You know me not to be a whinner. The election as far as I'm concerned is over and Bush won according to the voting tally. I think Kerry should concede and lets move on.
However, I will like to say that it is Ironic that it came down to Ohio where the manufacturer of the voting machines used in that state guaranteed that he will make sure Bush Jr wins Ohio. Go figure!! Do you think Democrats will speak to that? Hell No. They had the information long before the election, they should have challenged the use of those machines that do not have papers needed in case of recounts but they did not. That is what happens to a wimp.... they lost.l
As you rightly pointed out Kerry's campaign made a few blunders which cost him the election.
I agree with you, Chiboy, Anaedo and others that the electoral map of this country is tilting massively to the right every election, the Democrats needs to go back to the drawing board and come back with a winning formula.
Its over Democrats, Republicans and Independents lets move on to other issues especially issues concerning our BELOVED BIAFRA!!
___________________ BIAFRA MUST RISE AGAIN. LONG LIVE BIAFRA!! Posts: 1080 | From: California, USA. | Registered: Oct 2002
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Bush and his global and philosophical view: Are we witnessing the Reincarnation of Reagan?
With Bush’s win, a few streaks were broken. He would be the first son of a former president who won a second term. The other case was John Adams and his son John Quincy Adams who both won only one term as president.
The streak that says that whenever the Redskins win their last game before the Election Day, the incumbent wins, or that if the Redskins lose or draw, the incumbent loses has also been broken.
Another streak that has been broken is the streak that holds that whenever the Dow loses 0.5% of its value in the month of October before the Election day, then the challenger wins or the incumbent loses. It is interesting to note that with the news of Bush’s victory gradually filtering through the waves, the stocks are rising. What it all means is open to interpretation, but like other investors, I am happy with that news.
If you are somewhat religious, you might as well say that God knows best, that man proposes but God disposes, and that ultimately the fact that Bush won, contrary to these trends is that God was in the detail. I will not challenge your personal convictions at all.
I guess we shall have to suspend any argument for the abolition of this anachronistic Electoral College system—unique as it is—for another day.
Kerry made some tactical mistakes earlier, but overall has fought the good fight against a well dug in incumbency apparatus and aquitted himself remarkably well in my books.
He should congratulate his supporters for their efforts and urge them to offer their support to the winner so the Nation can move on, until the next one.
All in all, this was one encounter where for once I felt the democrats tried a lot harder to stand up for themselves.
PATH TO RECOVERY, A LAYMAN'S VIEW
I hope for their sake, the Dems as a party take stock and start their homework immediately. Four key areas they could start working on would be:
Recultivation of a more center right core following of local mafiosi (aka influential ward-level grassroots bosses). In the south and to the Midwest (immediately within and beyond the Mason dixon line) this was clearly lacking for Kerry but may not have been a challenge for Howard Dean.
Cultivation of and recruitment of Candidates with Kerry-like tenacity but Clinton/Bush-like charm and charisma. If Howard Dean and John Edwards desire, they probably could take over the baton. especially if Dean learnt his lesson not to appear too overexuberantly combative scaring the hell out of genteel type conservatives. Hilary Clinton even with Bill at her side, may alienate rural conservative types and make an easy target for scaremongers who may seek to portray a feminazi image of her, except of course she assembles a good war team.
Cultivation of and recruitment of aggressive, scrappy, highly skilled and tenaciously motivated strategists to help the party anticipate future battlefronts and strategies for winning them, considering their disadvantageous minority status. For example, when Tom Delay moved in on Texas to gerrymander its districts to the perpertual political advantage of the house Republicans at the national level, the Dems were caught napping. Also while it was the Republicans that rigged Florida, this time around they were the ones crying out the loudest about potential rigging and using that excuse to insert their agents of voter intimidation and it seems that the Dems, while prepared to send in lawyers in case of a repeat of Florida were again flat footedly fighting the last war.
Finally Republican secretaries of each state appear to be well informed of what is expected of each of them by the party apparatus, be they Black or be they White. To this end, the outright identification of what democratic constituencies to wreak havoc upon while using smoke and mirrors deception to appear legitimate, and the skillfull use of delay tactics to discourage Dems from challenge after the damage is done has been mastered like an artform.
If the Dems fail to observe their position under the circumstances above, I'm afraid that the only prayer they have to galvanize the nation around their issues and retake majority status ever, would be if martians landed on earth and chose to join the Republican party.
___________________ YA CAIN'T KEEP A GOOD MAN DOWN :) Posts: 1182 | From: TEXAS | Registered: Oct 2001
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The most important thing is that the great American people have had their say. The victory margin is quite convincing as well. However, I don't see where the world goes from here as both the terrorists and the big governments that claim to fight them do not care about the rest of us.
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Let me say this, much as the election did not go your (our) way, I am proud for your sense of civic, for getting involved. It shows someone who is dedicated and cares about the cause he believes in, which was to change the system for the better. Sadly, the democrats as I have continuously stated are too slow to understand the need for fighting fire with fire or even go back to the drawing board. On the brighter side, with this loss you would again dedicate your full time to the Igbo freedom a la BIAFRA without any distractions. In behalf of my Igbo folks and a few others who value democratic ideals, let me say without stuttering that we are proud of you. Your convictions and tenacity especially to stick to the bitter end is highly recommendable and the grace with which you advised for us to move on.
Kerry and Kerry alone lost this election he took a lot for granted. No doubt Dean would have done a lot more damage with his straight shooting style than Kerry. Nde ewo, nna!
___________________ BIAFRA: The land of my ancestors now, yesterday and always. So it will be! Posts: 2482 | From: Ala Igbo | Registered: Apr 2004
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.......Your convictions and tenacity especially to stick to the bitter end is highly recommendable and the grace with which you advised for us to move on. Nde ewo, nna!
MeBiafran, Seconded.
Well put indeed! my congratulations also go to my brother NwaBiafra for sticking with his conviction and having the grace to move on.
___________________ YA CAIN'T KEEP A GOOD MAN DOWN :) Posts: 1182 | From: TEXAS | Registered: Oct 2001
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Let me assure you that my full dedication now goes back to Biafran issues, which I must say I neglected a bit while concentrating on the United States Politics. But and back and ready and able to speak out as usual on any and all Biafran issues to comes up be it in this forum or behind the scenes. You can always count on me to do that.
Dalu uno na bu.
___________________ BIAFRA MUST RISE AGAIN. LONG LIVE BIAFRA!! Posts: 1080 | From: California, USA. | Registered: Oct 2002
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By Dan Balz and Mike Allen Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, November 3, 2004; 12:03 PM
John F. Kerry conceded the presidential election in a telephone call to President Bush at 11 a.m., ending an overnight drama of counting and calculation over whether there was any way to overcome the president’s margin in the battleground state of Ohio and giving Bush the second term in office that was denied his father 12 years ago.
Kerry plans a 1 p.m. appearance at Boston’s historic Faneuil Hall for a public concession in front of his supporters.
Bush will then appear at 3 p.m. for a victory statement.
Bush aides already were planning a victory announcement for this afternoon, but the Massachusetts senator’s decision not to prolong the vote counting brought a swift end to any possibility that the 2004 election would turn into a rerun of the disputed 2000 contest.
Kerry adviser Joe Lockhart said in a telephone interview that Kerry had concluded there were not enough provisional ballots in Ohio, estimated at around 150,000, to overcome Bush’s current margin of 136,000 votes, even if he were to win the lion’s share of them.
"We wanted to wait and see and be as careful as we could about what the reality on the ground was," Lockhart said. "When we had a chance to do that, I think we made the judgment that the time was right for John Kerry to call the president and concede."
With Ohio in the president’s column, Bush claimed 274 electoral votes -- four more than the 270 needed for victory -- with Wisconsin, Iowa and New Mexico still too close to call. In contrast to 2000, Bush also won the popular vote, capturing 51 percent of ballots cast.
Bush’s advisers were convinced hours earlier that there was no way Kerry could win. At 5:45 a.m., as the Kerry campaign weighed its options, White House Chief of Staff Andrew H. Card Jr. went to the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington to tell supporters, "We are convinced that President Bush has won reelection." He added, "This all adds up to a convincing electoral college victory as well as a strong endorsement by his fellow Americans in the popular vote."
Roughly 120 million people, 60 percent of eligible voters, cast ballots in the election, the Associated Press reported, the highest turnout since 1968. Many strategists thought turnout that high would favor Kerry, but the Bush campaign more than held its own in the battle to get their voters to the polls.
The events of the morning -- as many had predicted -- unfolded in uncertainty because the final tally for Ohio -- with 20 decisive electoral votes -- was incomplete due to uncounted "provisional ballots" cast by individuals whose eligibility was in doubt.
With nearly all the votes counted, Bush led 51 to 49 percent in Ohio. Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell (R) originally estimated that there would be 175,000 provisional ballots by the time the counties finish their tabulations, but later calculations reduced that figure to between 150,000 and 155,000,. Kerry’s campaign did not dispute the estimate.
The state was set for a potentially prolonged election when Kerry’s running mate, Sen. John Edwards (N.C.), had appeared at Boston’s Copley Plaza in the middle of the night vowing to continue the fight. "John Kerry and I made a promise to the American people that in this election every vote would count and every vote would be counted. Tonight we are keeping our word and we will fight for every vote. You deserve no less."
Kerry advisers reported pandemonium inside the campaign at that time as they scrambled to assess the situation in Ohio, with memories of the bitter recount in Florida four years ago still vivid.
Bush had planned to speak to supporters once the results were clear but held off once Edwards made his announcement, with aides expressing irritation at the Democrats. At the time Edwards spoke, Bush was leading Kerry by more than 3 million votes nationally.
As the presidential election headed toward potential legal wrangling, Republicans expanded their majority in the Senate and appeared likely to do the same in the House. In Senate races, the GOP picked up open Democratic seats in Georgia, Louisiana, North Carolina and South Carolina, while Democrats captured open Republican seats in Illinois and Colorado. In the most closely watched race, Senate Democratic leader Thomas A. Daschle narrowly lost to former House member John Thune (R) in South Dakota.
Michigan tipped to Kerry early this morning and Nevada went to Bush. With Ohio’s 20 electoral votes, Nevada was enough to give him the presidency.
As the Kerry campaign closed down for the night, three other states remained in play: Wisconsin, Iowa and New Mexico. Bush led in New Mexico by less than 2,000 votes and in Iowa by about 11,000 votes. Kerry led in Wisconsin by about 20,000 votes. Recount provisions varied in some of the remaining closely contested states.
With the election shaped by the fight against terrorism and the country deeply divided over the war in Iraq and the economy, energized voters poured out in extraordinary numbers nationwide, prodded by the two campaigns, which worked overtime to get their supporters to the polls.
Polling places in some battlegrounds, including Ohio, stayed open long after their scheduled closings as officials struggled to handle a surge in turnout that some experts said could match the most recent high-water mark, set in 1992 -- and perhaps exceed it. Despite threats of legal challenges and other disruptions, voting generally appeared to go smoothly in most states.
Early exit polls appeared to give Kerry a small advantage, but as the night wore on and the actual vote tallies mounted, Democratic exuberance gave way to tense hours of counting and increasing pessimism. When the president fought off Kerry’s challenge in Florida, the state that produced the bitter 36-day recount battle four years ago, he significantly complicated Kerry’s route to the 270 electoral votes needed to win.
The pattern of the returns proved to be a virtual rerun of the 2000 election, with many of the states that created such drama in that contest once again keeping the candidates and the American people on edge as they watched returns roll in. By early this morning, only one state had switched sides from 2000, with Kerry taking back New Hampshire from the Republicans.
Otherwise, there were no surprises as the states began to report. Bush methodically secured his base in the South and border states, capturing his home state of Texas as well as Virginia, Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina, Mississippi, Louisiana, Tennessee, Missouri and Kentucky. He won Indiana and West Virginia, which was a Democratic bastion until Bush won it four years ago. In the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains, he rolled to a series of victories.
Kerry began a march across the country’s northern tier, beginning in New England with victories in his home state of Massachusetts as well as in Connecticut, Rhode Island and Vermont. To that he added Maryland, the District, and several big prizes: California, New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, which the Bush campaign looked at briefly, and Illinois, one of the few states in the Midwest that were not closely contested.
But the two sides were focused on two of the big states where the candidates had spent most of their time and money, Florida and Ohio, and on half a dozen other states that could tip the balance: Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, Iowa, New Hampshire and New Mexico. As the counts came in, the campaigns struggled to examine the data for clues to the outcome.
Early in the day, based on exit polls by the National Election Pool, Bush appeared to be in danger of losing the election and joining his father in being swept out of office after a single term. George H.W. Bush lost his reelection bid in 1992 to Bill Clinton, and the current president systematically sought to avoid the mistakes he believed cost his father that election. But the fact that he did not significantly expand his coalition over that of four years ago put him in another tough fight this year.
After the 2000 election, the country united around Bush’s presidency when terrorists attacked on Sept. 11, 2001. But that unity faded and, after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, the nation became polarized. Yesterday’s electorate appeared as divided as it was four years ago.
Bush and Kerry monitored the voting last night from their respective bases of operation in Washington and Massachusetts. Bush voted in Texas in the morning, stopped in Columbus, Ohio, in a show of support for his campaign workers there, and returned to Washington in the afternoon.
Bush spent the evening at the White House residence, surrounded by family and a few close advisers. Kerry began his day in La Crosse, Wis. He then flew to Boston to vote and returned to his Beacon Hill home. He spent four hours doing 38 satellite interviews with local television stations, trying to spur his supporters to vote. Edwards joined in that effort.
Three issues dominated the campaign and shaped yesterday’s vote: terrorism, the war in Iraq and the national economy. Kerry overwhelmingly won among those who said Iraq and the economy were the most important issues to them, while Bush won by a landslide among those who cited terrorism. Beyond those issues, a fifth of yesterday’s voters said moral values influenced their choice, and Bush won them by 4 to 1.
No barometer has been watched more closely throughout the campaign than the president’s approval rating, often considered an indicator of the chance of winning reelection. Ronald Reagan and Clinton were reelected with approval ratings in the mid-fifties, while George H.W. Bush and Jimmy Carter lost when their approval ratings plunged to 40 percent or below.
Yesterday, according to exit polls, Bush’s approval rating stood at 51 percent, still occupying a political netherworld that provided evidence of how competitive the race remained to the end.
Outside events shaped the campaign far more than the candidates’ strategists did, helping to negate some of the normal advantages enjoyed by an incumbent seeking reelection. The campaigns battled over whether the economy is in clear recovery or is still struggling. At several crucial turns, job figures put Bush on the defensive, and voters gave the economy negative marks yesterday but split over whom they trust more to fix things.
Iraq proved even more troubling for Bush. As the general election campaign opened in the spring, a succession of events put him back on his heels, such as evidence that the insurgency was stronger than the United States had estimated, mounting casualties and then the prison abuse scandal. Bush struggled to explain his policy. In the final weeks, Iraq took center stage again, with stories of kidnappings, beheadings, criticism of the president’s policies and more casualties. Yesterday, voters split almost evenly over whether it was right or wrong to go to war, with a majority saying things there are not going well.
The 2004 campaign will rank as the longest and costliest in American history, a battle that began the day after Kerry wrapped up the Democratic nomination contest on March 3 and continued through the trench warfare of turning out voters until the polls closed last night. At times, it was also one of the most negative, marked by angry anti-Bush energy that first surfaced during the Democratic primaries and by relentless criticism of Kerry by the Bush campaign.
When the Democratic nomination fight began in early 2003, Bush was in a strong position, coming off a historic midterm election victory by his party that was fueled in part by the unity engendered by his actions after the Sept. 11 attacks. He enjoyed an approval rating of 60 percent or better, but over the next months the president took a huge gamble by beginning the war in Iraq. The success of the initial invasion drove his popularity even higher, but over time the war became the most divisive decision of his presidency.
Bush’s campaign wasted no time in going after Kerry, pummeling him as a politician who had been on both sides of virtually every major issue of the past two decades. Bush began the attack with a touch of humor, but the Bush campaign’s advertising and Vice President Cheney’s rhetoric carried a much sharper edge that soon began to cut into Kerry profile.
The challenger took a narrow lead heading into his convention in Boston in late July. There, over four nights of speeches and celebration, the campaign highlighted the senator’s service in Vietnam, hoping once and for all to convince voters that he had the credentials to be commander in chief. He emerged temporarily stronger -- until the Bush campaign and its allies struck back.
August quickly became an ordeal for Kerry. A group called Swift Boat Veterans for Truth aired television ads questioning his combat record in Vietnam, and with a minimal amount of money it took the entire presidential campaign back almost four decades into a debate about that divisive war. Bush could not escape the fracas either, with new questions raised about his service during the war, but it was Kerry who bore the brunt of it.
Republicans gathered in New York at the end of August for their convention and skillfully reconnected Bush with the events surrounding Sept. 11, 2001, the high point of his presidency and a powerfully emotional hinge point for the country. The Republicans also used their convention, in a way the Democrats did not, to attack the opposition.
Bush emerged from his convention with a lead in the polls and pressed his advantage throughout September. Kerry went through another staff shake-up, recruiting several veterans of the Clinton administration and realigning responsibilities. He also set the stage for a fresh debate about Bush’s policies in Iraq, reengaging on an issue that had turned into one of Bush’s biggest problems.
The debates gave Kerry another opening, and he took advantage. In the first debate, Bush looked and occasionally sounded impatient and angry, and even his supporters knew the challenger came out as the winner. Through two more debates, Kerry more than held his own, providing a morale boost to his campaign and, more important, to the legions of Democrats who had watched August and September with growing alarm.
The final weeks generated some of the toughest rhetoric of the campaign and a back-to-basics strategy from both candidates. Fighting more bad news from Iraq, Bush continued to question Kerry’s fitness to lead the country in the war on terrorism. Kerry seized on every headline he could find, including the lack of flu vaccine, to indifferent job numbers and missing high explosives in Iraq to argue that Bush’s presidency has been a failure. Kerry called for a fresh start; Bush warned Americans not to take the risk.
___________________ BIAFRA MUST RISE AGAIN. LONG LIVE BIAFRA!! Posts: 1080 | From: California, USA. | Registered: Oct 2002
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quote: You know me not to be a whinner. The election as far as I'm concerned is over and Bush won according to the voting tally. I think Kerry should concede and lets move on……
As you rightly pointed out Kerry's campaign made a few blunders which cost him the election.
I agree with you, Chiboy, Anaedo and others that the electoral map of this country is tilting massively to the right every election, the Democrats needs to go back to the drawing board and come back with a winning formula.
Its over Democrats, Republicans and Independents lets move on to other issues especially issues concerning our BELOVED BIAFRA!!
Okpala ana oma bu Ana Edo, My Brother NwaBiafra:
To say that I am immensely proud of you for exhibiting this graciousness is most assuredly an understatement. The vigor with which you pursued your political convictions are worthy of emulation. As American citizens, we both have a civic responsibility and a constitutional right to speak our minds on the issues of our day. We may not always be in agreement on the issues being discussed, but there can be no denying the fact that we are thus motivated to speak based on our love for this country. I want to congratulate you for having spoken your mind through and through. However, as I am sure you would have realized by now, issues will still rise tomorrow on which there will most definitely be some disagreement. One can only hope therefore that when such matters arise, we can be able to discuss and disagree on these issues respectfully.
As a fellow Nnewi man, you can count on the fact that if I am in any position to help you as a brother Biafran, I will be there. Likewise, I’d hope that I can count on you if the situation is reversed. As we forge ahead, let us never again forget that the things that unite us are infinitely greater than the things that divide us.
Like Kerry said in his concession speech : “Let the healing begin!” Yes indeed, time it is, to move forward.
posted
It should come as no surprise, that politics in the US is perhaps no more different than in Nigeria. How then can one explain the fact that it is almost impossible for a Northeast democrat to win in the south. In third world derogatory parlance it is called tribalism. Unfortunately, those who attribute "morals" as the reason for voting the way they do, do so in an attempt to mask their real fears and concerns, which has to do with racial underpinnings. How then can one explain the fact that majority of this constituency, who are economically deprived sacrifice their welfare and well-being on the altar of moral convictions erected by the rich and powerful interests who have craftly manipulated them in ways that are mindboggling.
Posts: 119 | From: USA | Registered: Aug 2001
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quote: WASHINGTON - Republicans added at least three seats Wednesday to their majority in the Senate after capturing a string of Democratic seats across the South and toppling Democratic leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota. The Republican Party stood to gain another seat if the Republican candidate prevails the last undecided race, in Alaska.
In the most important contest, Daschle conceded to his Republican opponent, John Thune, in a midmorning speech in Sioux Falls, S.D. Daschle, the first Senate minority leader in history to lose a re-election bid, thanked South Dakotans for the “extraordinary opportunity that they have given me these many years.”
With the outcome of the Alaska race pending, the Republican Party controlled at least 54 seats. If the Republicans were to win the remaining race in Alaska — where Republican incumbent Lisa Murkowski was leading her opponent, former Gov. Tony Knowles, by 5 percentage points with 98 percent of the vote counted — they will emerge from the race with a 55-44 edge, with one Democratic leaning independent. Entering the election, the Republicans held a 51-48 advantage over the Democrats.
A strengthened Republican Party in the Senate has implications for President Bush, who gave his victory speech Wednesday afternoon, after Sen. John Kerry conceded defeat on Wednesday.
It will be particularly important in terms of judicial nominees, giving Bush a stronger hand in naming any nominees to the Supreme Court. One Republican winner, Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, is in line to become chairman of the Judiciary Committee, which holds confirmation hearings on court nominees.
Most attention early Wednesday was focused on the Daschle-Thune race.
Although the Republican Party had targeted Daschle, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., called his defeat a surprise.
“Nobody expected that,” Frist said on NBC’s “Today” show. “It is huge.”
Daschle, whom Republicans labeled an obstructionist, finished more than 4,000 votes behind Thune, a former member of the House, with 100 percent of the precincts reporting.
Senate | FULL RESULTS | EXIT POLLS Party Current Holdover Seats won New Republicans 51 36 18 54 Democrats 48 29 15 44 Independents 1 1 0 1 TBD -- -- 1 1
A costly, bruising battle
At least $26 million was spent in the bruising contest. Daschle and Thune had spent more than $50 apiece on each of the state’s 502,000 registered voters as of mid-October. That di8d not include the millions of dollars being spent by outside groups, most of them opposed to Daschle.
The last time a Senate leader was unseated was in 1952, when Barry Goldwater of Arizona turned Senate Majority Leader Ernest McFarland out of office. No minority leader has ever been toppled from office.
Even before the smoke cleared in South Dakota, Republicans were celebrating a strong showing in the South, where they picked up seats in Florida Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Louisiana — the latter the first Republican seat in the state since Reconstruction.
“The nation spoke that we’re on the right course, and we’ll stay on that course and hopefully accelerate it,” Frist said at a Republican victory celebration early Wednesday.
GOP adds to advantage
Republicans also triumphed in three other elections that were not decided until midday Wednesday:
Florida Democrat Betty Castor conceded defeat in a tight Senate contest with Mel Martinez, a Cuban emigré who left President Bush’s Cabinet to run for the seat opened by the retirement of Sen. Bob Graham. Martinez, who headed the Department of Housing and Urban Development in the Bush administration, led by 79,067 votes out of more than 7.1 million counted in his campaign to become the nation’s first Cuban-American senator.
In Kentucky, incumbent Jim Bunning, a former major-league pitcher, won by just more than 23,000 votes over Democrat Daniel Mongiardo, with 100 percent of the votes counted.
In Louisiana, Republican Rep. David Vitter captured 51 percent of the vote, surpassing the 50 percent mark that allowed him to avoid a runoff with runner-up Chris John, a Democrat who captured 29 percent of the vote’
In one of the few bright spots for Democrats, Illinois state Sen. Barack Obama, a political star in the making, easily won a seat formerly in Republican hands and will be the only black senator when the new Congress convenes in January.
Obama, 43, had no difficulty dispatching Alan Keyes, a black conservative whose outspoken views against abortion and homosexuality earned the disdain of some members of his own party.
Democrats hope for defection
Democrats also were hoping for a defection to ease the pain. Sen. Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island, a moderate Republican, said he would consider switching parties if Bush were re-elected.
“I’m not ruling it out,” Chafee told The Providence Journal. Known for moderate views that often run counter to the Bush administration, Chafee said he cast a write-in vote for Bush’s father, George H.W. Bush, in Tuesday’s election, calling it a “symbolic protest.”
The Republican march through the South began in Georgia and spread in several directions at once.
Rep. Johnny Isakson claimed Georgia for the Republicans, and Rep. Jim DeMint took South Carolina. Rep. Richard Burr soon followed suit in North Carolina. In each case, Democratic retirements induced ambitious lawmakers to give up safe House seats to risk a run for the Senate.
Republicans also held fast in Oklahoma, where long-term Republican Sen. Don Nickles retired. Former Rep. Tom Coburn prevailed there, despite early campaign stumbles that sent the party to his rescue with a televised attack on his Democratic challenger.
Democrat defeats brewing scion in Colorado
But the Republican string ran out in Colorado, where Democrat Ken Salazar narrowly triumphed over Peter Coors in a race to succeed retiring Republican Ben Nighthorse Campbell.
The battle for control of the Senate shaped up months ago as a contest for the open seats —five in states where Democrats retired and three where Republicans stepped down.
Democrats faced daunting odds from the start, particularly since Kerry deemed most of the states hopeless and made little effort to challenge President Bush. In a further bow to political reality, Democrats in many of those states ran as conservatives in hope of separating themselves from the top of the ticket. But interviews with voters leaving their polling places underscored the flaw in the strategy.
In North Carolina, Burr gained the votes of nearly 9 in 10 of Bush’s supporters. Vitter’s level of support was nearly as high in Louisiana, as was DeMint’s in South Carolina.
‘We ran as a team’
“We ran as a team,” said Sen. George Allen of Virginia, chairman of the Republican senatorial committee.
Only a few incumbents struggled.
Specter was one, winning re-election in Pennsylvania by drawing slightly more than 52 percent of the vote. It was a nationally important race. His victory places him in line to head the Judiciary Committee and preside over hearings on any Supreme Court nominees who reach the Senate in the next two years.
Bunning, a Kentucky Republican in his first term in the Senate, was another. After a particularly caustic campaign, he fell behind Mongiardo early in the evening in Kentucky before moving ahead. With all precincts reporting Wednesday, he apparently had defeated Mongiardo by 51 percent to 49 percent, with a margin of slightly more than 20,000 votes out of 1.7 million cast.
In Georgia, Isakson, who replaced former House Speaker Newt Gingrich in Congress in 1999, coasted to victory. He triumphed over Rep. Denise Majette in a campaign to replace Sen. Zell Miller, a Democrat who crossed party lines to deliver a memorably anti-Kerry speech at the Republican National Convention.
GOP captures Edwards’ seat
In North Carolina, Burr triumphed over Erskine Bowles, who was making his second try for the Senate in two years after a turn as President Bill Clinton’s chief of staff. Burr made much of his rival’s resumé in a state that Bush carried handily even though Democratic running mate John Edwards has held the seat for six years.
In next-door South Carolina, DeMint held off a challenge from Tenenbaum, the state education superintendent. She stumbled early but then found her campaign legs with an attack on DeMint’s support for a national sales tax. He battled back, however, and won handily in a state that Bush carried, as well.
Republicans who won new terms included Richard Shelby of Alabama, Christopher Bond of Missouri, Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, George Voinovich of Ohio, Sam Brownback of Kansas, Robert Bennett of Utah, Charles Grassley of Iowa, Mike Crapo of Idaho, John McCain of Arizona and Specter.
Among Democratic incumbents, Patrick Leahy of Vermont, Christopher Dodd of Connecticut, Barbara Mikulski of Maryland, Evan Bayh of Indiana, Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas, Byron Dorgan of North Dakota, Russell Feingold of Wisconsin, Charles Schumer of New York, Harry Reid of Nevada, Patty Murray of Washington, Barbara Boxer of California, Ron Wyden of Oregon and Daniel Inouye of Hawaii won new terms.
You put your finger at it! Unfortunately, the country is going down the Third World route - fast on account of racism, which has fogged over American commonsense. Imagine a hillbilly voting for Bush, against his own economic interests, simply because he just can't stand the baby-daddy culture that is weighing down on the black community. Forget about the gay rights issue; the misbehavior in the black neighborhood is really what the coded hoopla about "morals" comes down to.
While racism takes over middle-class good judgement, the moneyed interest tricksters are having a field day overextending, raiding and bankrupting the entire US financial system, but not to fund small businesses startup, only to keep it in the old-money hands, who stand ready to fund and profit from the construction of the new Manifest Destiny - from ocean to shining ocean - on a worldwide scale. In the meantime, the country now lives on the mercy of foreign financiers, such as China and Japan, who have taken on the profitable responsibilities of funding cheap imports to pacify the zoombie-like middle-class consumers and give the illustion of economic and industrial health. Honestly, I don't complain; I'm just pointing out why those in the middle on financial pressures should not be pitied. They can make you rich!!
Is this house of cards sustainable? We will find out at the end of the wars to impose Manifest Destiny and nations reactions to it. Until then, no Democrat should hope to win a presidential election unless they develop a system of coded language to dissociate themselves from the black way. But one thing is clear: this is not the first time a superpower has failed to conquer and take over the entire world.
No democrat could have done better than Kerry!
[ November 04, 2004, 03:49 AM: Message edited by: Amadi O. ]
___________________ achieve Biafra and show the difference Posts: 642 | From: Los Angeles, CA | Registered: Nov 2002
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posted
Every country has its own Taliban. Last Tuesday, the American Taliban that some of you like to call Red Necks picked up their Bible and voted for their leader. Some of you must understand that America is not New York and Los Angeles. Those places are not America; they are international.
Now, will you all stop shedding crock tears. The American Taliban has spoken - 4 More Years!
Does anyone have the full text of Kerry's concession speech?
Posts: 449 | Registered: Mar 2001
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THEY say that in life you get what you deserve. Well, today America has deservedly got a lawless cowboy to lead them further into carnage and isolation and the unreserved contempt of most of the rest of the world.
This once-great country has pulled up its drawbridge for another four years and stuck a finger up to the billions of us forced to share the same air. And in doing so, it has shown itself to be a fearful, backward-looking and very small nation.
This should have been the day when Americans finally answered their critics by raising their eyes from their own sidewalks and looking outward towards the rest of humanity.
And for a few hours early yesterday, when the exit polls predicted a John Kerry victory, it seemed they had.
But then the horrible, inevitable truth hit home. They had somehow managed to re-elect the most devious, blinkered and reckless leader ever put before them. The Yellow Rogue of Texas.
A self-serving, dim-witted, draft-dodging, gung-ho little rich boy, whose idea of courage is to yell: "I feel good," as he unleashes an awesome fury which slaughters 100,000 innocents for no other reason than greed and vanity.
A dangerous chameleon, his charming exterior provides cover for a power-crazed clique of Doctor Strangeloves whose goal is to increase America's grip on the world's economies and natural resources.
And in foolishly backing him, Americans have given the go-ahead for more unilateral pre-emptive strikes, more world instability and most probably another 9/11.
Why else do you think bin Laden was so happy to scare them to the polls, then made no attempt to scupper the outcome?
There's only one headline in town today, folks: "It Was Osama Wot Won It."
And soon he'll expect pay-back. Well, he can't allow Bush to have his folks whoopin' and a-hollerin' without his own getting a share of the fun, can he?
Heck, guys, I hope you're feeling proud today.
To the tens of millions who voted for John Kerry, my commiserations.
To the overwhelming majority of you who didn't, I simply ask: Have you learnt nothing? Do you despise your own image that much?
Do you care so little about the world beyond your shores? How could you do this to yourselves?
How appalling must one man's record at home and abroad be for you to reject him?
Kerry wasn't the best presidential candidate the Democrats have ever fielded (and he did deserve a kicking for that "reporting for doo-dee" moment), but at least he understood the complexity of the world outside America, and domestic disgraces like the 45 million of his fellow citizens without health cover.
He would have done something to make that country fairer and re-connected it with the wider world.
Instead America chose a man without morals or vision. An economic incompetent who inherited a $2billion surplus from Clinton, gave it in tax cuts to the rich and turned the US into the world's largest debtor nation.
A man who sneers at the rights of other nations. Who has withdrawn from international treaties on the environment and chemical weapons.
A man who flattens sovereign states then hands the rebuilding contracts to his own billionaire party backers.
A man who promotes trade protectionism and backs an Israeli government which continually flouts UN resolutions.
America has chosen a menacingly immature buffoon who likened the pursuit of the 9/11 terrorists to a Wild West, Wanted Dead or Alive man-hunt and, during the Afghanistan war, kept a baseball scorecard in his drawer, notching up hits when news came through of enemy deaths.
A RADICAL Christian fanatic who decided the world was made up of the forces of good and evil, who invented a war on terror, and thus as author of it, believed he had the right to set the rules of engagement.
Which translates to telling his troops to do what the hell they want to the bad guys. As he has at Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib and countless towns across Iraq.
You have to feel sorry for the millions of Yanks in the big cities like New York, Washington, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco who voted to kick him out.
These are the sophisticated side of the electorate who recognise a gibbon when they see one.
As for the ones who put him in, across the Bible Belt and the South, us outsiders can only feel pity.
Were I a Kerry voter, though, I'd feel deep anger, not only at them returning Bush to power, but for allowing the outside world to lump us all into the same category of moronic muppets.
The self-righteous, gun-totin', military lovin', sister marryin', abortion-hatin', gay-loathin', foreigner-despisin', non-passport ownin' red-necks, who believe God gave America the biggest dick in the world so it could urinate on the rest of us and make their land "free and strong".
You probably won't be surprised to learn of would-be Oklahoma Republican Senator Tom Coburn who, on Tuesday, promised to ban abortion and execute any doctors who carried them out.
He also told voters that lesbianism is so rampant in the state's schools that girls were being sent to toilets on their own. Not that any principal could be found to back him up.
These are the people who hijack the word patriot and liken compassion to child-molesting. And they are unknowingly bin Laden's chief recruiting officers.
Al-Qaeda's existence is fuelled by the outpourings of America's Christian right. Bush is its commander-in-chief. And he and bin Laden need each other to survive.
Both need to play Lex Luther to each others' Superman with their own fanatical people. Maybe that's why the mightiest military machine ever assembled has failed to catch the world's most wanted man.
Or is the reason simply that America is incompetent? That behind the bluff they are frightened and clueless, which is why they've stayed with the devil they know.
VISITORS from another planet watching this election would surely not credit the amateurism.
The queues for hours to register a tick; the 17,000 lawyers needed to ensure there was no cheating; the $1.2bn wasted by parties trying to discredit the enemy; the allegations of fraud, intimidation and dirty tricks; the exit polls which were so wildly inaccurate; an Electoral College voting system that makes the Eurovision Song Contest look like a beacon of democracy and efficiency; and the delays and the legal wrangles in announcing the victor.
Yet America would have us believe theirs is the finest democracy in the world. Well, that fine democracy has got the man it deserved. George W Bush.
But is America safer today without Kerry in charge? A man who overnight would have given back to the UN some credibility and authority. Who would have worked out the best way to undo the Iraq mess without fear of losing face.
Instead, the questions facing America today are - how many more thousands of their sons will die as Iraq descends into a new Vietnam? And how many more Vietnams are on the horizon now they have given Bush the mandate to go after Iran, Syria, North Korea or Cuba...?
Today is a sad day for the world, but it's even sadder for the millions of intelligent Americans embarrassed by a gung-ho leader and backed by a banal electorate, half of whom still believe Saddam Hussein was behind 9/11.
Yanks had the chance to show the world a better way this week, instead they made a thuggish cowboy ride off into the sunset bathed in glory.
And in doing so it brought Armageddon that little bit closer and re-christened their beloved nation The Home Of The Knave and the Land Of The Freak.
God Help America.
___________________ Feel me? Ofu onye ana asi unu abia go. - Ednut Igbo-American . www.airamericaradio.com visit her. Posts: 2447 | From: Mother Earth | Registered: Mar 2001
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Your comments are to the point, precisely why Bill Clinton took on Sister Soldier. The unfortunate thing about the entire "moral" wrangling is that they've not only misrepresented the teachings of the Bible, but have fallen prey to the clever ones among them, who have unabashedly enriched themselves at their expense.People like Jim Bakker and Jimmy Swaggart,etc. who are living lavishly in opulence, and still hold sway at the core of the thinking of these folks.
Posts: 119 | From: USA | Registered: Aug 2001
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posted
Whether Bush wins a million times over and is worshipped by some blinded Americans is of no interest to most people (Nwa Aro included) around the world. Americans can polish Bush and co as much as they want or could, but as far as the rest of the world is concerned, Mr. Bush was and is still an OPPORTUNIST who just frighten a clearly IGNORANT American populace to vote for him. As for those who think only the Americans have the right to "move to the right," I say you are are mistaken! For as the Americans move to the right, so also we citizens of the world will be putting a tab and watching every move of the extremists in the U.S.. So the extremists (no matter the shape or form they come) should expect to be encircle when next they try to flex muscle in any part of the world.
While those who followed and joined in the American electioneering for other reasons than containing Bush and co can easily breath easy and say "lets move on," on the other hand, those of us who know and feel what movement to the right and uncontrolled racism has done to a generation of a people (the German people), will NOT be "moving on." WE JUST CANT. Knowing fully well that if left uncontained that that Bushman from Texas can turn into another Hitler, it behoves on us all (citizens of the world) to continue keeping our rader focused on Bush and his gang. Unlike in his first few years in office when Bush took the world by surprise and for a ride (remember all the WMD nonsense, etc), now that we know the character we are dealing with, history tells us that we SHOULD BE ON THE WATCH. I am certain that despite his cowboy demeanor that Bush knows that the wntire world is watching him and his America, hence his "I will reach out" post-election speech. I learnt there's even talk of sacking the hwaks that hang around him and replace them with more moderate Republicans (like the John McCains) or even centrist Democrats. On the international from though, I am glad that his rather choragraphed post-election rapproachament was welcomed with the coldness that it deserves by most western and other world leaders.
Bottomline: By electing Bush for what most observers see as another four years of HOPELESSNESS and BACKWARDNESS, most Americans have made true the saying that "Americans are the leaders of the world that clearly does not know the world." Any wonder most moderate Americans are moving to Canada and other parts of the world in droves.
Sad that the once respected and envied good old U.S.A. has been turned into a laughing stock in the eyes of the rest of the world. Unfortunately, those who ought to know better see it as a good omen and are advicing others (the Democrats, etc.) to join the loose dogs bandwagon. You talk of retrogression in progress. Pity! Pity!! Pity!!!
Posts: 997 | From: Germany | Registered: Mar 2001
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