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Politics : John Kerry for President? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: JakeStraw who wrote (3121)	10/27/2004 1:20:11 PM
From: Proud_Infidel	Respond to of 3515

Bush Takes Slim Lead in Early Voting - Poll By Mark Sage, PA News, in New York Nearly one in 10 voters in the US election have already cast ballots – and George Bush has taken a narrow early lead over Senator John Kerry, according to a poll out today. Nine per cent of likely voters have already filled out ballots, with 51% backing the President for re-election and 47% supporting Mr Kerry, according to the ABC News survey. Most of the country will go to the polls next Tuesday, but people in some states are able to vote early and others have cast absentee ballots. The result reflects most national opinion polls of recent days, which have shown Mr Bush with a slim lead over the Democratic Senator from Massachusetts. However, ABC cautioned that the result of its latest poll is essentially a dead heat within the margin of error. A Los Angeles Times survey also pointed to a national dead heat, with Mr Bush and Mr Kerry even at 48% each. The election race has been so tight for so long that some in Washington are now fearing that the result could be an even split. The close outcome of the last election created chaos when the fate of the nation hinged on the result in Florida, and a month of recounts ensued. Eventually the Supreme Court ordered an end to the recount, meaning that Mr Bush beat Democrat Al Gore by just 537 votes in the state. Under the US system, the President is not elected by the popular vote, rather by an electoral college system. Each state carries a certain number of electoral college votes (ECVs), and the first candidate to pass the 270 ECV marker wins. But numerous scenarios could see both men evenly tied on 269 ECVs each. In the event, the House of Representatives would decide the outcome. Each state would get a vote in the Republican-heavy House, guaranteeing victory for Mr Bush. But there is another twist. Voters in Colorado will also be asked on election day whether they want to change the way the state casts its ECVs. If approved, the change would mean that, rather than giving all its votes to the candidate that the majority of the state backed, it would spread them proportionally between the rivals. This could tip one man over the 270 mark. Despite the complex scenarios, the race is likely to be decided in fewer than a dozen swing states. Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania have the greatest number of ECVs and are therefore the most bitterly contested. Latest polls have found the candidates in a dead heat in the three states. Meanwhile, the Kerry campaign has released a new television advert, accusing the Bush administration of failing to secure nearly 380 tons of explosives that disappeared from a military installation in Iraq. Mr Kerry pressed the point at rallies, telling supporters in Wisconsin on Tuesday that the explosives “could be in the hands of terrorists, used to attack our troops or our people”. “We’re in a bigger mess by the day and this President can’t see it or can’t admit it – but, either way, America is less safe,” he said. But Vice-President Dick Cheney seized on reports that the explosives may have vanished before US troops even arrived in Baghdad. Campaigning in Florida, he called Senator Kerry an “armchair general”. “If our troops had not gone into Iraq, as John Kerry apparently thinks they should not have, that is 400,000 tons of weapons and explosives that would be in the hands of Saddam Hussein, who would still be sitting in his palace instead of jail,” he said. Meanwhile, fears that the election could descend into the chaos of 2000 were fuelled by a number of ballot-related court cases already under way. Lawyers are already deep in courtroom entanglements in a variety of states over problems either anticipated or already experienced in states with heavy early voting. In one example, a federal judge in Miami ruled against Democrats in saying that Florida election officials will not be required to process incomplete voter registration forms. news.scotsman.com

To: JakeStraw who wrote (3121)	10/27/2004 2:11:35 PM
From: Proud_Infidel	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 3515

How will Kerry spin this? Fed Reports Economic Growth Is Continuing Wednesday October 27, 2:02 pm ET By Martin Crutsinger, AP Economics Writer Fed Reports U.S. Economic Growth Is Continuing in Spite of Rising Energy Costs WASHINGTON (AP) -- The U.S. economy continued to grow in September and early October despite being buffeted by rising energy costs and increased uncertainty caused by the presidential campaign, the Federal Reserve said Wednesday, in its last snapshot of business conditions before Election Day. The survey of business activity around the country, compiled from reports submitted by the Fed's 12 regional banks, depicted an economy that was moving ahead with even the hard-hit manufacturing sector beginning to regain its footing after a prolonged period of weakness. "Economic activity continued to expand in September and early October," the Fed said in the new survey, which found that the pace of activity had quickened in the Richmond and Dallas districts. Five other districts -- Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, Minneapolis and Kansas City -- were reporting steady expansions were under way. The Fed's report will be used by central bank policy-makers when they next meet on Nov. 10 to decide whether to raise interest rates further. Many economists believe that the central bank will push up rates for a fourth time this year in an effort to make sure that a rebounding economy does not generate unwanted inflationary pressures. But some analysts believe the Fed could decide to pause in its credit tightening out of concerns that rising energy prices, which climbed to record highs above $50 per barrel for crude oil, could threaten to derail the economic recovery. While noting that higher energy costs did seem to be constraining consumer and business demand in some areas, the Fed survey did not signal any worries that this year's price spike could bring on a recession, as did the oil shocks of the 1970s and early 1980s. The Fed noted that some districts were reporting increased uncertainty stemming from the presidential campaign. In other economic news, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday that orders for big-ticket manufacturing goods edged up a modest 0.2 percent in September while sales of new homes were up a bigger-than-expected 3.5 percent to the third highest monthly level on record.