Republicans Declare Obama the Favorite

While Republican presidential candidate John McCain and his advisors, despite trailing in the polls, claim that undecided voters could bring them an unexpected victory, the most well-known Republican electoral strategist Karl Rove on Tuesday already published a forecast of a decisive victory for Democrat Barack Obama on his website.

Karl Rove, considered the chief architect of George W. Bush’s two electoral victories in 2000 and 2004, predicted that Obama, a 47-year-old African American senator from Illinois, would win the race for the White House with a commanding number of Electoral College votes, securing 338 to 200 votes for McCain. This would be the most convincing victory by the number of electoral votes since 1996, when Democrat Bill Clinton defeated Republican Robert Dole with 379 to 159 votes. Each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia has a different number of electoral votes, depending on population and representation in Congress, totaling 538, of which 270 are needed to win. On his electoral map of the U.S., the former Bush chief advisor predicts Obama’s victory in several key ‘swing states’ that were the focus of both campaigns, including all states where polls give Obama at least a minimal advantage.

Rove thus predicts Obama’s victory in Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Colorado, New Mexico, Minnesota, Iowa, and traditionally Republican Virginia. On the other hand, he gives McCain victory only in Missouri. Furthermore, this election has certainly been marked by a true siege of polling places, which has also led to numerous malfunctions in the electronic voting system, a traditionally sensitive element in U.S. presidential elections. Such turnout at the polls has not been seen before. ‘I got up in the morning, got ready quickly, and went to vote. I thought I would be done in a few minutes as always. But when I arrived, it was complete madness, the line seemed endless,’ said one voter.

Moreover, three-quarters of American voters say that the outcome of this year’s presidential election is more important to them than in any previous year, according to a Gallup Institute survey published on Tuesday. The results show the growing importance of the election for Americans, which partly explains the higher voter turnout in the 2004 elections, which is expected to be surpassed this year. In 2004, 64 percent of eligible residents, or 126 million people, participated in the elections, while this year 130 to 140 million voters are expected. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there were 142 million registered American voters in 2004, while this year their number exceeds 153 million. Looking at party affiliation, Democrats outnumber Republicans, with 80 to 74 percent, among those who attribute increased importance to the outcome of this year’s elections. (Dnevnik Nove TV)