It’s Official: Bush Wins Iowa, 286 Electoral Votes
President Bush wins Iowa, finishes with 286 electoral votes to Kerry’s 252 (AP)
CNN AllPolitics
President Bush won Iowa on Friday, finishing the 2004 campaign with wins in all three of the states that were still up in the air on election night. The last result came in the state that started the election year with its party caucuses back in January. Although Democratic Sen. John Kerry had already conceded the race for the White House on Wednesday, the counting of absentee ballots continued in Iowa, which had been too close to call. By Friday, Bush had 745,980 votes and Kerry had 732,764 with the number of outstanding ballots too few to change the outcome. Long after the polls closed on Tuesday, Bush won Ohio, which gave him the 270 electoral votes necessary for a second term, and then he won New Mexico. With Iowa decided on Friday, Bush finished with 286 electoral votes and Kerry 252.
And the AP just had to rub salt in poor Kerry’s wounds:
Kerry began campaigning in Iowa nearly three years ago. His surprising win in the Jan. 19 caucuses over a slate of eight other candidates gave him the momentum to claim the Democratic nomination.
Just think, if they hadn’t gotten to know Kerry so well, he might very well have won that state.
Interesting to note: Washington still has 500,000 absentees to count, Florida about that many as well. It’s possible that Bush will clear 60M votes and Kerry 57M by the time the vote is certified.
That would mean that 117M+ Americans voted out of 250M people.