The country is 50/50

[walterick]

How does PR.com fare?

[mtbbrian]

I don't care for "Exit Polls"!
Elections are and should be won on votes, not "exit polls"!
Brian

[adina]

I hate the idea of handing a war off to a president who didn't make the decision to enter it. However it ends, I think the next president is going to take the flack for it, be it Kerry or Bush. I think since Bush pushed to go to war, he should be held accountable for the outcome.


But then again, I don't agree with a lot of Bush's other views....

[Speed]

How does PR.com fare?

All the polls which showed the candidates neck and neck (or Kerry leading - Gallop), today are suddenly and mysteriously showing Bush 51% and Kerry 48%. Curious.

One explanation I've heard is that they last poll before the election is the only one people remember, and they've got to get that one right in order to maintain any credibility. At any rate, it's above my pay grade.

Remember, statistics don't lie, but liars use statistics. Poll numbers don't mean a thing. In the end, it's the votes that matter.

Hope everyone went out and did their civic duty.

[berrywise]

it's the votes that matter.

Well at least it is the electoral votes that do anyhow. Sorry four years later and I still can't get over it. Someday....Someday....oh wait I'm hoping that day will be tomorrow.

[Lava Lamp]

How does PR.com fare?

My daughter's second grade class voted 16 to 9 in favor of Bush.

[another view]

Well at least it is the electoral votes that do anyhow. Sorry four years later and I still can't get over it. Someday....Someday....oh wait I'm hoping that day will be tomorrow.

Four years ago wasn't the only time in history that the President elected didn't get the popular vote; it's happened a couple of times but not in any of our lifetimes.

[Clemmie]

I don't trust Polls, or care much for pollsters (especially the on the phone variety). As a result, I deliberately give them the wrong answer when they bug me - and I'm sure I'm not alone in this practice.

Just once in my lifetime, I would love to see an election that pre-polled at 50-50 come out as a decisive landslide - just to prove my point. Will it be today? We shall see.......

[Dzerzhinski46]

Dear All,

I think that the best outcome in this election would be a descisive win for who ever got it. No matter who you voted for, I think we all hope that this one will not be ambiguous. It would be wonderful if who ever won, won desicively. It is all I hope and pray for in this election.

Dzerzhinski

[megan]

I sure did my civic duty. I got up at 6 a.m. (OUCH!) and got to the polls by 6:35. No matter who you vote for, and no matter how divisive and polarized the campaigns were, it kind of makes me tingly and excited that it inspired so many citizens to get off their duffs and practive what this country is about.

Megan

[Jezz]

Im in aus and its plastered all over the place, but to be honest not many of us down under give a s&%#!!!!!

[92135011]

HEY JESS!

I'm Canadian.
If you dont wanna see this stuff then why did you reply?

Topic: The country is 50/50 is a pretty good indication what this is about.
Even if you stumbled upon it...DONT ANSWER!

It's just that simple.

[walterick]

with Megan and others in that I am elated to see so much turn-out for this election! There's been an electricity in the Democractic groups I've been in this year and if the same is true of Republican groups I think this election will see the highest turnout in years! That is more exciting to me at the moment than who wins. I'm watching CNN etc. and 2-3 hours AFTER the polls closed in Florida and Ohio, there still lines going around the buildings with people waiting to get in to vote.

How you can not love that?!

I heard a story on the radio today about a woman in line to vote who at 65 years of age had never voted in an election. She felt called to vote for the first time in her life because she felt this was a very important election. I think most other Americans believe that, too.

BTW I didn't mean for this poll to be deterministic, but just for entertainment purposes So let's all laugh!

I think the important thing here is more people are voting (hopefully), which means more people are engaging the machinery of this democractic process. When more people are making choices, accountability goes up. The decisions that are made with regards to our government are being made by more and more of the populace, so responsibility is increased. If we vote-in a bad president, more people are forced to say "I did that!" and the magic of "choice" becomes apparent in our lives. Apathy disappears, accuontability increases and most importantly, we learn from having made a choice. Sitting on the couch is not making a choice, insofar as you have not chosen one candidate or the other. Without making a choice, one loses the ability to see how reality works. Making choices, even the wrong ones, we're engaging the process of life and the next time around we'll be better inclined to choice wisely. But without ever having reached out, without ever having tried we cannot say that we've learned. In this, I see this election as a good thing

Just my thoughts. Feel free to take as you will.

Rick

[Lionheart]

How does PR.com fare?

As of this post 61% of the Ohio precincts have reported. No president ever got elected without winning Ohio, and Bush leads comfortably in Ohio. If all other states stay the same, Ohio will be the difference for Kerry, without it, no hope at all. With Ohio, Bush wins comfortably. Just an update in case no one is tracking this state by state.
No matter who wins, we all lose. The winner gets to inherit a nation widely divided, as if we need a repeat of 4 years ago. This is what really bites. I hope the nation rallies behind whoever wins, because nothing will be gained if we stay divided. Just my two cents.

[92135011]

As of this post 61% of the Ohio precincts have reported. No president ever got elected without winning Ohio, and Bush leads comfortably in Ohio. If all other states stay the same, Ohio will be the difference for Kerry, without it, no hope at all. With Ohio, Bush wins comfortably. Just an update in case no one is tracking this state by state.
No matter who wins, we all lose. The winner gets to inherit a nation widely divided, as if we need a repeat of 4 years ago. This is what really bites. I hope the nation rallies behind whoever wins, because nothing will be gained if we stay divided. Just my two cents.

Not that much comfort.
Only 2 points at the moment

[Lionheart]

update:
The gap is closing on Bush in Ohio, with 86% reporting. A win for Bush pretty much wraps it up. A win for Kerry makes it really exciting. I might even stay up all night to track the election, but probably not. I've got an 8am to 8pm day scheduled tomorrow, and my patients probably wouldn't appreciate a sleepy dentist working on them. The election may not be decided even by tomorrow, with half a million absentee votes yet to count in Florida, and also in Ohio, but I can't seem to find anywhere what that number might be. The news stations have all given Florida to Bush, despite the absentee votes. Exciting night still, at least until they give Ohio to Bush, then it'll be all over.

[walterick]

will have a hard time following Bush unless he performs and radical tranformation of ideologies. I don't expect that to happen, so I, too look forward rather dismally to the next 4 - or 8 - years.

I am conceeding as well at 1am eastern time that it doesn't look good for Kerry in Ohio - and henceforth hs bid for the presidency - so I am going to bed.

Another topic of interest:
In watching the talking heads playing with maps this night, I've seen the division of Republican/Democratic in this nation with a clarity I've never seen it before. It's always been there, but it seems exaggerated tonight. Looking at voting maps of this country, COUNTY by COUNTY, it apears to me that the rural areas are voting Republican, and the urban areas are voting Democratic. Almost without exception.

Anyone else care to comment on this?

(and apologies to all the folks up here on this board who aren't a US citizen. It'll be over soon, promise )

Rick

[Lionheart]

will have a hard time following Bush unless he performs and radical tranformation of ideologies. I don't expect that to happen, so I, too look forward rather dismally to the next 4 - or 8 - years.

I am conceeding as well at 1am eastern time that it doesn't look good for Kerry in Ohio - and henceforth hs bid for the presidency - so I am going to bed.

Another topic of interest:
In watching the talking heads playing with maps this night, I've seen the division of Republican/Democratic in this nation with a clarity I've never seen it before. It's always been there, but it seems exaggerated tonight. Looking at voting maps of this country, COUNTY by COUNTY, it apears to me that the rural areas are voting Republican, and the urban areas are voting Democratic. Almost without exception.

Anyone else care to comment on this?

(and apologies to all the folks up here on this board who aren't a US citizen. It'll be over soon, promise )

Rick

Yes, I too noticed the pattern when I looked at each state broken up by county. I live in the extremely rural foothills of the Sierras, where the atmosphere is very strongly Republican. I am a Democrat in a sea of Republicans here, but I've more or less become accustomed to being branded a communist and liberal, among other things. I just don't understand why the mindset of the Reps here is so closed, so black and white, when many of the issues at stake are anything but black and white. It almost feels like the racial prejudice I grew up with being ethnically Asian in a predominantly redneck lower middleclass neighborhood.

[Liz]

Hooray for Freedom.

God bless America!

Liz

[Speed]

with Megan and others in that I am elated to see so much turn-out for this election! There's been an electricity in the Democractic groups I've been in this year and if the same is true of Republican groups I think this election will see the highest turnout in years! That is more exciting to me at the moment than who wins. I'm watching CNN etc. and 2-3 hours AFTER the polls closed in Florida and Ohio, there still lines going around the buildings with people waiting to get in to vote.

How you can not love that?!

I heard a story on the radio today about a woman in line to vote who at 65 years of age had never voted in an election. She felt called to vote for the first time in her life because she felt this was a very important election. I think most other Americans believe that, too.

BTW I didn't mean for this poll to be deterministic, but just for entertainment purposes So let's all laugh!

I think the important thing here is more people are voting (hopefully), which means more people are engaging the machinery of this democractic process. When more people are making choices, accountability goes up. The decisions that are made with regards to our government are being made by more and more of the populace, so responsibility is increased. If we vote-in a bad president, more people are forced to say "I did that!" and the magic of "choice" becomes apparent in our lives. Apathy disappears, accuontability increases and most importantly, we learn from having made a choice. Sitting on the couch is not making a choice, insofar as you have not chosen one candidate or the other. Without making a choice, one loses the ability to see how reality works. Making choices, even the wrong ones, we're engaging the process of life and the next time around we'll be better inclined to choice wisely. But without ever having reached out, without ever having tried we cannot say that we've learned. In this, I see this election as a good thing

Just my thoughts. Feel free to take as you will.

Rick

How very true. I once heard of a father passing the business to his son.
He told him, "Make good decisions".
The son asked, "How do you make good decisions?"
Father, "Experience."
Son, "How do you get experience?"
Father, "By making bad decisions."

If you learn from your mistakes, then all is not lost.

I agree with you that more people engaging in the democratic process is a very good thing. Right, wrong, or otherwise, we're gaining experience.

[Speed]

"it apears to me that the rural areas are voting Republican, and the urban areas are voting Democratic. Almost without exception."

Nothing new there my friend. In fact, if you saw the red and blue states after the 2000 elections, you saw the much the same thing. Your highly populated, heavily industrialized states went for Gore, while the more rural, agriculturial states went for Bush. That's a general statement mind you, but it holds true for the most part. Interesting demographic though.

Remember, I'm old, (ancient compared to you), and I've been voting since 1980 (before some of you were born!) As your signature line used to read "I"ve been around the block a time or two". Just an old guy putting in his two cents worth.

;-)

[mtbbrian]

Hooray for Freedom.

God bless America!

Liz

Well said Liz!
It's a beautiful thing isn't.
The right to vote for whom ever you please!
God Bless America!

Brian

[yaronsh]

This election has put a bit of a dent in JFK's famous statement about fooling people. The Bush machine has succeeded in making this election more about cultural values, more about Gay Civil Unions and abortion, than about salient issues like Iraq, security, and the economy. The Kerry camp, meanwhile, ran a lousy, wimpy campaign.

It was an uphill battle ever since Kerry was shoved down our (Democrats') throats as our candidate by so-called Democrats in conservative Republican states, with the help of mainstream right-wing media. The primaries were effectively over before Super Tuesday. Kerry was quite a gift to Bush, with his liberal Senate record on one hand, and his obvious intent to run *from* that record rather than *on* that record on the other hand, as well as his intent to try to run a "nice" campaign. On the flipside, the Republican Party, true to form, ran a nasty, vicious campaign, full of glib lies and attempts at character assasinations. There are few leaders in the Western world who lie as glibly as the current Republican leadership. Even Clinton couldn't lie much without weaving a very tangled web for himself.

Team Bush will now think they have a carte blanche. I said this four years ago, and I say this again with increased gravity: God help us - brace yourselves for the next four years. To mangle Louis XIV's soundbite: Apres demain, le deluge.

Sorry, I've been holding my tongue since Super Tuesday in the interest of a unified Democratic front.

The US needs to move to a provincial system. It is ridiculous for the Deep South and Midwest to be making social policy for us in New England, for example. But until we get there, maybe it's time for me to advocate for states' rights. I can't believe I'm saying this, but maybe the Libertarians got it right on this particular issue.

By the way, regarding elections before 2000 in which the popular vs. electoral results didn't jive, I'd think there are at least a couple of people here who may remember Kennedy vs. Nixon...

[adina]

On the plus side, Bush only has 4 more years, and won't be able to run for re-election

[Gerry Widen]

Isn't there a brother in Florida that will be available to keep the royal family line going?