Bush's chances of victory look much higher as of this morning. According to the results of counting over 60% of the votes, he is ahead of John Kerry by 55 electoral votes.
According to Fox News, Bush has collected 269 electoral votes, and he needs just one more vote to win. John Kerry currently has 211 electoral votes.
Recall that to win the presidential elections, a candidate needs to secure the votes of at least 270 members of the Electoral College out of 538.
The Electoral College consists of representatives from 50 states and the District of Columbia. All electoral votes from a given state go to the candidate who won the popular vote in that state or district. If neither candidate secures 270 votes, the winner will be determined by a vote in Congress, which is currently controlled by the Republicans.
According to data as of Wednesday morning, Bush is winning in the southern and central states, Kerry — in the Northeast and a small number of southern states.
So far, the president has received more votes in South Carolina, Virginia, Georgia, Kentucky, Alabama, Arkansas, Tennessee, Louisiana, Mississippi, Indiana, Oklahoma, Missouri, Nebraska, Kansas, Wyoming, Montana, Colorado, South and North Dakota, Utah, Idaho, Arizona and, naturally, in his home state of Texas.
Kerry is winning in New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Vermont, Delaware, Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Oregon, the District of Columbia, and, like Bush, in his home state of Massachusetts. Conclusions are being drawn based on analysis of exit polls and, as CNN reports, "other data."
In 14 states representing 151 electors, neither of the rivals has yet achieved a decisive advantage. It is impossible to say with certainty which of the candidates won in Ohio and Florida (47 electors combined here), as well as in Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota (27 electors combined).
Despite the fierce struggle in key states, analysts are making predictions. According to AP, John Kerry has pulled ahead in the states of Minnesota and Washington.
CNN, however, has not yet confirmed this information. But this TV channel has projected Bush's victory in West Virginia and even North Carolina, the home state of the Democratic vice-presidential candidate John Edwards. According to the same projections, Kerry is not yet leading but should win in California and Minnesota.
Bush's advantage may be offset after the vote count in key states. However, even here the situation is not entirely rosy for the Democratic camp. According to the latest Reuters data, Bush is still winning the vote in Florida, the state with the largest number of electors (27).
However, many American media outlets are in no hurry to declare Bush the winner in Florida. Everyone remembers the 2000 elections, when the vote count in the state dragged on for several weeks and the winner was ultimately determined by the country's Supreme Court.
Many observers recall that this year thousands of Floridians voted early, and their votes have not yet been counted. The vote count could be complicated by high turnout. According to Drudgereport, 120 million Americans have already voted.
It appears that Democrats are losing hope of winning in another key state, Ohio (with 20 electors). There, after counting 67% of ballots, Bush is ahead of Kerry by more than 100,000 votes. The head of the Democrats' election headquarters, Mary Beth Cahill, urged journalists not to rush to conclusions about Ohio.
"The vote count in Ohio is not finished. More than 250,000 votes remain to be counted. We hope that after they are counted, John Kerry will win in Ohio," the statement says. The struggle continues for Ohio, as well as Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Nevada, Iowa, New Hampshire and New Mexico. The undisputed leader here is not yet known.