BUSH WINS!

The Honorable Andrew Card made a statement to supporters gathered at the Bush Victory celebration this morning:

“Thank you very much.

“I want to thank all of you for staying up so late with us and good morning. I'm Andy Card, I’m President Bush's Chief of Staff.

“We are convinced that President Bush has won re-election with at least 286 Electoral College votes.

“And he also had a margin of more than 3.5 million popular votes.

“President Bush's decisive margin of victory makes this the first presidential election since 1988 in which the winner received a majority of the popular vote.

“And in this election President Bush received more votes than any presidential candidate in our country's history.

“Republicans also scored other great victories in this election. We won important victories adding to our majority in the House and adding to our majority in the Senate.

“In Ohio, President Bush has a lead of at least 140,000 votes. The Secretary of State's office has informed us that this margin is statistically insurmountable even after the provisional ballots are considered. So, President Bush has won the state of Ohio.

“President Bush has also been declared the winner in Nevada. The other victories that he has had will be added with the strong showing of margins that we are looking at in Iowa and New Mexico and we’re also going to put those states in the winner's column as well. This all adds up to a convincing Electoral College victory as well as a strong endorsement of President Bush by his fellow Americans in the popular vote.

“President Bush decided to give Senator Kerry the respect of more time to reflect on the results of this election. The President will be making a statement later today. Again I thank all of you who stayed up these many hours waiting for the opportunity to celebrate this victory. And I also thank all of the volunteers all across this great country that worked so hard. But, most importantly, I thank the many voters who participated in this important election. It was a great celebration of our democracy. Thank you and God bless you.”