The Dem wins California, New York, Illinois(?), Mass & some other NE states.
Battlegound states = Ohio, Michigan & West Virginia where the ecomomy continues to spiral downward. OH & MI both full of electoral votes.
"I'd rather be in our shoes than theirs, but it's also true that the country's very closely divided on a party basis, and if both sides consolidate their bases, it's going to be a close race," he said. "The president has an advantage, but it's not a huge advantage."
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In fact, the economy has lost about 2.3 million jobs under Bush, the worst job creation record of any president since Herbert Hoover.
Bush is ticking off his base on two fronts: 1) out-of-control deficit spending; and 2) a radical amnesty plan to legalize millions of illegal immigrants and to hugely increase immigration levels. It makes me ill that Bush is proposing the latter when millions of Americans have lost their jobs.
If Bush and Rove think that they will win this November in a walk anyway, I guess they won't lose any sleep over the disaffection of many in the Republican base.
But if Black is being serious, and the 2004 election is expected to be a cliff-hanger like 2000 was, Bush had better think long and hard about the problems his spending and amnesty plan are causing among people who would otherwise consider him the obvious choice in an election against a Democrat.
The recession on Bush I's watch ended 18 months before the election in 1992, but the media (and Bush I) allowed Clinton to get away "it's the economy, stupid!" and "this is the worst economy since the great depression!"
Bush I surrounded himself with negative people (Dick Darman) too willing to accept the Demo view of the world. Bush I was also the antithesis of a "visionary" -- I really feel he was happy to see the end of his presidency. Clinton didn't win; Bush was fired.
This George W. Bush is a visionary and a man of much more principle than his father -- his father would have been pushed around by a Paul O'Neil. GWB put his programs on the table when he ran against the boob, Gore, and he has the temerity to push for the passage of that program in the 4 years that followed. Who knew he would inherit the biggest market meltdown since the great depression, and the most severe corporate scandals in recent history, and a pretty severe recession, and the terrorist attacks on 9-11-01? Thank Bill Clinton for all those challenges... all those cans kicked down the road... Bill Clinton's famous "Bridge to the 21st Century"!