The morning after...

• Yawnaroonie!



• I stayed up until about 5AM, until it was certain there would be neither a late election night concession nor a declaration of victory. It was also certain by that time that John Kerry had about as much chance of getting elected as I did.



• I just heard on MSNBC that Kerry has made The Phone Call. I’m very relieved that he has decided to opt for a “more sensitive” resolution. I expect he’ll be praised for this “gracious” act, but it’s not particularly such. What choice does he have? To prolong this in the face of clear defeat would be politically stupid and mean spirited. That said, I wasn’t at all sure he would do the right thing. And that said, it is good for our collective souls that he be called gracious.



• With the specter of challenges and provisional votes looming over the Ohio returns late last night, it was amusing to watch the different networks squirming to devise ways to avoid declaring a winner. None of them wanted to be on record as having called the winner only to have their call overturned in a week or two.
  
  Fox called Ohio surprisingly quickly after being hyper-cautious for most of the night. I thought they’d never call Florida. Then, after seeming eager to get Bush to the threshold and wrap things up, they sat on their hands, refusing to call Nevada, which was a clear Bush win.
  
  MSNBC took a similar tact, hanging back on Ohio until Fox took the leap, then quickly following suit. They continued to emulate Fox, failing to call another state.
  
  CNN chose a different path, electing to call just about every state except Ohio, even when it was beyond clear that Ohio was settled and not even provisional ballots could save Kerry’s hopes.
  
  I don’t blame the networks for playing these games at the end. They blew it big time in 2000. There was simply no way they could take a chance on declaring a winner to have it overturned later. I think CNN’s approach made the most sense; any extra-electoral efforts would clearly involve Ohio, so it made sense to leave it for last. I do think all three networks should have come clean about what they were doing, however. They should have explained that, although the raw data indicated a comfortable Bush victory, it wasn’t yet official and that the responsible thing to do is to wait to hear from the Kerry camp before making a final pronouncement. I think viewers would have understood this, and respected it.



• It wasn’t the victory I expected or hoped for. I predicted that Bush would win by five percent or more. I expected him to win 38 states and optimistically predicted he would win 40. I’m happy Bush won; I am confident that his re-election is best for the country and the world. But I’m dismayed that so many people share a view of the world that I find so naïve and misguided.



• That said, I am heartened that the victory was a comfortable one—with an absolute majority, a 4 million vote margin, and the President’s party gaining ground in both the House and the Senate. I say this not because I am a Republican; I have reservations over the prospect of one party holding sway over all three branches of government. I believe in conservative principles, but it remains to be seen whether this party will wield their power responsibly.
  
  I am cheered by the comfortable victory because the nation needs it. We can scarcely afford another four years of widespread pettiness and challenges to legitimacy. There will be plenty of that, to be sure, but perhaps now the more moderate voices of the liberal fold will be heard once again. More importantly, I strongly believe in the vision of this President. I’m hopeful that the ratification not only of the man but of the party as a whole will impart a tailwind to his efforts in facing the difficult challenges ahead.