Juan Cole

Pennsylvania for Kerry? Suburbs? Kerry did amazingly well in exit polls in Philadelphia suburbs, according to AP. That could easily offset the Bush vote in the “T.” This report is one of the few detailed accounts of voting trends in one of the contested states, aside from New Jersey, which turns out not to have […]

At last! Jon Stewart is on the Comedy Channel Nothing much is moving with regard to calling important states. The next poll closings are not until 11:00 EST. The easy things to call are the solid blue and red states. The networks are afraid of making major errors, as they had in 2000, so they […]

Arab-Americans vote in Large Numbers I’m watching al-Jazeera, which is broadcasting from Dearborn. The guests are saying that the Arab-Americans came out to vote in very large numbers. A Chaldean Christian representative is saying that his community favors Bush, because his Iraq team is already in place, whereas Kerry would take six or seven months […]

Virginia, North Carolina for Bush CNN is calling Virginia and NC for Bush. CNN’s exit polling seems to show Bush doing well in central Florida. Ohio, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Wisconsin are all the more important for Kerry.

New Jersey CNN is calling New Jersey for Kerry. It had recently been thought to be in play. CNN is also saying that New Jerseyans who were concerned about terrorism (NJ lost the second largest number of victims in 9/11) nevertheless supported Kerry by a fair margin. At least in NJ, Bush got no bounce […]

New Minorities and the Election South Asian Americans include people from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Nepal, etc. In swing states like Ohio, they could be a factor, and some observers suggest that they are breaking heavily for Kerry. Likewise, the Council on American Islamic Relations is reporting by email that exit polls show […]

Voting Turnout Enormous Voting turnout in Minnesota is so high that it may put in doubt the 1956 record of 83 percent. You have to go back, in other words, to the time of Eisenhower and Stevenson, just after Eisenhower’s heart attack raised questions about his presidency, to find a time when so many Minnesotans […]

Bin Laden’s Audio: Threat to States? A complete English transcript of the Bin Laden audiotape released last week has now been posted by al-Jazeera. The Arabic text, for those who can use it, has also been posted. A re-interpretation of the speech, put in motion by the neoconservative organ, MEMRI, has been flying around the […]

20 Killed or Wounded at Education Ministry Bombing 6 Hostages Taken Guerrillas detonated a car bomb outside the Ministry of Education in Baghdad on Monday, killing at least 5 persons and wounding at least 15. It badly damaged the government building and destroyed several vehicles in the street outside. Guerrillas invaded the office of a […]