted out of office in the midst of a war.”I’ve given it my all,” Bush said after voting in a firehouse at Crawford, Texas, hoping to avoid being the first wartime president bounced from office.The incumbent hoped to avoid the fate of his father — former President George HW Bush, who was ousted by voters in 1992 after waging war against Iraq and overseeing an ailing economy.Legions of lawyers and election-rights activists watched for signs of voter fraud or disenfranchisement.New lawsuits sought clearer standards to evaluate provisional ballots in Ohio and a longer deadline to count absentee ballots in Florida.While complaints were widespread, they weren’t significant.”So far, it’s no big, but lots of littles,” said elections expert Doug Chapin.Voters were torn over the presidential race, in ways all too familiar.Exit polls suggested that slightly more voters trusted Bush to handle terrorism than Kerry.A majority said the country was safer from terrorism than four years ago, and they overwhelmingly backed Bush.However, among those who said they were very worried about a terrorist strike, Kerry held a slight lead.A majority of voters said things were going poorly in Iraq, and they heavily favoured Kerry.With nearly 1 million jobs lost in Bush’s term, Kerry was favoured by eight of 10 voters who listed the economy as a top issue.The nation’s mood? There was division on that, too.Half said the country was headed in the right direction, a good sign for the incumbent.Voters welcomed an end to the longest, most expensive presidential election on record.”It’s the only way to make the ads stop,” Amanda Karel, 25, said as she waited to vote at a banquet hall in Columbus, Ohio.Both sides spent a combined US$600 million on TV and radio ads, more than twice the total from 2000.Bush won among white men, voters with family incomes above US$100 000 and weekly churchgoers.Three-fourths of white voters who described themselves as born-again Christians or evangelicals supported Bush.The president had hoped to increase his support among this group since 2000, but exit polls suggest there was little change.Kerry retained Gore’s margins among blacks and union households, key parts of the Democratic base.His voters named the economy and Iraq as top issues.One in 10 voters were casting ballots for the first time and fewer than 10 per cent were young voters, hardly the groundswell that experts had predicted.Kerry was favoured by both groups, according to the surveys conducted for The Associated Press by Edison Media Research and Mitofsky International.Kerry’s aides tried to boost turnout in Hispanic areas by having the candidate’s wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, do Spanish-language television interviews.Exit polls showed the Democrat winning the Hispanic vote, but not by as much as Gore in 2000.Bush won Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia and Wyoming.Kerry won California, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington and statewide in Maine.- Nampa-AP

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