Reactions From The World

The English newspaper Guardian writes:

Those outside America, in the chanceries of Europe and beyond, who hoped that this would be a passing phase, like a Florida hurricane that wreaks havoc only to blow over, will instead have to adjust to a different reality. (...) Now that fantasy will be shelved. The White House is not about to ditch the approach of the last four years. Why would it? Despite the mayhem and murder in Iraq, despite the death of more than 1,000 US soldiers and countless (and uncounted) Iraqis, despite the absence of weapons of mass destruction, despite Abu Ghraib, the Bush administration won the approval of the American people. If Bush had lost the neo-conservative project would have been buried forever. But he won, and the neo-cons will welcome that as sweet vindication.

From The Asia Times:

The United States may have gone to the polls as a divided, uncertain, paralyzed-by-fear nation. Today it's still a divided, uncertain, paralyzed-by-fear nation, but now with a clear mandate for the state really to rock the geopolitical boat.
The "most important election of a lifetime" has sent a clear message to the whole world: the face of America in the next four years - barring a Richard Nixon-style impeachment - will be of unilateralism, the "war on terror" possibly progressively escalating into a clash of civilizations. And pay attention to the "axis of evil" hit list - the official and the bootleg. Bush II will attack what it defines as "state terrorism" - Iran, Syria - instead of the global jihadi network. It will continue to rely on Pakistan to "decapitate" the odd "high-value al-Qaeda". It won't engage in diplomacy to address the political causes of terrorism. It won't engage in a cultural and ideological effort to try to counteract the global jihad - especially now that Osama bin Laden and his deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri have changed the rules of the asymmetrical game from a religious clash to a political struggle against imperialism.
Total concentration of right-wing power - legitimized by the popular vote: this is the new neo-conservative dream turned reality. So the road ahead is to flatten the Sunni stronghold of Fallujah in Iraq, bomb Iran because of its supposed nuclear aspirations, depose President Hafez Assad in Syria, crush the Palestinian resistance, and remodel the Middle East by "precision strike" democracy. There will be serious blowback.

Frontpage headline in today's edition of Switzerland's newspaper Blick:

Bush re-elected: Are 62 mio. Americans simply stupid?

Democrats Ponder Future

Senator John Kerry's "defeat has Democrats grappling with whether the party must make fundamental changes in philosophy to recapture the White House," the Wall Street Journal reports.
The Washington Post says many Democrats say they "need to restore the language of values to the party's rhetoric and to try to reconnect with people of faith."
Newsweek notes "the losing side always goes through a period of wailing and teeth-gnashing after an election, as the various factions grab for power in anticipation of the next election. It will be especially intense after two narrow, bruising losses."
Meanwhile, Dan Conley has re-launched his blog with this question: "How many elections will it take for Democrats to figure out that we don't know how to pick winning Presidential candidates?"
And Marshall Wittman warns Democrats not to wait for the inevitable scandals that emerge in second term presidencies. "Organization is fine -- ideas and message are far superior."
(Via Political Wire)

The Redneck American won

The Los Angeles Times analysis the results of the presidential election:

According to a nationwide Times exit poll of voters leaving polling places, more than half of Bush's voters cited moral issues as a principal reason for their support —
— more than any other issue, including even terrorism. In fact, morals trumped terrorism by seven percentage points in the Los Angeles Times poll.(...)

By contrast, nearly half of Kerry voters named the economy as their top concern — nearly double the number that picked moral issues.(...)

Just as in 2000, Bush on Tuesday mobilized a massive coalition of culturally conservative Americans, centered on married families, rural voters, and people who own guns or attend church regularly. Although Bush continued to enjoy overwhelming support from his conservative base, he had made only limited progress at expanding his reach among voters beyond it.

Kerry's coalition represented the mirror image of Bush's: He ran best among singles, urban voters and those who don't own guns or attend church regularly. Kerry also received a big boost from first-time voters, most of them young people, who tilted sharply in his direction, the Times Poll found.

Stand And Fight

Great post-election article in The Nation magazine. Excerpt:

Progressives, who were on the defensive two years ago, added millions of new voters as well, and tapped a new energy and activism that will last far beyond November 2nd. The extremism and incompetence of this rightwing cabal has sharpened our focus to a razor's edge. But for me, one of the fundamental questions about this campaign has been whether you could defeat a terrible but clear incumbent without a substantive policy alternative, and this time at least we couldn't. Kerry offered intelligence, a return to fiscal discipline, a bulwark against a rightwing court, and a health plan that few understood. He failed to use the moral message of "Two Americas" to erode Bush's edge. He mounted a late challenge to Bush's disastrous war in Iraq-- but he also talked about "staying the course." That wasn't enough of a coherent positive, populist or moral message to complement the impressive mechanics. We've got to build a politics of conviction, of passion and substance. It's there but it needs to be built and fought for. And the lesser lessons, if that's the big one, are:

1) People really are confused and manipulated (we have a mainstream media that continues to focus on irrelevant stories--Swift Boat, Rathergate and all the rest--abrogating its responsibility to focus on what's important and significant; and too much of it keeps giving head instead of keeping its head.) This makes an expansion of the progressive media echo chamber all the more important; And,

2) Neoliberalism is broken beyond repair and people need to be offered a real alternative not just despair at this point. This is truly a non-violent Civil War between those who think government is basically screwed up and that they're on their own, and those who believe....what exactly? We've got to be much clearer on the latter.

But this morning, we woke to a country at war with itself--as well as Al Qaeda. As America fights Islamic fundamentalism abroad, progressives are re-fighting the Enlightenment here at home. (The two new Senators from Oklahoma and South Carolina are leaders of our homegrown Taliban.)

This is war at a very deep level about how this country will proceed and this war isn't over, it's just renewed. …

The American Right understands we are two nations, and cares less about healing than about holding power. A Bush wins forces us to understand, in a very deep way, what that means for us and for the values and institutions we care about. Not that they are wrong, or rejected or weighed down by "identity politics" or some other rationale for surrender. But that they are in desperate danger and we need to start thinking along the lines of how to resist, delay, deflect, oppose and ultimately defeat the assault on our freedoms. As progressives, we will need to marshal at least as much dedication, purpose, strategic focus and tactical ruthlessness …

And we should be thinking about the indispensable work of resistance. We need to identify legislative and administrative choke points where Bush's initiatives can be blocked, and make clear to both legislators and their constituents that the days of go-along in the interest of non-partisan comity have to stop. …

In the end, this election is about what kind of people we are, what kind of country we'll be. Half of the electorate dissents from Bushism. The election still represents an expression of the strength of opposition to the radical and reckless course Bush has followed, despite the ugly campaign.

Unlike 1972, when Democrats were wiped out everywhere--in 2004 there is an emerging progressive infrastructure capable of standing and fighting. Progressives should build on those structures put in place in this last cycle and redouble their commitment to economic justice, peace and environmental movements that can make real change.

It's Rove again

Karl Rove 'was behind the risky tactic of essentially ignoring undecided voters to concentrate on motivating the president's base - socially conservative Republicans,' Scripps Howard News Service reports. "It was Rove who developed 'The Final Five Days,' a plan to unleash a flood of Bush volunteers in the election's closing hours and contact every identified potential supporter in the campaign's massive database. It was this get-out-the-vote effort, the most ambitious in GOP history, that swung the balance in Bush's favor." Furthermore, it was Rove who "early on determined that the best way to defeat the Massachusetts senator, or any other Democrat, was to lacerate the other guy until he was no longer perceived as a credible option."

It's Over

Kerry has conceded. In his speech he concluded that he could not win the presidency, after realising that the outstanding votes in Ohio were not enough to enable him to carry the state. He also said:

In the days ahead, we must find common cause. We must join in common effort without remorse or recrimination, without anger or rancor. America is in need of unity and longing for a larger measure of compassion.
I hope President Bush will advance those values in the coming years.

The wrong guy won - against all common sense. What is it with this America?

John Edwards: We Will Fight

"A long night, but we've waited four years for this victory we can wait one more night!
We promised you that every vote would count and every vote will be counted. We will fight for every vote. You deserve no less."
Great! Just what I wanted to hear. Now I can go to sleep.

Election Day Is Over - No Final Results

Deja vu! It's 2000 all over again!

Projections are outstanding in the presidential election for only a handful of states with Ohio - with most of the votes counted but still too close to call - being the key. George W. Bush is ahead in projected Electoral College votes but the Kerry camps refuses to concede. "The vote count in Ohio has not been completed," Mary Beth Cahill, the Kerry campaign manager, said. "There are more than 250,000 remaining votes to be counted. We believe when they are, John Kerry will win Ohio."

The current results:
Bush:
249 electoral votes
54,846,554 popular votes (51%)

Kerry:
242 electoral votes
51,157,718 (48%)

For all the updated election results check out this great interactive map by C-Span.

Deciding The Fate Of The World

The English newspaper Independent writes:

From the fate of the Middle East, to the global scourge of terror and the threat of nuclear proliferation, to the economic and financial future of the world's greatest debtor nation ­ on all these issues, the next occupant of the Oval Office must make decisions that will shape history. If that were not enough, the country, which chooses today between John Kerry and George Bush, is as divided as at any time in its history.

Expensive Elections

The Center for Responsive Politics projects that the 2004 presidential and congressional elections will cost a combined $3.9 billion. That figure marks a 30 percent increase over the $3 billion that was spent on the 2000 elections. For the presidential race, the group expects both parities and their allied advocacy groups will shell out $1.2 billion.

Michael Moore To Film Voting

Documentary filmmaker Michael Moore announced that he is dispatching 1 200 people to literally watch the polls in Tuesday's presidential election in the United States. The volunteers will be outfitted with video cameras to record any irregularities that might occur in the battleground states of Florida and Ohio. Moore said he was sending out the observers because he was worried that some voters might be intimidated and their votes suppressed.

Bush: No More Years

Jim Treacher from Wall Street Journal lists ten reasons why he's not voting for George W. Bush. Among others:
- Do you really think it's a good idea to be Hitler, George? Hitler killed millions of people and his approval ratings are in the toilet. Why can't you be somebody people like? Regis, maybe, or the Prophet Mohammed. Anybody but Hitler! Being Hitler = BAD IDEA.
- Two words: You. Are. Dumb.
- When Karl Rove used the remote-control device implanted in your upper back to force you to murder Iraqi babies and American soldiers for oil and/or no reason because Saddam was mean to your dad, plus what about the WMDs you lost after you lied about them even being there in the first place, and then Rove tried to make everybody think your Thanksgiving turkey wasn't plastic by planting fake documents about your military service and forcing Dan Rather to say "Sorry, I guess" on national TV, did you really think we wouldn't figure it out?
- Where's Osama? C'mon, Shrub, we all know you've got him in some secret Ashcroft prison and he's running around loose in the world, plus also besides which everybody just saw him live on tape giving the dramatic reading of "Fahrenheit 9/11" that the Halliburton PR department wrote for him to swing the election your way. Well???
- I can no longer afford the premiums on my falling-sky insurance. Adios, chimp!

Bin Laden: Goal is to bankrupt U.S.

The Arabic-language network Al-Jazeera released a full transcript today of the most recent videotape from Osama bin Laden in which the head of al Qaeda said his group's goal is to force America into bankruptcy. The total U.S. national debt is more than $7 trillion. The U.S. federal deficit was $413 billion in 2004, according to the Treasury Department.

Battleground Ohio

A new Ohio Poll has President Bush leads 50.1 to 49.2 for his opponent.

Kerry Leades in Florida

Must have been hard for Fox News.com to report that. According to the administration friendly TV network Kerry leads Bush by five points in Florida, and by two points nationally, 48-46 percent.
Pollster Zogby considers the presidential race in Florida a tie. Zogby's electoral votes - without the sunshine state: 264 votes for Kerry, 247 votes for Bush.

Youth Vote Could Be Big

The latest from Zogby:

Razor thin margin here, if there is one at all. The President still does not get above 48%. The real news here is that 18-29 year olds favor Kerry 64% to 35%, with 1% for Nader—and 0% undecided. When I see a low undecided number it means that group is going to vote. I am factoring this group to be 12% of the total vote -- but it could be higher. Each point it goes higher translates into two-thirds of a percent for Kerry -- if these numbers hold up.
Otherwise, each candidate continues to do well among his base constituency. Bush leads by 5 among Catholics and there is again a double-digit gender gap.
Today for the first time, terrorism outranks Iraq as the number two issue.

Final Gallup numbers: It's A Tie

From Gallup:

Two days before the election, the final CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll shows a dead heat in the presidential race, with President George W. Bush and Sen. John Kerry each receiving 49% support among likely voters in the final allocated estimate. Independent candidate Ralph Nader garners 1% of the vote, and all other candidates an additional 1%.
The poll was conducted Oct. 29-31 among 2,014 national adults and includes 1,573 likely voters, and was weighted to reflect an estimated voter turnout of 60%. The final numbers also reflect Gallup's judgment of how undecided voters will cast their ballots.
Before allocation of the undecided vote, Gallup's likely voter model shows Bush ahead by two points, 49% to 47%, while the results among all registered voters show Kerry with a two-point lead, 48% to 46%.

(Via AmericaBlog)

Polls Suggest Higher Voter Turnout Likely

From Associated Press:

Voter turnout is likely to be higher than in recent presidential elections - especially among young voters - in a very close race, weekend polls suggest. Those polls suggest the race is very close nationally with some polls showing President Bush and Democratic Sen. John Kerry even and another showing Bush slightly ahead. (...)
More than eight in 10 registered voters in the Pew poll, 84 percent, describe this election as especially important, compared with 67 percent in 2000 and 61 percent in 1996.