2
TUESDAY, JANUARY 11, 2005
Bush rolls to 2nd term,
sets next 4-year agenda
Voters turn out in record numbers
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Nov. 4 President Bush
claimed a re-election mandate
Wednesday after a record 59 mil
lion Americans chose him over
Democrat John Kerry and voted
to expand Republican control of
Congress as well.
He pledged to pursue his agenda
on taxes and Iraq while seeking “the
broad support of all Americans.”
Kerry conceded defeat in make
or-break Ohio rather than launch a
legal fight reminiscent of the con
tentious Florida recount of four
years ago.
“I hope that we can begin the
healing,” the Massachusetts sena
tor said.
Claiming a second term denied
his father, George H.W. Bush, the
president struck a conciliatory
tone, too.
“Anew term is anew opportuni
ty to reach out to the whole nation,”
he said, speaking directly to Kerry’s
supporters.
“To make this nation stronger
and better, I will need your support
and I will work to earn it,” he said.
“I will do all I can do to deserve
your trust.”
It was a warm-and-fuzzy close to
one of the longest, most negative
presidential races in a generation.
Bush didn’t use the word man
date, but Vice President Dick
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Cheney did, and the president’s
intention was clear as he ticked off
a familiar list of second-term goals:
overhaul the tax code and Social
Security at home while waging
war in Iraq and elsewhere to stem
terror.
Bush stands to reshape the
federal judiciary, starting with an
aging Supreme Court that voted 5-
4 to award him Florida four years
ago. In all branches of government,
the GOP now holds a solid, if not
permanent, ruling majority 7 .
Bush’s vote totals were the big
gest ever and his slice of the vote,
51 percent, made him the first
president to claim a majority since
1988 when his father won 53 per
cent against Democrat Michael
Dukakis.
Like Dukakis, Kerry is a
Massachusetts politician who was
labeled a liberal by a Bush.
This president also called Kerry
a flip-flopping opportunist who
would fight feebly against terror.
None of that rancor was evident
Wednesday, when Kerry called
Bush to concede the race.
He told Bush the country needed
to be united, and Bush agreed. But
the numbers suggest the country is
deeply split.
Bush’s victory ensures
Republican dominance of virtually
every quarter of the U.S. political
Year in Review
system for years to come the
White House, Congress and the
federal judiciary.
Democrats pored over election
results and sadly determined that
the GOP base was bigger, more
rural, suburban and Hispanic that
they had ever imagined.
They looked within their
own party and found plenty of
Democrats to blame Kerry, his
running mate John Edwards, their
layers of consultants and legions of
former Bill Clinton aides.
The jockeying began in earnest
for the 2008 race, with Edwards
signaling his ambitions by press
ing Kerry to wage a legal fight for
Ohio.
Democrats love to fight the GOP,
particularly Democrats who vote in
primaries and caucuses.
“You can be disappointed, but
you cannot walk away,” Edwards
told supporters at Kerry’s conces
sion.
“This fight has just begun.”
Supporters of Sen. Hillary
Rodham Clinton, herself a poten
tial candidate in 2008, accused
Edwards of posturing.
Kerry himself showed no signs
of exiting the political arena. “I’ll
never stop fighting for you,” he told
backers. Still, it was a grim day for
Democrats.
Party strategists had long
hoped to supplant their political
losses in the Midwest and South
with growth in the Hispanic-rich
Western states, but those plans
were put in doubt Tuesday night.
Exit polls suggested that Bush
had increased his minority share
of the Hispanic vote since 2000.
One-third of Hispanics said
they were born-again Christians
and nearly 20 percent listed moral
values as their top issue, suggesting
they have more in common with
Republicans than Democrats.
(Hjr Hatty (Ear Hrrl
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Michelle Jarboe, Editor, 962-4086
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Easley, Burr capture victories
Price, Kinnaird,
Insko also win
FROM STAFF REPORTS
Nov. 3 Both the Republican
and Democratic parties saw a mix
of victory and defeat in North
Carolina on Election Day.
Gov. Mike Easley squashed
Republican challenger Patrick
Ballantine on Tuesday, garnering
55 percent of the vote with 99 per
cent of precincts reporting.
Ballantine received 43 percent.
In Orange County, Easley
received 66.54 percent of the vote,
while Ballantine received 31.16
percent.
Ballantine held the lead based
on absentee ballots and early vot
ing results, but Easley’s supporters
turned up at the polls Tuesday to
carry him to a resounding victory.
Ballantine, who retired as N.C.
Senate minority leader to run for
governor, conceded the race early.
“It was too difficult to overcome
an incumbent with all his (finan
cial) resources,” Ballantine said
after his concession speech.
Back in the winner’s circle, N.C.
Democratic Party Chairwoman
Barbara Allen said Easley has
proven himself by leading the state
through adverse budget conditions
and advocating innovative educa
tion initiatives.
“He sees the upturn (in the
economy),” she said.
“And education will be in the
forefront of his administration.
We need early education. He will
focus on retooling, retraining the
work force finding not just jobs,
but good jobs.”
After months of bitter cam
paigning and mudslinging,
Republican Rep. Richard Burr
defeated Democrat Erskine
Bowles to become the state’s
junior senator.
With 99 percent of precincts
reporting, Burr won 52 percent
of the popular vote Tuesday, while
Bowles won 47 percent.
“Today is a special day for me,
and I want to thank everyone who
believed in my candidacy,” Burr the
more than 500 people attending the
victory party at the Bridger Field
House at Wake Forest University’s
Groves Stadium.
“I feel fortunate and blessed to be
standing in front of you as winner of
the North Carolina Senate race.”
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DTH FILE PHOTO/SARA LEWKOWICZ
Newly elected Republican Richard Burr hugs U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole
during his acceptance speech at Wake Forest University on Election Day.
Bowles, also surrounded by
family and friends, took the stage
10 minutes later at the Raleigh
Convention Center to congratulate
Burr on his win.
This latest attempt at the
Senate is the second for Bowles.
Though he has been a major actor
in successful campaigns, such as
President Clinton’s 1992 bid for the
White House, he has yet to secure
an elected office for himself.
It was a close race to the end.
According to a Mason-Dixon poll
published Friday, Bowles and Burr
were separated by just three-tenths
of a percentage point.
North Carolina will now have
two Republican senators. Sen.
Elizabeth Dole defeated Bowles in
the 2002 election for Senate.
In the race for the 4th District of
the U.S. House, Rep. David Price
cruised to re-election over the back
of Republican Todd Batchelor.
Batchelor, a political newcom
er, was no match for the longtime
congressman, who won his ninth
(Eljp Hatty (Ear Mrri
term —and his fifth straight by
gamering more than 60 percent of
the vote.
The 4th District encom
passes the entirety of Orange
and Durham counties, a chunk
of Wake County and a sliver of
Chatham County.
In the state Senate, Sen.
Elbe Kinnaird, D-Orange, beat
out Republican Robert “Whit”
Whitfield in the race for the 23rd
District.
The win was long anticipated
but not guaranteed.
Redistricting made a victory
slightly tougher for the fourth-term
senator. Orange County remained
in her territory, but predominately
Democratic Chatham County was
replaced by Person County, a fairly
conservative area.
Finally, in the race for the state
House, Rep. Verla Insko won re
election. No one ran against her.
Contact the State & National
Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.