There are no red states or blue states in this
national referendum on the CREDIBILITY, COMPETENCE and
CHARACTER of the increasingly unhinged and incredibly
shrinking _resident. There are only red, white and
blue states. Here are some numbers (the most important
numbers), tabultaed by Agence France Press (Vive la
France!) that you are not hearing on SeeBS (CBS),
NotBeSeen (NBC), AnythingButSee (ABC) or SeeNotNews
(CNN)...P.S. It is a cautious count, and therefore a
very credible one. However, in the LNS's view, the
evidence for an Uprising at the Ballot Box in November
are stronger than indicated here...unless, of course,
many of us are roasted before then, or they *postpone*
it...
It's the Electoral College, Stupid.
Agence France Press: But with the electorate highly
polarized and largely decided, Kerry seemed to have an
advantage among the 16 "battleground" states
stretching from Oregon to Florida that are considered
still up for grabs.
The states account for 177 of the 270 electoral votes
needed to win. Polls show the Democrat leading in 10
states with 119 electoral votes, Bush ahead in one
state with six, and five states with 52 electors a
tossup.
Added to the other states where no change is believed
likely from 2000, the breakdown would give Kerry a
291-195 lead in electoral votes. But with 11 weeks to
go before the election, the political chessboard could
be easily upset.
Thwart the Theft of a Second Presidential Election,
Show Up for Democracy in 2004: Defeat Bush (again!)
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20040815/pl_afp/us_vote_040815092928
Kerry leading Bush in key swing states
Sun Aug 15, 5:29 AM ET Add Politics - AFP to My
Yahoo!
WASHINGTON (AFP) - Although polls show the US
presidential race a virtual dead heat, Democrat John
Kerry (news - web sites) appears to be gaining an edge
over George W. Bush among the key states that could
decide the outcome.
An AFP review of various polls showed the
Massachusetts senator leading in the hunt for the
decisive 538 electoral votes that are apportioned
among the states and awarded in separate
winner-take-all contests.
Nationwide, the November 2 election is shaping up as
every bit as close as the 2000 cliffhanger in which
outgoing vice president Al Gore (news - web sites) won
the popular tally but lost to the Republican Bush by
five electoral votes.
Voter surveys show Bush and Kerry running even. A Pew
Research Center poll released Thursday put Kerry ahead
47-45 percent while a Gallup study Friday had Bush on
top 48-47 percent, both margins statistically
insignificant.
But with the electorate highly polarized and largely
decided, Kerry seemed to have an advantage among the
16 "battleground" states stretching from Oregon to
Florida that are considered still up for grabs.
The states account for 177 of the 270 electoral votes
needed to win. Polls show the Democrat leading in 10
states with 119 electoral votes, Bush ahead in one
state with six, and five states with 52 electors a
tossup.
Added to the other states where no change is believed
likely from 2000, the breakdown would give Kerry a
291-195 lead in electoral votes. But with 11 weeks to
go before the election, the political chessboard could
be easily upset.
If Bush once looked comfortable in the midwestern
state of Ohio, which he won in 2000, Kerry has inched
ahead in some polls. But the president is making a
strong move in neighboring Pennsylvania, where he lost
four years ago.
In some states it would take tantalizingly little to
overturn the previous result: 6,765 votes in Oregon,
5,708 in Wisconsin, 4,144 in Iowa, 366 in New Mexico,
and the famous 537 in Florida that clinched the deal
for Bush.
So both candidates have been investing most of their
time and media dollars in the battlegrounds, putting
their chips down and hoping they can make the math
come out right.
It's no coincidence that seven of the eight states on
Bush's campaign tour last week were battlegrounds.
Kerry's "Believe in America" road trip hit 13 of the
16 swing states.
The patchwork nature of US elections obliges the
candidates to mix their broader pronouncements on Iraq
(news - web sites), terrorism and the economy with
attention to particular local sore points that could
win or cost votes.
It might be rural education in Arkansas, immigration
in Florida and New Mexico, nuclear waste disposal in
Nevada, or the loss of jobs just about across the
board -- the message gets tailored to the audience.
The importance of the swing states has raised the
profile of voting communities such as Hispanics, who
may be a minority but are strong in several coveted
areas such as Florida, New Mexico and Nevada.
Even native Americans have made it onto the political
radar screen. Indians are just one percent of the US
population but 9.5 percent of New Mexico, so the
Republicans have started to air radio spots in Navajo.
The system has also kept independent candidate Ralph
Nader (news - web sites) alive as a spoiler. Current
polls show him with two percent support in Florida,
slightly more than in 2000 when he arguably siphoned
off critical votes from Gore.
The latest polls come after last month's Democratic
convention, which produced only a marginal boost for
Kerry. Republicans are playing down Bush's chances of
doing much better when their gala opens in two weeks
in New York.
But as both sides gear up for the home stretch run of
their marathon campaign, they are mindful of Gore's
agony when he beat Bush by 544,000 votes nationwide
but lost the presidency after a bitter recount fight
in Florida.
Gore, only the fourth man in US history to win the
popular vote but lose the White House, joked at his
party's convention, "You know the old saying: You win
some, you lose some. And then there's that
little-known third category."
A lesson from the Electoral College (news - web
sites).