Posted on 11/03/2004 3:25:57 AM PST by Happy2BMe
WASHINGTON Nov 3, 2004 President Bush crept close to re-election early Wednesday, leading challenger John Kerry in a campaign cliffhanger framed by war in Iraq and joblessness at home. Ohio held the key, stirring echoes of Florida in 2000, but this time Bush's advantage was substantial.
With a majority of the popular vote in hand, the Republican president planned to declare victory early Wednesday. "We are convinced that President Bush has won re-election," White House chief of staff Andrew Card said shortly before dawn in the East.
Ceding nothing, Kerry went to bed without conceding. "We will fight for every vote," his running mate, Sen. John Edwards, told supporters in Boston, where he and the four-term Massachusetts senator waited out the late, long count.
Card said Bush not only won a second term but Republicans added "to our majority in the House and to our majority in the Senate."
As Bush made plans to declare victory, his high command dispatched a 10-person political and legal team to Ohio in the event Kerry triggered a Florida-like fight. Card said Bush delayed his own public statement to "give Senator Kerry the respect of more time to reflect on the results of this election."
That was a veiled request for Kerry to bow out gracefully, and avoid the rancor that accompanied a 36-day recount in Florida four years ago.
That margin was small, but Bush's lead in Ohio is substantial Card called it "statistically insurmountable, even after provisional ballots are considered."
With Bush leading by 145,000 votes and roughly 190,000 yet to be counted, one top Kerry adviser said the Democrat's chances of winning Ohio, and with it the White House, were difficult at best.
Democrats will be leaving the Democrat party like rats jumping off a burning ship.
Sounds like the understatement of the millennium
Crystal Y'Barbo of Nacogodoches, Texas, front right, cheers as the crowd watches election returns early Wednesday, Nov. 3, 2004, at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington.
Where do they get their info that there are 190,000 votes to be counted? I haven't seen that anywhere before this article.
Declare victory Mr. President and move on..
If we considered voter fraud akin to treason and made it a capital crime, we'd have less of it...
I'm guessin' he'll do that today.....
They forgot about the price of tea in China
A little damn late, isn't it??
The Rats have had several hours to tamper with the ballots already! Why weren't these people sent immediately?
What, 2 AM is too early for the $400/hour lawyers to get to work?
The Dims are still manufacturing fake votes. Pick a number, they can come up with it.
The Ohio SecState website says only 130,000 or so provisional ballots
A "10 PERSON LEGAL TEAM"???
What the hell are they thinking? Kerry is sending HUNDREDS of lawyers to Ohio.
There is compelling evidence of fraud. Just from my observations last night, Kucinich's district reported 1.54% reporting and wasn't updated for 3 hours on the SOS website. Then there is the absentee/provisional issue that we didn't bother appealing due to our comfortable lead, and then their is are the provisionals from Franklin County - the county with more registered voters than demographically possible.
Could get ugly - I like it.
These rats are too stupid to leave a sinking ship....thats why it's 2000 all over again.
I'd be very surprised if there weren't already GOP lawyers in Ohio and they've been there for some time now. Think about the lawsuits that the GOP has already been dealing with there before the election. This article wants us to believe they are just now sending lawyers to Ohio - and only 10 of them? I doubt it.
Simple vote fraud could remain a felony but large scale attempts to manufacture, mutilate, invalidate, or destroy ballots should be considered a capital offense.
It IS an unconstitutional attempt to overthrow the government elected officials. It is an act of sedition. Treason, as defined in the constitution, requires aiding an enemy and occurring in wartime.
Voter fraud of any kind ought to be considered a capital offense period.
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