President Bush Convinced Of Victory, Gives Kerry Time To Consider
WTOP News in DC is reporting that at 5:41 am eastern time White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card announced victory for the President. Citing a report from Ohio Secretary of State Blackwell that Bush’s lead is “statistically insurmountable”, he called Ohio’s electoral votes for the President, along with Nevada and New Mexico, putting the President over th 270 electoral votes needed for victory.
| :::::::: | 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. |
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For Kerry to win, he needs to do over twice as well in the provisional ballots as he did in the best county he won in Ohio. By my math, and using the numbers listed, the provisional ballots would need to need to break 76.3% for Kerry in a state where the votes broke 51% for Bush, 48% for Kerry. To be hoping for that kind of break is something I’d call delusional. And Kerry’s chances cannot survive Ohio’s loss.
I’d also like to point out that President Bush has taken the popular vote – something the Democrats have loudly pointed to in the past four years – by 3.6 million votes. He has, in fact, won a true majority of the American public’s vote. While it’s not the basis for the election of the President according to the Constitution, it was the major argument 4 years ago in justifying Al Gore’s legal challenges to the voting. No such justification exists here today. It’s time to concede, Senator Kerry. Do the right thing and avoid the damage this will cause to the credibility of elections in general. Be the hero you’ve claimed to be and put the clear will of the majority of this nation’s citizens above the desires of both you and your backers. It’s time to concede.
