GET OUT AND VOTE
NOVEMBER 2, 2004

November 1, 2004 – For the past few months America has been inundated with non-stop political campaigning from Senator John Kerry and President George Bush. Tomorrow, the two candidates' efforts will culminate in one of the closest presidential races in recent memory. In this type of election, every individual vote counts.

Pre-election polls have continued to show a close race between the incumbent and the challenger. An average of four major tracking polls released over the weekend (Rasmussen, Zogby, the Washington Post , and USA Today /CNN/Gallup) show Bush with 48.25% of the popular vote and Kerry with 47.75%. These results show a statistical dead heat for the presidency. Both candidates realize the importance of each vote and they have diverted enormous resources to mobilize their voters on Election Day. President Bush has spent $125 million on voter outreach alone, three times what he spent in 2000. Senator Kerry has spent $60 million; double the amount Al Gore spent the last election.

The race will be decided in the battleground states of Florida , Ohio , Wisconsin , Iowa , Minnesota , New Hampshire , Pennsylvania , and New Mexico . According to the most recent Washington Post poll, these states are living up to their name. The combined popular vote favors Kerry by only two points. In the other states, the combined vote will favor Bush by only one point. The battleground states account for 104 electoral votes, both candidates need to win some of them to win the election.