By Richard Clough
bruin senior staff
rclough@media.ucla.edu
After a close vote count in Ohio threatened to drag out the
presidential election results for several days, President Bush was
declared the winner Wednesday morning, ending one of the most
brutal and aggressive presidential campaigns in U.S. history.
At about 11 a.m. EST, Sen. John Kerry conceded defeat to his
Republican rival in a telephone call later described by Bush as
“very gracious.”
Bush delivered a succinct acceptance speech at the Ronald Reagan
building in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday afternoon, asking for
cooperation from Democrats in his next term.
“Today I want to speak to every person who voted for my
opponent,” Bush said. “To make this nation stronger and
better, I will need your support and I will work to earn it. I will
do all I can to deserve your trust.”
In broad strokes, Bush painted an optimistic future for the U.S.
economy and for “the emerging democracies of Iraq and
Afghanistan.”
“In four historic years, America has been given great
tasks and faced them with strength and courage,” he said.
“Our people have restored the vigor of this economy and shown
resolve and patience in a new kind of war.”
Though some news organizations declared Bush the winner of
Ohio’s 20 electoral votes Tuesday night ““ thereby
giving him enough votes to win the presidency ““ many others
held off on such a declaration until more ballots were counted.
Bush maintained a slim lead throughout the night in Ohio, but the
Kerry campaign held out hope that the uncounted provisional ballots
would give the state to Kerry.
Early Wednesday, Kerry gave up on Ohio and officially conceded
the race in a speech from Boston.
“It’s now clear that even when all the provisional
ballots are counted, which they will be, 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 an
emotional speech.
With memories of the court challenges and recounts that
characterized the 2000 presidential election, Kerry chose to
concede defeat rather than draw out the ballot counting in “a
protracted legal process.”
Kerry also critically addressed the political polarization in
the country.
“We are required now to work together for the good of our
country,” he said.
“In the days ahead, we must find a common cause. We must
join in common effort, without remorse or recrimination, without
anger or rancor.
“I pledge to do my part to try to bridge the partisan
divide,” Kerry said.
With a sharply divided electorate, Bush ran a campaign appealing
to his Republican base and won the popular vote by a larger margin
than many analysts expected.
Polls conducted just before and during Election Day predicted a
virtual tie between the two candidates, but Bush won the popular
vote by about 3.6 million votes. With 51 percent support, Bush
became the first president in 16 years to be elected with majority
support.
News organizations were notably cautious in their reporting of
election results. In order to avoid the mistakes of the 2000
election coverage, many organizations were reluctant to declare a
winner in states with close races. This led to some confusion when
several news networks declared Bush the winner of Ohio Tuesday
night.
Two states ““ Iowa and New Mexico ““ still have not
been declared for either candidate, though the outcome of those
states will not affect the overall winner.
By increasing their majority hold on the Senate and the House of
Representatives, Tuesday’s election proved especially
encouraging for Republicans.
Mark Peterson, chairman of the UCLA Department of Public Policy,
expects an “invigorated and unified Republican
government” to push forth a conservative agenda headed by a
confident president.
“It’s going to be a period of … efforts on the
part of President Bush to move forward the conservative aspects of
his agenda,” Peterson said. These positions, he said, include
privatization of Social Security and the appointment of
conservative judges to the U.S. Supreme Court who would
“uphold his line of reasoning for years to come.”
Some analysts see a more resolute outlook from the Bush campaign
in the wake of this presidential election compared to the previous
one.
In a speech from Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, Vice President
Dick Cheney said the electorate gave Bush a mandate for his second
term.
“President Bush ran forthrightly on a clear agenda for
this nation’s future and the nation responded by giving him a
mandate,” Cheney said.
Second terms provide presidents different opportunities than
first terms, as they may be freer to take political risks. While
this may prove true of the president, Peterson believes Bush was
ambitious in his own right during his first term.
“He had remarkable bravado for a president in his first
term without majority support,” he said.
But that is not to say a second term from Bush will be
reckless.
Lynn Vavreck, a UCLA associate professor of political science,
believes Bush’s second term may be subdued.
“(Presidents) always have in mind how history is going to
remember them and they want history to remember them well,”
she said.
Before all the ballots are even counted, discussion has begun
about the likely frontrunners for the presidential candidacies in
2008.
“It will be interesting to watch all the characters in the
Republican Party jockey for position,” Peterson said.
“I think that started in earnest around 8:30 a.m.
(Wednesday).”
As for the Democrats, he mentioned Sen. John Edwards and Sen.
Hillary Clinton as among the likely leaders of the Democratic Party
in the next few years.
Edwards, in a speech Wednesday introducing running mate Kerry,
pledged to continue his efforts for the Democratic Party.
“We didn’t stop fighting for you when this campaign
began, and we won’t stop fighting for you when this campaign
ends,” he said to a gathering of supporters.
“You can be disappointed, but you cannot walk away,”
Edwards said. “This fight has just begun.”
The University of California ““ which voted overwhelmingly
for Kerry, according to UC exit polls ““ may feel some
indirect effects from the election of Bush to a second term,
Peterson said.
The federal government and higher education have “a rather
tenuous relationship,” he said, and when the deficit grows,
funding for higher education tends to dry up quickly.
“There’s not a good deal of support from the federal
level,” he added.
There was some outcry among Democrats before the election over
the candidacy of Ralph Nader, who some accuse of taking votes away
from Al Gore in 2000 and thereby costing the Democrats the
presidency. But, receiving less than 400,000 votes nationwide,
Nader proved a virtual non-factor in this election.