ELECTION NEWS
November 3, 2004
Bush Wins Re-Election
President George W. Bush defeats Senator John Kerry and wins a second term
President George W. Bush has won re-election to a second term. "Voters turned out in record numbers and delivered an historic victory," Bush told a cheering crowd of supporters during his victory speech in Washington D.C. on Wednesday. "A new term is a new opportunity to reach out to the whole nation," Bush said. He told supporters of Senator John Kerry: "I will need your support, and I will work to earn it."
Shortly after 11 a.m., Senator Kerry called President Bush to congratulate him on his win. Kerry made his concession speech a few hours later.
Ohio Brings Bush Victory
In the critical swing state of Ohio, Bush was declared the winner after leading
by about 135,000 votes, with 100 percent of precincts reporting results. Even
though provisional and absentee ballots still had to be counted, it was
impossible for Kerry to win Ohio’s 20 electoral votes. "There won't be
enough outstanding votes for us to be able to win Ohio, and therefore we cannot
win this election," Kerry said in his concession speech.
Ohio’s 20 electoral votes pushed Bush to a total of 274 electoral votes. Kerry won 252 electoral votes. A candidate needs 270 electoral votes to win the presidency. The top three battleground states in the race were Ohio, Florida and Pennsylvania. Kerry won Pennsylvania's 21 electoral votes while Bush won Florida's 27 electoral votes.
Kerry Concedes
In his concession speech, Kerry said he hopes the nation can begin to heal and
unite after a very tough election. He thanked his supporters across the country
and gave special recognition to three kids who made a difference in his
campaign.
"Thanks to William Field, a 6-year-old who collected $ 680 a quarter and a dollar at a time, selling bracelets during the summer to help change America," Kerry said. He also thanked Michael Benson from Florida, who raided his piggy bank to contribute to the campaign, and 11-year-old Ilana Wexler, who started Kids for Kerry.
Bush Wins Popular Vote
In addition to winning the electoral vote, President Bush also won the popular
vote. Bush won 51 percent of the popular vote in the nation, or 59,019,598
votes, compared with Kerry’s 48 percent, or 55,437,243 votes.
Republicans made gains in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, keeping control of both. In South Dakota, the Senate's top Democrat, Minority Leader Tom Daschle, lost to former Republican Representative John Thune.
Voter Turnout
An estimated 120 million people were expected to have cast votes Tuesday.
That’s about 58 to 60 percent of the country’s total eligible voters.
Millions cast early votes and many voted for the first time.
While voters across the country were divided, many agreed that this is the most important election in modern history. Still, voter turnout among those who are 18-29 years old did not increase from the 2000 election. Just 17 percent of the total voters in this election were between the ages of 18 and 29.
http://www.timeforkids.com/TFK/news/story/0,6260,750406,00.html