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Politics : Don't Blame Me, I Voted For Kerry -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: techguerrilla who wrote (45178)	8/26/2004 12:28:39 AM
From: The Philosopher	Respond to of 81568

Opinions differ. That's why we have elections. Frankly, I want somebody of Humphrey's stature back. Or Stevenson. Or even Reagan -- I didn't like his policies much, but he was a leader at a time we needed one.

To: techguerrilla who wrote (45178)	8/26/2004 9:12:12 AM
From: stockman_scott	Respond to of 81568

Kerry fights off attacks in swing states - Democrat edges ahead in crucial election battleground zogby.com 8/25/2004 John Kerry has so far succeeded in fending off attacks on his Vietnam war record to stay level with George Bush in national popularity ratings - and ahead in most of the 20 swing states where the election will ultimately be decided, according to a poll published yesterday. The survey, by Zogby International, suggested that the president would go into next week's Republican convention in New York facing a serious challenge. Mr Kerry is leading in 13 of the 20 battleground states, where both campaigns have focused almost all their efforts. That lead translates into a disproportionate advantage in the electoral college, which will formally choose the next president. But Mr Kerry's advantage, however large, remains tenuous. His margin in each of the battleground states is just a few percentage points, and so it would only take a small swing towards Mr Bush to transform the electoral college in the opposite direction. The Democratic senator has also already enjoyed the benefit conferred by his party convention nearly a month ago - and the mostly positive media coverage that came with it. Next week it will the Republicans' turn to hog the airwaves from Madison Square Garden in Manhattan. "Kerry's support is wide, but Kerry's problem is it's not deep," John Zogby, the head of Zogby International, said yesterday. "It's not enough to close the deal." The polls suggest Mr Kerry is standing firm among swing state voters in the face of a campaign launched by a group calling itself Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, who accuse the candidate of falsifying his Vietnam war record - the recurring motif of his election campaign. The anti-Kerry advertise-ments have only been aired in a handful of swing states, but intense coverage of them in the national press has meant that 57% of the population has heard of or seen them, according to the Annenberg Public Policy Centre. A survey by the centre found that the electorate as a whole was evenly split over whether to believe the allegations against Mr Kerry, although they do seem to have hurt the candidate among his fellow war veterans. After highlighting his Vietnam experience on a navy swift boat - a light patrol boat - at every turn at the Democratic convention, Mr Kerry was level with the president among veterans. In a CBS poll last week, however, he was trailing by 37 percentage points to 55. Recent polls suggest that - in terms of national public opinion - the race is still evenly balanced. Last week's CBS poll had Mr Kerry ahead nationally by 46 percentage points to 45, with the third party candidate, Ralph Nader, claiming only 1% support. Mr Kerry may have compensated for his lost ground among veterans by winning support away from Mr Nader. The Democrat may also be benefiting from growing disillusion with the Iraq war. An Associated Press/Ipsos Public Affairs poll released yesterday found that half the electorate believed the US had "made a mistake in going to war in Iraq", compared with 40% in April and 34% last December. The latest reports on the Abu Ghraib prison scandal may deepen that spreading mood of cynicism. "We still see a plurality who support the war, but if you ask if the war has been worth it, you get a different result," Mr Zogby said. "The passion is generally with the opposition right now." Mr Kerry's support is also better distributed for winning the electoral college at the moment. Each state sends a certain number of "electors" to the 538-seat college, depending on its population. Winning a state means capturing the votes of its electors. The Democratic senator's more evenly spread support gives him an edge in this system. Given the current state of the polls in the battleground states, Mr Zogby estimated Mr Kerry was ahead in electoral college votes by 286 to 214, more than enough to carry the day. "If the election was held today Kerry would win," he said. The Democrat is well ahead in major swing states such as Pennsylvania and Michigan. He is lagging behind the president in another, Ohio, and the two are in a dead heat in the biggest battleground state, Florida, the scene of the 2000 deadlock. Mr Kerry's campaign has also managed to turn four states formerly assumed to be safely in the president's column into swing states: Virginia, North Carolina, Arizona and Colorado - forcing Mr Bush to defend corners of the south and west he had taken for granted a few months ago. (8/25/2004) - By Julian Borger, The Guardian - UK