The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
U.S. President George W. Bush was elected to a second term Tuesday in an election nail-biter whose outcome was not certain until early yesterday morning. The Republican incumbent took 274 electoral college votes compared to Democratic challenger John Kerry's 252, with the battleground state of Ohio tipping the scale. "America has spoken, and I'm humbled by the trust and the confidence of my fellow citizens," said Bush in a victory speech at the White House yesterday afternoon. "With that trust comes a duty to serve all Americans. And I will do my best to fulfill that duty every day as your president." The wartime president praised Mr. Kerry, saying the Massachusetts senator and his supporters should be proud of their spirited campaign. About an hour before the victory speech, Mr. Kerry conceded defeat in Boston and asked the country to put the harsh divisions of the election behind them. "I spoke to President Bush and I offered him and Laura our congratulations on their victory," the challenger said in a speech to a cheering crowd. "We talked about the division in our country and the need, desperate need, for unity. ...Today, I hope we can begin the healing." The first minor surprise of election night came when the Bush camp sealed a victory in Florida, the state that decided the presidency in 2000 and was considered crucial for a Republican victory this year. It was also the first sign of trouble for the Democrats. As the night went on, it became obvious that the winner of the toss-up state of Ohio and its 20 electoral votes would most certainly take the White House. Even when it was clear the president had a lead of more than 130,000 votes in Ohio, television networks were reluctant to call the state for Bush because an unknown number of provisional ballots were outstanding. But early yesterday morning, Mr. Kerry announced that a victory would not be possible even with the provisional ballots, which were cast by voters who had initial problems voting. Roughly 120 million voters participated in the highly-anticipated election, the highest turnout since the height of the Vietnam War in 1968, when Richard Nixon won. Most pre-election polls had consistently showed the race at a statistical dead heat, but Mr. Bush ended up with 3.6 million more votes than Mr. Kerry. Mr. Bush's total of nearly 59 million tallies set a new presidential record and gave him 51 per cent of the vote, making him the first president since his father in 1988 to receive a majority of the vote.
