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The
Morning After: Ohio As Ground Zero
Nader Blasts Two-Party System
Election 2004 and the Impact on the World
Rep. Dennis Kucinich on the Showdown in Ohio: "Hoping
for a Miracle Here"
George McGovern on Daschle's Defeat in South Dakota and the
Politics of War
Election 2004: Shoplifting the Presidency?
The Morning After: Ohio As Ground Zero
After one of the highest voter turnouts in U.S. history,
the country and the world still do not know who will occupy
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue for the next four years. While Republicans
are convinced they won the vote, Democrats will not concede
the election. The state of Ohio has become Ground Zero while
Americans wait for provisional ballots to be counted. This
is Democracy Now!'s special election coverage, Showdown: The
Morning After, the Battle for the White House.
It was one of the highest voter turnouts in US history and
still the country and the world do not know who will occupy
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue for the next four years. As it stands
right now, President Bush leads John Kerry in the popular
vote by some 3 and a half million votes. As for the electoral
college count, it depends who you ask. The eyes of the country
now turn to a state many had predicted would be key in determining
the next president of the US-the state of Ohio. In the middle
of the night, Fox News and NBC declared Bush the winner of
the battleground, Buckeye state. But CNN and other networks
determined that Ohio was too close to call. As of now, that
is also the view of the Kerry campaign. According to official
numbers provided by Ohio, Bush leads the state by some 133,000
votes. But Democrats charge that there are some 250,000 provisional
ballots that have yet to be counted. They further charge that
when they are counted they could tilt the balance for Senator
Kerry. The Bush administration dismissed this, saying it is
time for Kerry to face reality. Overnight, there was no concession
speech, nor was there a victory speech.
As polls began to close throughout the night last night,
the electoral college map began to fill in almost identically
to the 2000 election with Bush retaking the states he won
four years ago and Kerry picking up the states carried by
Al Gore. Most analysts said that whoever was to emerge victorious
would have to win at least 2 of three key states: Pennsylvania,
Ohio and Florida. John Kerry held a decisive lead in Pennsylvania
early on and was neck and neck with Bush in the other two
states. But then, the president began to break away in the
state of Florida. While many networks were cautious to declare
a winner in the state because of the fiasco of 2000, one after
another they began to declare Bush the winner. At that point,
the focus quickly shifted to Ohio where Bush maintained the
slightest of leads. And as more and more precincts began reporting
in Ohio, Bush campaign officials began smiling as they conducted
interviews on the networks. Shortly after midnight, Fox News
declared Bush the winner in the state, followed soon after
by Tom Brokaw and NBC. The Ohio Secretary of State, Ken Blackwell
appeared on CNN where host Wolf Blitzer questioned him about
the provisional ballots that could number as high as a quarter
of a million.
- Ken Blackwell, Ohio Secretary of State.
As Blackwell spoke, the thousands of Kerry supporters gathered
in Boston's Copley Square stood silent, stunned by what they
were watching unfold. In sharp contrast to the sober feel
in Boston, at the Reagan Center in Washington DC, President
Bush's supporters danced to country music. An hour or so later,
John Kerry's running mate, John Edwards, took to the stage
in Copley Square to address their supporters.
- John Edwards, vice presidential candidate.
Edwards statement was short and contrasted greatly to the
concession speech given by Al Gore four years ago. But John
Kerry never addressed his supporters or the nation last night.
Nor did President Bush. The lights of the White House remained
lit throughout the night and early morning and rumors spread
that Bush was preparing to drive in a motorcade to the Reagan
Center to claim victory. But as the rumors abounded, networks
began to report that Karl Rove and other Bush campaign officials
were calling them urging them to declare Bush the winner in
another undecided state, New Mexico. That state's governor,
Democrat Bill Richardson refused to give the state to Bush,
saying all of the votes were not counted. Bush never did appear
at the Reagan Center. Instead, at about 5 am, his Chief of
Staff Andrew Card addressed the crowd.
- Andrew Card, White House Chief of Staff.
So, four years after the 2000 election scandal, the country
is now faced with another apparent contested election. This
time, Bush appears to hold a decisive lead in the popular
vote and the Democrats fight to win at the electoral college.
Ohio now becomes ground zero and Americans will become very
familiar with the term "provisional ballots."
- Donald Tobin, professor of law at the Mortiz College
of Law at Ohio State University.
-
Teresa Fedor, Ohio state senator. She's one of the state
lawmakers leading the calls for Ohio Secretary of State
Ken Blackwell to resign.
- Paula Ross, member of the Lucas County board of elections.
- Chellie Pingree, president and CEO of Common
Cause, a national non-partisan advocacy organization
that is providing information, updated throughout Election
Day, on voting trouble spots in key states, based on a voter
alert line and on-the-ground monitoring.
Nader Blasts Two-Party System
Ralph Nader ended his latest presidential bid yesterday
with a fraction of the votes he won four years ago. We hear
an excerpt of an address by the independent presidential candidate.
Ralph Nader ended his latest presidential bid yesterday with
a fraction of the votes he won four years ago, but vowed to
continue his campaign against corporate domination of American
politics.
The consumer advocate -- denounced as a spoiler in 2000 by
Democrats who blamed him for costing Al Gore the election
-- lashed out at the "liberal intelligentsia" for
pressuring him to end his campaign and rallying instead behind
Democrat John Kerry.
The independent presidential candidate was drawing about
0.5 percent of the vote in Florida with most of the returns
counted, while Bush led Kerry by more than 4 percentage points.
By contrast, Nader won about 2 percent -- more than 97,000
votes -- in Florida four years ago. Democrats believe most
of those votes would have gone to Gore, who lost the state
by 537 votes.
Nader was on the ballot in 34 states this year, including
at least a half-dozen battleground states where Democrats
feared his presence could tip the balance in another close
presidential contest.
- Ralph Nader, speaking in Washington DC.
Election 2004 and the Impact on the World
As millions of Americans wait to see who will ultimately
emerge as president for the next four years, this election
is being followed closely by billions of people across the
world who also have a lot at stake in this election. We speak
with independent journalist Rahul Mahajan about the 2004 election
and the impact on the world. While millions of Americans wait
to see who will ultimately emerge as president for the next
four years, this election was being followed closely by billions
of people across the world who also have a lot at stake in
this election. Few would disagree that the past four years
have dramatically increased anti-American sentiment abroad,
relations between the US and most of the world have been heavily
strained and, of course, the world-wide unpopularity of the
occupation of Iraq.
- Rahul Mahajan, an independent journalist. He is author
of "Full Spectrum Dominance: U.S. Power in Iraq and
Beyond" (Seven Stories). He runs a blog at EmpireNotes.org.
Rep. Dennis Kucinich on the Showdown in Ohio: "Hoping
for a Miracle Here"
As Ohio becomes Ground Zero in the 2004 election, we speak
with Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich about the race for the
presidency, John Kerry's campaign and ballot counting in his
home state.
This is Democracy Now!'s special election coverage, Showdown:
The Morning After, the Battle for the White House. I'm Amy
Goodman. Not since 1960 has such a great percentage of the
eligible voting population in this country voted in a presidential
election. Millions of Americans awoke this morning with no
decisive winner. As it stands right now, President Bush leads
John Kerry in the popular vote by some 3 and a half million
votes. As for the electoral college count, that is now the
source of great controversy. The eyes of the nation now focus
on the battleground state of Ohio. After John Kerry took Pennsylvania
by a significant margin, President Bush was declared the narrow
winner in Florida, leaving Ohio to determine the outcome of
an election many saw as the most important of their lifetime.
The vote tally in the Buckeye state seemed to trickle in slowly
through the night, as Kerry and Bush appeared neck and neck.
As Bush pulled to a 4 point lead with a sizable majority of
precincts reporting, Fox News and NBC declared Bush the winner
in the state. But CNN and the other networks determined that
Ohio was too close to call. That also was the view expressed
by the Kerry campaign. The Democrats charge that there are
some 250,000 provisional ballots that have yet to be counted
and that when they are, Kerry would emerge victorious. Here
is what Kerry"s running mate John Edwards had to say
when he addressed their supporters in Boston"s Copley
Square late last night.
- John Edwards, vice presidential candidate.
At about 5 am, White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card addressed
Bush"s supporters at the Reagan Center in Washington
DC.
- Andrew Card, White House Chief of Staff.
Andrew Card speaking very early this morning in Washington
DC. So, as things stand now, Ohio has become ground zero in
the battle for the White House. We go now to Ohio, where we
are joined by Ohio Congressmember Dennis
Kucinich who retained his seat in yesterday's election.
George McGovern on Daschle's Defeat in South Dakota
and the Politics of War
As all eyes focus on the presidential election, we take
a look at what many consider the second most important contest
of 2004: South Dakota and the Senate race between Democratic
Minority Leader Tom Daschle and Republican John Thune. We
speak with an American political legend: former Senator and
Democratic presidential candidate George McGovern.
As things stand now, Ohio has become ground zero in the battle
for the White House. While most of the focus of the nation
zeroes in on yet another contested presidential election,
the Republicans dealt a serious blow to the Democrats in a
race many considered the second most important contest of
2004. And that is the South Dakota Senate race between the
Senate's most powerful Democrat, Minority Leader Tom Daschle.
He faced fierce opposition from his Republican challenger
John Thune, who campaigned heavily on his fierce opposition
to abortion and gay marriage. Very early this morning the
networks began to call the race in Thune's favor, bringing
down the Senate's most powerful Democrat. We go now to South
Dakota where we are joined by a veteran of presidential and
Senate politics.
- George McGovern, senator from South Dakota for 18 years
(1962-1980) and Democratic candidate for President in 1972.
He is the author of "The Essential America : Our Founders
and the Liberal Tradition."
Election 2004: Shoplifting the Presidency?
We speak with investigative reporter Greg Palast and Barbara
Arnwine of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
about voting problems in Florida, Ohio and New Mexico.
President Bush won Florida along with its 27 electoral votes
four years after the Supreme Court stopped the recount and
put him in the White House.
With 99% of precincts reporting, Bush won 52 percent of the
votes and John Kerry 47 percent. Independent presidential
candidate Ralph Nader won less than 1 percent.
Hundreds of thousands of people across the state took advantage
of early voting, which started 15 days ago. By the time the
polls opened on Nov. 2nd, more than 2 million voters had cast
ballots. But in heavily Democratic Broward County, thousands
of voters never received their absentee ballots in time.
Broward elections Supervisor Brenda Snipes came under fire
over the weekend for losing track of as many as 58,000 ballots
that were allegedly given to the Postal Service earlier in
the month.
County officials moved to get the ballots sent out in time
for voters to return them by November 2nd as required by state
election rules. According to the U.S. Postal Service, after
mail carriers had left on Saturday, both Broward County and
Palm Beach County dropped off more than 8,000 absentee ballots
for mailing. Many of the ballots arrived unsealed, forcing
postal employees to take the time to seal envelopes. In a
video press release from the US Postal Service, spokesperson
Gerald McKiernan described the situation.
- Gerald McKiernan, U.S. Postal Service Spokesman speaking
in Broward County, FL on October 30.
US Postal Service, spokesperson Gerald McKiernan. The American
Civil Liberties Union has now filed a lawsuit against Secretary
of State Glenda Hood and elections supervisors in Miami-Dade
and Broward counties, asking that completed absentee ballots
mailed in the U.S. be subject to the same Nov. 12 deadline
as overseas votes. State law required those ballots to reach
county offices by Tuesday night. As the ACLU was preparing
to file the suit, Glenda Hood addressed the issue to reporters.
- Glenda Hood, Florida Secretary of State speaking on November
2.
- Barbara Arnwine, Executive Director of the Lawyers"
Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.
- Greg Palast,
investigative reporter with the BBC and author of the books
"The Best Democracy Money Can Buy" and "Democracy
and Regulation."
For a copy of today’s program, call 1 (800) 881 2359.
Our website is www.democracynow.org.
Our email address is mail@democracynow.org.
Democracy Now! is produced by Mike Burke, Sharif Abdel Kouddous,
Ana Nogueira, Elizabeth Press, Jeremy Scahill and Parvez Sharma.
Mike Di Filippo is our engineer.
Thanks also to Uri Galed, Angela Alston, Orlando Richards,
Simba Russeau, Johnny Sender, Rich Kim, Joe Murgio, John Randolph,
Chris Zucker, Karen Ranucci, Denis Moynihan, Eric Rweyemamu,
Jenny Filipazzo and Isis Phillips.
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