Frenzied rush for votes in election finale

Press, 9 November 1988, Page 10

Frenzied rush for votes in election finale

NZPA-AP Washington Nearly two years of campaigning come to an end for George Bush and Michael Dukakis today as the United States votes for a new President.

With the opening of the polls only hours away the candidates engaged in a frenetic cross-country chase for the votes that would seal them victory. All indicators pointed to the Republican, George Bush, winning the election in spite of a late charge by the Democrat candidate who yesterday was claiming the race was “getting tighter by the hour.” In a desperate sprint he hoped would bring "a November surprise,” Mr Dukakis criss-crossed the United States with election rallies being held from the early hours of the morning throughout the day and into the night. Yesterday, the Massachusetts governor and one-time Boston marathon runner literally chased the sun westwards towards California and its possibly decisive 47 electoral college votes before heading back east again

towards his home base of Boston with a rally planned for Des Moines, lowa, along the way. Between Sunday and yesterday, Mr Dukakis appeared in 11 cities in nine states — Colorado, Oregon, Washington, Ohio, Missouri, California, lowa, Michigan and Massachusetts. “They talk a lot about October surprises, tomorrow we’re going to have a November surprise. This race is very, very tight and it’s getting tighter by the hour,” he told a cheering crowd. Mr Bush had not quite as hectic a _ schedule, helped by having President Ronald Reagan campaigning on his behalf in California, but he also headed across country towards his election day base of Houston, Texas. He promised to “keep America moving” as its next President.

“This is not time for the United States to turn dramatically Left,” he told jubilant supporters in Michigan. Both candidates were having a final pitch at the voters yesterday with back-to-back 30-minute television commercials. Mr Bush has been aided in the final days of the wearing campaign by a' range of polls showing him retaining about a 10 point margin over Mr Dukakis, although there is a spread between four and 12 points. A Gallup poll taken between November 3 and November 5 showed Mr Bush with a 12 point lead, while a new Harris poll out yesterday shows the gap at four percentage points (Bush 50 per cent, Dukakis 46). The variance between the surveys is caused by different methods of identifying likely voters.