US vote has not changed much

The United States presidential election, which so far has not produced a clear winner, reflected deep divisions in the US reminiscent of 2000, with almost every state falling into the same column.

While President George Bush seems to have the advantage, the focus has shifted to Ohio, which Bush won in 2000 but was listed as too close to call by most media outlets despite the incumbent’s 135 000-vote lead.

Ohio holds 20 votes in the Electoral College. Whoever wins that state will have secured the minimum 270 votes to win the race. Bush was sitting at 254 electoral votes, while Senator John Kerry had 252 after taking Wisconsin, according to CNN projections on Wednesday.

Despite questions, Bush’s camp declared victory while Kerry showed no sign of conceding, sending his vice-presidential candidate, John Edwards, to tell supporters his campaign will fight for every vote.

Only New Hampshire definitively switched sides, favouring Kerry in a tight race over Bush. Bush won the small, north-eastern state four years ago.

Two states that supported former vice-president Al Gore in 2000, New Mexico and Iowa, were leaning toward Bush although those races remained too close to call early on Wednesday morning.

Otherwise, the remaining 46 states plus the District of Colombia broke just as they did in the controversial outcome of the 2000 election.

Bush captured the southern states and most of the midwestern and western US, while Kerry performed well in the north-east and on the west coast, leaving the Electoral College map almost identical to four years ago.

The slight adjustment suggests that the September 11 2001 terrorist attacks and the war in Iraq did little to change the sentiment of voters across the country, although Bush’s chances for a victory appear significantly better than after election day in 2000.

His success in the socially conservative southern states — which fell unanimously for Bush — and the vast inland west may have ensured a return engagement to inauguration day on January 20 2005.

Most media outlets have Ohio up for grabs because there are an estimated 125 000 to 250 000 provisional ballots still uncounted.

Those ballots must be verified because they are from voters who had not registered in advance of the election.

Ohio law requires an 11-day waiting period before the provisional ballots can be thrown into the tally.

Notably different from 2000 is that Bush won the popular vote, taking 51% of the ballots, while Kerry notched up just more than 48%, giving him a stronger mandate heading into his second term than he had when he moved into the Oval Office in January 2001.

Gore won the popular vote four years ago, but lost in the Electoral College, the body that determines the outcome of presidential races on a state-by-state basis.

With Bush winning more than 58-million votes nationwide — the most to date by a single candidate — and Kerry winning nearly 55-million — the second most — the Republicans were confident the president had prevailed.

”This all adds up to a convincing Electoral College victory, as well as a strong endorsement of President Bush by his fellow Americans in the popular vote,” said Andrew Card, the White House Chief of Staff.

But Kerry’s campaign was defiant, with Edwards, in a reference to the 2000 Florida debacle, saying the campaign will not concede until every vote was counted.

”John Kerry and I made a promise to the American people that in this election every vote would count, and every vote will count,” Edwards said.

”It’s been a long night, but we’ve waited four years for this victory and we can wait one more night,” Edwards said. — Sapa-DPA

More US election reports: