Reply #76: 2004 results quite different from 2000 [View All]

Gore won the popular vote and the vote in FL differed by only a few thousand out of 6 million. Under those circumstances, Gore was right to challenge the FL vote. Ultimately the varioius recounts, including the later one by the Wash. Post/LA Times/ NY Times concurred that Bush won FL by less than a thousand votes.

This time, Bush won the pop. vote by 3.5 million. Not a landslide, but impressive, esp. given the high turnout. In OH, Bush won by 136,000 - a far bigger spread than in FL in 2000. Even if Kerry could turn the OH vote around, he still would have lost the pop. vote by a significant margin.

Kerry's situation was quite different from Gore's and explains why Kerry conceded. Kerry is a gentleman who considered that a clear pop./electoral decision for Bush was better for the country than a narrow, lawyered Kerry victory in the electoral college and a wide loss of the pop. vote.

Kerry acted in the best interest of the country, not for his personal best interest.