The Hindu Business Line : Bush emerges victor as Kerry concedes defeat

AS it happened four years ago, America has not been able to announce a winner at the end of the night in the Presidential election; and even as some in the White House may be anxious for the incumbent Republican to declare victory, Mr George W. Bush is not inclined to.

(A Reuters report from Boston said the Democratic contender, Mr John Kerry, telephoned the President, Mr Bush, on Wednesday and conceded the White House election.)

With only four states yet to be accounted for fully in this November 2004 election, Mr Bush has won 28 states for a total of 254 electoral college votes. His Democratic challenger, Senator John Kerry has won 17 states and the District of Columbia for a total of 252 electoral college votes.

If Florida was the focus of attention and a bitter legal battle in 2000, this time around it is the state of Ohio where the Democrats have made it known that they are not going to concede this battleground state that has 20 electoral college votes. All votes have been counted and Mr Bush is leading his Democratic rival by a 51 per cent to 49 per cent margin and by nearly 140,000 votes.

But Democrats are saying that there are close to about 250,000 provisional ballots that are to be accounted for and that these would put their candidate on the top in the Buckeye State. The Republicans dispute the numbers and argue that even if much of the provisional ballots are given to the Democratic challenger, the numbers will simply not add up for a victory.

Further the point is being made that whatever additional ballots are left would also include overseas ballots - most of it from military personnel. And State officials have made it known that according to laws, it would be 11 days before provisional ballots are even taken up.

Thus far the reaction of the Democrats has been along very careful and measured terms. The Democratic Vice-Presidential candidate, Mr John Edwards, came out in the wee hours of Wednesday morning to tell supporters in Boston that "we've waited for four years for this victory, we can wait one more night".

Mr Edwards stressed that the campaign will keep its promise that every vote would "count and every vote would be counted". Mr Edwards said that they will "fight for every vote".

But the President's Chief of Staff, Mr Andrew Card, speaking to supporters here, has said that Mr Bush has won a convincing victory in this election, both in the popular vote and in the electoral college vote and, in his calculation, when the final tallies are out of the way, the President would have secured 286 electoral college votes.

What has caught the attention of many analysts is the extent to which Mr Bush has carried the day in terms of popular vote. He leads Mr Kerry by a 51 per cent to 48 per cent margin and by nearly 4 million votes. In 2000, the Democratic candidate Al Gore won the popular vote by fewer than 550,000 votes.