Columbus Dispatch: Eight Votes Apart (Kerry gains 7%,leads Oh. poll)

[farmbo]

http://www.dispatch.com/election/election-president.php?story=dispatch/2004/10/31/20041031-A1-00.html

8 votes apart
Sunday, October 31, 2004
Darrel Rowland
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

After nearly 80 candidate visits to Ohio, untold millions spent in ads, 500 more Americans killed in Iraq and 13,300 additional jobs lost in the state, the presidential race is back to where it was seven months ago.

Dead even.

President Bush and Sen. John Kerry are tied at just less than 50 percent in a new Dispatch Poll.

How close is this matchup? Kerry leads by a mere eight votes out of 2,880 ballots returned in the mail survey — the tightest margin ever in a final Dispatch Poll.
<snip>

However, in the past four weeks Kerry has surged from a 7 percentage-point deficit into a tie with Bush. And several signs indicate the Massachusetts senator has gained the momentum in Ohio
<snip>

Bush has a 51% disapproval rate.

This election is now a colassal contest between Democratic GOTV and GOP vote supression.

[truhavoc]

1. And the Dispatch is DEFINITELY not a liberal paper!

They endorsed Bush*. It was funny to receive a call from them after their endorsement to see if I wanted a subscription. I told them, "since the paper endorsed Bush, I will not even consider subscribing, call me back in four years though and I will see if my opinion changes".

[Maeve]

2. They haven't back a Dem pres. candidate in 88 years

And they took a LOT of flack over the endorsment this year.
:D

[farmbo]

5. Editorial board voted 5-0 for Kerry endorsement...Overruled by owner/pub.

...the Wolf family.

These are the only wolves I'm afraid of here in Ohio.

:)

[AndyTiedye]

6. another case of Who Owns the News

[robbedvoter]

3. 51% disapproval rate - that's the headline. A steal would look fishy

in Ohio now.

[Merlin]

4. Great news about "Newbies"

"Perhaps the biggest question — aside from the effect of possible Election Day challenges at polling places — is how many of Ohio’s 1 million newly registered voters will cast ballots.

These newbies now represent one in eight Ohio voters, and they support Kerry by nearly a 2-1 margin in the poll."

[Bush was AWOL]

7. Another thing to note that this article does not mention:

I'm a dispatch subscriber and saw the internals in my paper. About 75 more Republicans were polled than Democrats. Kerry has over 90% of Democrats support. Kerry is leading in the Northeast by 18%, which is far better than Gore 4 years ago. I think with the newly registered voters, Kerry will take Ohio by atleast 1%.

Also, Ohio is tradionally more conservative than the nation as a whole so it says a lot that Kerry is doing so well in this state.