[orionblamblam]

> Bush's margin of victory in the state that put him over the top in his re-election bid will be about 119,000 votes smaller than the unofficial margin of 136,000, the county election board figures showed. That means Kerry drew closer by about 17,000 votes.

Wait. What? If the margin was originally 136k, and it's now 119K smaller, doesn;t that mean the margin is now 17k? Or are they saying that the original margin of 136K was reduced by 17K, and is now 119k?

[fromunda]

It should be:

"Bush's margin of victory in the state that put him over the top in his re-election bid will be about 119,000 votes, smaller than the unofficial margin of 136,000, the county election board figures showed."

See what a difference a comma can make!!!

[TheBigB]

I imagine an inadvertantly omitted comma after the word "votes. As in:

Bush's margin of victory in the state that put him over the top in his re-election bid will be about 119,000 votes, smaller than the unofficial margin of 136,000, the county election board figures showed. That means Kerry drew closer by about 17,000 votes.

[Zeroisanumber]

Wait. What? If the margin was originally 136k, and it's now 119K smaller, doesn't that mean the margin is now 17k? Or are they saying that the original margin of 136K was reduced by 17K, and is now 119k?

It must be 119k. 17k would be less than the 2% margin quoted in the article.