ducks
11-03-2004, 02:59 AM
Bush Says He Believes He'll Win Re-Election
By SCOTT LINDLAW, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - All smiles and no swagger, President Bush (news - web sites) surrounded himself with relatives and friends in the familiar comforts of the White House as he waited to see if his fate would duplicate his father's. He predicted otherwise. "I believe I will win, thank you very much," he said late Tuesday night.
All Election Coverage
"I feel good about it, I'm glad to be watching the returns here with my family and friends," Bush said. "It's going to be an exciting evening."
The mood at the White House brightened noticeably in the wee hours of Wednesday morning as critical states fell Bush's way. The administration kept up a public silence even as some aides quietly opened celebratory bottles of white wine. Aides told the president they believed he had captured Ohio, key to the race.
The president voted one last time for himself in his tiny Central Texas hometown of Crawford, made a quick stop in Ohio to pump up get-out-the-vote troops and was welcomed back to the White House by hundreds of flag-waving, cheering staffers — and his dog.
Thirteen hours later, sitting alongside family in the White House residence, the 43rd president monitored the voters' verdict on whether he would get a second term, a prize coveted all the more as it was denied his father, the 41st.
The senior George Bush (news - web sites) was on the couch in the West Sitting Room with his sons and daughter, and their spouses. President Bush sat in an overstuffed green chair, a twin daughter at each shoulder.
Also on hand: Laura Bush, nephew Sam LeBlond, sister Doro Koch, Neil Bush and his wife Maria and family friend Lois Betts. The president spoke to brother Jeb, the governor of Florida, by phone as that state hung in the balance.
As his dog eyed the reporters and photographers, Bush said, "Barney, you have something to say?"
Bush joked with journalists invited for a rare — and very brief — visit to the president's living quarters.
"Why don't you all take the rest of the evening off?" he said.
But his own staff members were still buzzing through the corridors as the clock approached 10 p.m. Top aides gathered in the Roosevelt Room, including chief of staff Andy Card, national security adviser Condoleezza Rice (news - web sites) and communications director Dan Bartlett and counselor Karen Hughes. They were trolling for results on computers and three TVs.
Downstairs, in the Old Family Dining Hall, political adviser Karl Rove tracked results. Bush and Rove trekked up and down that staircase throughout the night, Rove briefing the president on the latest trends and returns.
Winding up the long campaign, Bush made one final visit to Ohio — a state that every successful Republican presidential candidate has carried.
"We campaigned as hard as we possibly could," Bush said at his campaign headquarters in Columbus.
Ohio, for example, one of several make-or-break states, received presidential visits 33 times during Bush's term. On Tuesday's final pre-election stop, Bush got on the phone himself to persuade voters to go to the polls. "I promise you, it's me," he said to a doubting supporter on the other end of the line. "One to nothing," he quipped to reporters after he hung up.
His voice was a little croaky after weeks of frantic campaigning, capped by seven speeches on Monday's 19-hour odyssey.
Despite the punishing campaign regimen, voters signaled they were ready for a change in military direction. A majority of those surveyed in exit polls said they thought things were going badly for the United States in Iraq (news - web sites), and those voters heavily favored Kerry.
The president carefully tended to his core conservative supporters for nearly four years, and it paid off. Bush carried white men and weekly churchgoers, and Bush voters said moral values and terrorism were the issues that mattered most.
Bush got about four in 10 Hispanic voters, improving his performance in a key group he has targeted for four years. His political advisers were aiming to improve from 35 percent in 2000 to about 40 percent. Three-fourths of white voters who described themselves as born-again Christians or evangelicals supported Bush.
Bush's vice president, Dick Cheney (news - web sites), voted near his home in Wyoming and headed back to Washington, too — with a stop in Wisconsin to declare one last time that the election was "more important than any in my lifetime."
After he voted, he said, "When you start a day like this in Jackson Hole, it's going to be a good day." He watched returns from the vice president's residence in northwest Washington.
By SCOTT LINDLAW, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - All smiles and no swagger, President Bush (news - web sites) surrounded himself with relatives and friends in the familiar comforts of the White House as he waited to see if his fate would duplicate his father's. He predicted otherwise. "I believe I will win, thank you very much," he said late Tuesday night.
All Election Coverage
"I feel good about it, I'm glad to be watching the returns here with my family and friends," Bush said. "It's going to be an exciting evening."
The mood at the White House brightened noticeably in the wee hours of Wednesday morning as critical states fell Bush's way. The administration kept up a public silence even as some aides quietly opened celebratory bottles of white wine. Aides told the president they believed he had captured Ohio, key to the race.
The president voted one last time for himself in his tiny Central Texas hometown of Crawford, made a quick stop in Ohio to pump up get-out-the-vote troops and was welcomed back to the White House by hundreds of flag-waving, cheering staffers — and his dog.
Thirteen hours later, sitting alongside family in the White House residence, the 43rd president monitored the voters' verdict on whether he would get a second term, a prize coveted all the more as it was denied his father, the 41st.
The senior George Bush (news - web sites) was on the couch in the West Sitting Room with his sons and daughter, and their spouses. President Bush sat in an overstuffed green chair, a twin daughter at each shoulder.
Also on hand: Laura Bush, nephew Sam LeBlond, sister Doro Koch, Neil Bush and his wife Maria and family friend Lois Betts. The president spoke to brother Jeb, the governor of Florida, by phone as that state hung in the balance.
As his dog eyed the reporters and photographers, Bush said, "Barney, you have something to say?"
Bush joked with journalists invited for a rare — and very brief — visit to the president's living quarters.
"Why don't you all take the rest of the evening off?" he said.
But his own staff members were still buzzing through the corridors as the clock approached 10 p.m. Top aides gathered in the Roosevelt Room, including chief of staff Andy Card, national security adviser Condoleezza Rice (news - web sites) and communications director Dan Bartlett and counselor Karen Hughes. They were trolling for results on computers and three TVs.
Downstairs, in the Old Family Dining Hall, political adviser Karl Rove tracked results. Bush and Rove trekked up and down that staircase throughout the night, Rove briefing the president on the latest trends and returns.
Winding up the long campaign, Bush made one final visit to Ohio — a state that every successful Republican presidential candidate has carried.
"We campaigned as hard as we possibly could," Bush said at his campaign headquarters in Columbus.
Ohio, for example, one of several make-or-break states, received presidential visits 33 times during Bush's term. On Tuesday's final pre-election stop, Bush got on the phone himself to persuade voters to go to the polls. "I promise you, it's me," he said to a doubting supporter on the other end of the line. "One to nothing," he quipped to reporters after he hung up.
His voice was a little croaky after weeks of frantic campaigning, capped by seven speeches on Monday's 19-hour odyssey.
Despite the punishing campaign regimen, voters signaled they were ready for a change in military direction. A majority of those surveyed in exit polls said they thought things were going badly for the United States in Iraq (news - web sites), and those voters heavily favored Kerry.
The president carefully tended to his core conservative supporters for nearly four years, and it paid off. Bush carried white men and weekly churchgoers, and Bush voters said moral values and terrorism were the issues that mattered most.
Bush got about four in 10 Hispanic voters, improving his performance in a key group he has targeted for four years. His political advisers were aiming to improve from 35 percent in 2000 to about 40 percent. Three-fourths of white voters who described themselves as born-again Christians or evangelicals supported Bush.
Bush's vice president, Dick Cheney (news - web sites), voted near his home in Wyoming and headed back to Washington, too — with a stop in Wisconsin to declare one last time that the election was "more important than any in my lifetime."
After he voted, he said, "When you start a day like this in Jackson Hole, it's going to be a good day." He watched returns from the vice president's residence in northwest Washington.