[LS]

One can be objective without becoming overconfident. I think the "re-elect" numbers are meaningless at this point, because people just don't think about an election two years out. The number NOW to look at is approval, and I'm telling you, it will be a landslide.

I'm confident Bush will take Iowa, Minn., NM, Wisconsin, and Oregon without much effort. He lost three of those states by a TOTAL of about 30,000 votes. Moreover, Zogby found that the "early call" of Bush cost him 1 million votes NATIONALLY. Easily, that could have by itself cost him those three states.

Anything can happen, and yes, we all will work hard, but this one ain't gonna be close and the issue is, can the Dems keep it from causing their state and local tickets to go down the tubes too?

[Pubbie]

"Moreover, Zogby found that the "early call" of Bush cost him 1 million votes NATIONALLY. Easily, that could have by itself cost him those three states."

Also remember that, until 2002, the Republican GOTV effort had been very mediocre, while Democrat GOTV has been EXCELLENT for many decades.

But now that we learned GOTV in the 2002 election, we should be able to greatly improve our performance.

Remember a BIG chunk of the population does not vote, and even if a party only increases it's turnout by 2%, that is usually good enough to tip an election.

[GraniteStateConservative]

Zogby said the DUI report cost Bush 1 million votes (1% of the vote). Are you sure he said 1 million for the early call?

[lepton]

He lost three of those states by a TOTAL of about 30,000 votes.

And they were challengeable. That he and his DIDN'T challenge them betrays the Dem-Gore argument that Bush would have done the same thing in Florida as Gore did betrays it for the lie it was.