I think it was a go signal..
....it was a plea for negotiations to end hostilities ("Americans have the power[VOTE]..." or
It was a not so subtle threat to vote for sKerry.
Entirely possible.
There's no doubt, though, that bin Laden timed this for the election in an attempt to influence it. He knew when the Spanish were holding their elections, also.
I would like to hope that bin Laden was unable to effectively organize an attack on America before Tuesday, and this was the best he could do.
I'm not confident of that, though, and I think the next four days could be very dangerous. Even more so, if this was a go signal.
It's possible the State Department tried to suppress this message because they shared your concern. I have my doubts. Unfortunately, this administration is absolutely hamstrung in its ability to publicly raise the threat level because it would be politically spun against them. It doesn't matter. The threat level just went up in the minds of Americans far more than any color change could have accomplished.
Election day bombings in swing states?
What would we do? Nobody has the authority to cancel elections.
Or it could be, since he couldn't deliver an attack, he delivered a threat.