Since I'm from Ohio, I get to give my opinion about why Kerry conceded

[ShaneGR]

First and foremost, we needed to win Cuyahoga, Franklin, and Summit Counties by about 500,000 votes to win. We didn't. We weren't even close. Hell, Bush almost WON Franklin county. Basically, despite record turnout on the Dem side, the Repubs also had record turnout.

Second, there simply was no hope of making up the 140K margin. In order to do it, 90% of all the provisional ballots needed to be valid. Again, this is highly unlikely. I've seen people say 90% of provisional ballots in Ohio were valid in 2000. Want to know why? Because they were only issued in cases of extreme need, like when someone is sick in the hospital and is allowed to vote from there. Also, even if the 90% validity was attained, Kerry needed to win 87% of those votes while sweeping the overseas military absentee ballots.

It just, quite simply, was not going to happen. Even though Kerry is conceding, those votes will still be counted in Ohio, and Kerry will still lose.

The bottom line is that we lost. We got creamed in Florida. We only picked up one red state (New Hampshire). We were outvoted. We lost ground in both the Senate and the House. There needs to be a lot of soul searching, but we're not finishd by a long shot. In the end, we shall overcome.

[RinaJ]

1. I agree

I'm not mad at Kerry, I'm mad at the fundies.

[lancdem]

2. Does Ohio have a large evangelical Christian population?

Is that where we lost it?

[montana500]

3. guns

nm

[merh]

11. guns, gays & god!

eom

[Dolomite]

41. GUNS! WTF?

Kerry is a life long hunter and angler!

I got half-a-dozen mailings saying just that this week!

[rndmprsn]

5. yes...the countryside is solid fundie

[kittenpants]

6. the areas between cities are very rural

and some of the cities are very status quo, even conservative in Cinci

[Marthe48]

15. I'm in Ohio

guns, gays, racial predjudice, using the world's resources with no limits. The people who rely solely on TV to make up their minds are the worst. You don't have to live in a particular area of the state or the country. Being a redneck is a state of mind.

[MercutioATC]

16. Depends on WHERE in Ohio.

Us Clevelanders consider anything south of Akron to be part of West Virginia. Cleveland is the big Dem stronghold. The rest of Ohio is basically the deep South.

[Marthe48]

27. I grew up in Cleveland

moved to SE Ohio when I was 17. This part of the state (and since WV is so close,) used to vote straight Democratic. Honestly, most of the Democrats in local campaigns ran unopposed and you almost had to be a Democrat to get any kind of city or county position. Do you recall when Ohio had Democratic Senators, reps and so on? I don't know what changed. I think when I was growing up, the Democrats were percieved as being the party of the rich, and so a lot of the working people were Republicans. Now, even though the perception has turned completely around, the working people haven't noticed.

[MacDo]

34. And everyone south of Akron

consider you Canadians. Thanks for the support

[ShaneGR]

17. Yes, combined with the gun vote

Southern Ohio is like Alabama.

[King Coal]

4. Horse SHIT!

[Algorem]

7. WHAT THE FUCK!?

FUCKING BASTARDS!?

[blackcat77]

8. Great note

Thank you for the reason and common sense when it seems that many have surrendered to hatred.

[Sara Beverley]

9. You are so right.

Sad that evangelicals would align themselves with liars, cheaters, and murderers. Sad when an idiot can be selected once and elected once to the highest office in the world and be conrolled by the most intense evil since Hitler.

[Connie_Corleone]

10. You're totally correct.

The moral issues got the fundies out to vote here. What's with people voting against their own interest?? As far as I'm concerned, they get what they deserve. No job, no money, draft, more terrorist attacks, no health care, no social security?? Who cares! We made sure dem gay folks can't git married and women will soon have to give birth to dem babies! :eyes:

[Bugaboo]

12. It's all about the babies

I can't speak for everyone, but I completely underestimated the power of the wedge issue. I thought when it came down to it, people would vote economy. I thought they would find the number of dead Americans and Iraqis unacceptable and would vote against the war.

Instead they voted for the babies. They stood in line for hours, in the rain, all to save the poor unborn. And to make sure that happy gay couples know that they are forever lesser in the eyes of our society.

This election was decided by social conservatives. Just as Rove planned.

[DU9598]

18. Solidified for decades

Not only did they vote in the fundie issues of saving babies for the next four years, they also did for decades. Renquist and O'Connor will be replaced in the next year. Maybe two more Justices and innumerable Appeal Court judges will make employment discrimination and unequal pay legal (hell, almost there now in all but 3 circuits) and certainly Roe v. Wage is toast.

[psunitlions1]

20. the bigger problem here is

social issues are passed down through generations...think about it protecting the unborn to these groups only further widens their base generations down the road

[Zookeeper]

29. As a protestor at the *Bush rally in Mpls. last weekend...

I was stunned by the comments of the hyped-up Bushoids pouring out of the Target Center. It was all about abortion. I held a sign saying, "Bush: Miserable Failure" and got a lot of negative comments, but no one actually disputed my statement. What the crowd shouted was: "Baby Killers" and "John Kerry is gay!!!" (Really witty bunch.)

[JI7]

13. i'm sure this is one of the things they were looking into through the

night.

[seaglass]

35. Yep. I still trust Kerry. If there was a fight here, he would have

fought it.

[derbstyron]

14. Sad but true

Jesus freaks are going to be the death of us all (no pun intended :) )
We need to make BIG changes in this party.

[indigolady]

19. Take a look at BlackBoxVoting.org

Bev Harris' "clean up crew" logs in many fraud like discrepancies in the voting logs.

I'm listening to Amy Goodwin' "Democracy Now" on KPFK, Now

[realisticphish]

21. the thing that enrages me

bob taft, george voinocich, mike dewine, all these hardcore pukes, spoke out against our gay marraige amendment. DONT THESE FUCKING PEOPLE REALIZE THAT THIS MEANS YOU SHOULD LOOK CLOSER???

:hippie: The Incorrigible Democrat

[theHandpuppet]

22. Where can we find a breakdown of the Ohio vote...

... by county? I think it's time to dispel some myths around here about how Ohio voted in some areas. Seriously -- I'm willing to take a look.

[ShaneGR]

24. Here it is, county by county

http://www.sos.state.oh.us/sos/results/11-02-04.htm

[theHandpuppet]

28. Take another look at the Ohio vote...

... before everyone slams all of Southern Ohio for Bush's win.

Kerry showed some strong support among a number of rural SE Ohio counties: Won Athens County by over 7,000 votes; lost Scioto County (the largest in the SE) by only 1500; Perry and Pike by a mere 500; Hocking by only 700, etc. Does that sound like Alabama to you?

No, don't blame SE Ohio for the 150,000 vote discrepancy yesterday! Look to the WESTERN region of Ohio, including the Cincy area and the rural West and NW.

[DCal]

23. Something needs to be done about the challengers

and "observers" who were allowed into the polling places in Ohio. Apparently, that was what made the lines so long. Each time someone was challenged, everything came to a stop. The 2-1 Appeals Court vote to allow this to happen cost Kerry any chance to carry Ohio.

[venus]

25. An issue DUers and the DNC don't want to face is that a large number

of Black Christians voted on moral issues. I'm Black and Christian and vote straight Democrat no matter what, but other more conservative Black evangelicals don't. It's time to wake up folks. Of all the candidates, Kerry had a very strong grass roots effort here in No. Virginia. He came to all of the prominent Black churches, but it just didn't work. Bush came here too. The key words were "gay marriage". Deaths in Iraq, lost jobs and health care didn't stand a chance against this issue.

It will be interesting to see the demographic results in Florida and Ohio. Most talk the talk but don't walk the walk.

Also many did not want to change horses in the middle of a catastrophe. Kerry didn't say he would do anything different than Bush in Iraq and Israel. And we're paying for it now.

[onecitizen]

37. Agreed.........

same thing here in WV. When they go into the booth alone, they voted for the military, God, and guns, and to a lesser degree here, against gays. Sad but true.

We have a lot of work to do. Even though we lost, I'm so glad I'm NOT a Republican.

[tedzbear]

26. The popular vote seems to support what you are saying.

We got nuked.

:nuke:

[drdigi420]

30. as usual, its the christians that fucked us over

i hope they all hang on a cross until dead

fucking bigoted assholes

[Cheswick2.0]

32. how christian of you.

[AngryWhiteLiberal]

36. I'm with ya', bro. No more religious bigoted dumbass lemmings...

Fuck the Christian Right. They're no better than the majority of the German public in 1939. Fascist religious assholes...

JB

[Cheswick2.0]

31. diebold

[Kolesar]

38. Diebold did not sell a lot in Ohio

The activist community insisted on ballots with paper receipts. That slowed the acquisitions. The planned mass purchases of EVMs for Ohio never happened. Most voting was by punch cards.

[AngryWhiteLiberal]

33. FUCKIN' XTIANS! It's time to kick some Jesus Freak Ass. n/t

JB

[ollie3]

39. Sheex....

I am a liberal Christian and I vote. My Christian values align with social justice, helping out the needy, not shunning the outcasts of our society and opposing war unless as a last, last resort and then in a defensive manner. My Christian values oppose racism, sexism and gay bashing. As a point of religious opinion, it is only an INTERPRETATION that homosexuality is a sin, not at all clearly stated in the Bible and the few places it comes up it is translations that go both ways as to what they mean. The religious right has hijacked Chrisianity in my view. THEY think they speak for all Christians. I hope that those of you who are not Christians don't buy into this. They sure don't speak for me!

[Straight Shooter]

40. "We shall overcome"? Isn't that what the blacks said?

Well, have they overcome? Have they? Hell,no! The power-mongers have made sure of that, with the ignorant masses on their side.

I'm still thinking of what to do. One thing is for sure, a lot more letters will be written this time. The Dem party needs to be more ruthless. Screw this "high road."

If Kerry conceded, I can only hope it's a smooth maneuver and not a bend-over to bush.