Nation spellbound as election looms: Fight for White House virtual dead heat with two days to go
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The final days of the presidential election have provided a minefield of obstacles as President Bush and challenger John Kerry battle for the country’s most prominent job.
With political experts saying the race is still too close to call, the country is dangling with suspense as voters prepare to flock to the polls Tuesday to decide the presidency.
Early voting has already seen record numbers, both in Warren County and the state. A total of 7,960 people voted early in the county with about 1.13 million residents voting early in the state.
It sets the stage for an election which likely won’t be decided until well into the night Tuesday, or even into the early morning hours Wednesday.
Locally, representatives from the Republican and Democratic parties both felt confident about the chances of their candidates.
“Bush has talked about safety since 9-11,” said Democratic party chairman Paul Davis. “But he hasn’t talked much about the fact he was president during 9-11. What did he do to protect the country from that?”
Republican party chairman Charlie Moss countered that America is as safe as ever.
“Every week since 9-11 there should have been newspaper headlines that said ‘No bombings in the United States,'” said Moss. “People are going to vote for Bush for the safety of this country. You can’t have jobs and lower taxes if you’re not alive.”
Davis says jobs are always an essential issue and pointed to the fact there are fewer jobs in this country today than when Bush took office.
“It’s time we took a new route,” said Davis. “We had to pull George W’s daddy after his first term and bring in Clinton to straighten the country out, and we need to do the same thing now. If people want to work, if they want a job and want to take care of their family, they better vote Democrat.”
While Tennessee has historically been a Republican state, that leaning hasn’t been apparent in Warren County where Democrats have dominated. Moss said that trend is about to change.
“We’re going to see a big change in Warren County after Tuesday when people get out to vote for our Republican candidates,” said Moss. “The strength of the Bush campaign is the war in Iraq. People aren’t going to shift and turn to a person with no backbone at this point. They want to see a democracy established there.”