Bush's lead in Ohio seems to have shrunk a bit

[fujiyama]

I've been refreshing CNN and while Bush is still over 100K, it seems to be down to 138,866.

The Kerry campaign will NOT be conceding until all the absentee and provisional ballots are in.

I'm not going to keep false hope alive but I have do have some left. I sure hope they lean toward Kerry.

[radfringe]

1. all we have left is HOPE

(i hope)

[LiberalPersona]

2. It is now

133,164
The final unreported area voting democrat majority.
Our victory or defeat depends on how many of these provisional votes there are. If there's 250,000 like I heard at first, we may squeek by a win yet.

[soothsayer]

3. I believe we WILL win!

[incapsulated]

4. Does anyone have info on the military vote?

How many votes are there? They haven't been counted yet, either.

[tedoll78]

5. They're reporting on Kos that..

this 139k margin includes absentee ballots.

Which, if true, would mean that the provisional ballots are the only ones left to count.

[Kolesar]

6. Summit County, Oh, BOE has a 7-10 day "grace period" for military ballots

eom

[Jawja]

7. That is good news.

* shouldn't be declaring victory just yet. That just divides the country even more.

Why can't he just say, "We will wait until all of the votes are counted?"

After all, isn't he the champion of democracy? :eyes:

[in_cog_ni_to]

8. Didn't Blackwell change the number of provisional ballots to

130,000? If he did, that's not enough to overturn the 139,000. Have all the votes in Ohio been counted?

[tedoll78]

9. All regular votes have been counted.

But CNN is reporting that 10 Ohio counties have NOT counted their provisional ballots yet! So if there are 130,000 provisionals, add the provisionals from these 10 other counties.

My gut tells me that these new counties are where there were long, long lines into the night. Heavily Democratic. Lots of GOP challenger potential. The 10 Uncounted Counties news is the best thing I've heard in the past few hours, aside from Kerry taking Wisconsin..

Edit: And BTW, I've heard that it's a 133,000 lead for Bush now. I have no idea why though..

[rullery]

10. Let's demand a recount of Ohio punchcard-using counties.

Four years ago here in Florida, when the punchcard ballots were recounted, some of the hanging chads apparently loosened or fell off, resulting in a gain of several thousand votes for Gore. This time Florida no longer voted by punchcard, but most of Ohio did!
It is still possible that with a recount, plus counting of the provisional ballots, Kerry could win Ohio. However I would concede that this is a long shot.

Some might say that because Bush has won the popular vote nationwide, we should concede the election to him. However in 2000 he had no qualms about taking the election, even though he lost the popular vote then by half a million votes. So I say let's fight this in the courts to the bitter end. Too much is at stake for us to concede this election IMHO.