The Washington Post’s website is currently reporting Bush as having 190 electoral votes and Kerry as having 112. Bush with 51% popular vote, Kerry with 48% of the popular vote. Their map shows blue versus red states. Blue states are basically the Northeast, plus Illinois. Red states have a bingo run from North Dakota down to Texas. Just looking at the map, Kerry looks like he’s gotten swashed with a red paint brush. I keep refreshing the map, though, looking to see when Pennsylvania, Ohio, Colorado, Wisconsin, and Florida turn colors. They’re still holding out.

In full disclosure, I voted for Kerry. Bush’s record on too many things comes up negative, and his tax cut plan just ring true for me. Folks who earn more money should pay more taxes, plain and simple. Kerry’s boundaries for where he’d roll back Bush’s tax plan don’t go far enough, in my opinion. We have a budget deficit. A Social Security morass. A war, for gosh sake. Cutting taxes isn’t stimulating the economy, particularly in a climate where the job outlook is cautious. Jobs are there, but the market isn’t booming, so you don’t have that same sense of self-confidence that you’d find something immediately, that you don’t need as much of a cushion to tide you over. So, a little more money goes into the savings account rather than into my taxes. Locked away, not to be spent by me or anyone else to stimulate the economy. No one benefits (not even me, given the lousy interest rates given our various deficits) from that money. No economic stimulation. And no social programs funded to help someone else bootstrap. Seems wrong all the way around.

Map’s beginning to show a bit more blue. Bush lost California (that’s gotta smart to Ahhh-nold) and Pennsylvania. Count’s 210 to 188. Better than watching the stock ticker scroll. No down numbers – only up, up, and up.