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Show ifw'a DAILY HERALD Wednesday, November 3, 2004 agtS ACROSS THE NATION OVET!T.T?Tg Daschle trailing in tigjit South Daliota race; WASHINGTON Senate Minority Leader Thomas A. Daschle. was in a dead heat with his Republican challenger late Tuesday night, as the race was virtually tied with just more than 62 percent of the votes in South Dakota counted across the state. The Senate race was too dose to call as of midnight as President Bush pulled away with South Dakota's three electoral votes. With more than 21 5,000 ballots counted, Daschle was losing his race, by 2,100 votes, or less than 1 percent of the total. , Daschle's race against Republican challerfger , John Thune, a former member of the U.5. House, has been an battle, with the two candidates spending more than $40 million in a seesaw of bitter political advertising that has dominated the local airwaves. Daschle's apparent vulnerability has made South Dakota's Senate race central to the fight for control of the Senate and has lured massive national efforts to keep him in his seat, and to push him out Daschle is the first member of the Senate leadership from lightly populated South Dakota, all-o- ut : - which now enjoys a relatively significant amount of power on the national political scene. Daschle has won his three Senate terms in the heavily Republican plains state by carrying nearly 20 percent of the GOP vote, a group of voters he is relying on to send him back to Washington. Should Daschle fail in his bid, he would be the first Senate leader to lose a campaign since Republican Barry Goldwater unseated Sen- -; ate Majority Leader Ernest W.Mcfarland,D-Ariz- , in 1952, winning by just 7,000 votes. -- Washington Post MARCH) JOSE SANCHEZ Associated Pness Voter choices on state measures 1 ! vrTi, I v 4 I T i : I ; David Crary 1 .fn,,i j J ij nn.n; ,i, .. i 1 i,f ixi '; iii IB. i.i,.i.i,.lii)iiiii..nr THE 1 7 t . i,.C f .... 'ovr v 1 .... . , , BRUCE ELYThe Oregonian a cell phone after learning that measure 36 would pass. Oregonians approved a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage Tuesday, handing a crushing defeat to national and state gay rights groups that had pinned their hopes on Oregon. Sarah Tomchesson, left, waits with her partner Gene de Haan as she talks on states OK saiiie-se- x 11 David Crary THE ASSOCIATED PRESS In a resounding, rejection of gay marriage, voters in 11 states approved constitutional amendments Tuesday limiting marriage to one man and one woman. The amendments won, often by huge margins, in Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Ohio, Utah and Oregon the one state where activists hoped to prevail. The bans won by a margin in Ken- in tucky, Georgia and Arkansas, in Mississippi. Ohio, and "This issue does not deeply divide America," said conservative activist Gary Bauer. "The country overwhelmingly rejects same-se- x marriage, and our hope is that both politicians and activist judges will read these results and take them to heart." Gay rights leaders were dismayed by the results but declared that their struggle for marriage equality would continue unabated. "Fundamental human rights should never be put up for a popular vote," said Matt Foreman of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. "We'll win some states and we'll lose some states, but eventually the Supreme Court is going to look at the Bill of Rights and isn't going to give a damn what's in any of these state constitutions." In Georgia, Ohio and Mississippi, activists were considering court challenges of the newly approved amendments. But supporters of the bans were jubilant. "I've said all along that this crossed party lines, color lines and socic-eccoast-to-coa- st gay-righ- ts -l gay-righ- o- ts marriage bans x stay-at-ho- ts g Mon-Orego- n, TV networks proceed carefully with rebuilt exit polling David Bauder ' I. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Mindful of NEW YORK the spectacular failure of their blown calls four years ago, television networks proceeded with caution as election results came in Tuesday. There were concerns, however, that the earh exit polls ' they commissioned had indicated John Kerry would do better than he appeared to be faring as actual vote counts came in. Five TV news organizations and The Associated Press formed the National Election Pool to conduct exit polls of ' voters, while the AP was supplying actual vote counts from across the nation. The networks blamed bad information from an old system for twice prematurely declaring a winner in Florida in 2000 the second time awarding the presidency to George W. Bush weeks before it was settled When the 2004 results are completely known, the networks will look at whether this year's exit polls overestimated Democratic vote counts, said Bill Wheatley, NBC News vice president. But he noted that the networks telied on real vote counts to make their calls in contested states. "I think it would be premature to say that we had any substantial problems," Wheatley said. Before polls had closed, the exit poll information that had once been available only to a privileged few was racing around the Internet. Television reporters tried, with varying degrees of success, not to re-fleet that information so as not to influence voters. Those early numbers looked so positive for Kerry that Fox News Channel analyst Jim Pinkerton, at 3:30 p.m. EST, said, "I think it looks good for angry Democrats. And on evening news programs, some correspondents subtly telegraphed the polls. NBCs David Gregory said Bush' "appeared subdued," while ABCs Terry Mo?9h noted the president had expressed a "rare sense of doubt." Later on Fox, analysts talked openly about how some actual results contradicted exit polls numbers. "Either the exit polls are completely wrong," Fox analyst Susan Estrich said, "or George Bush loses," It wasnt until four hours into the coverage, when the major networks put Pennsylvania in Kerry's corner, that any of the ' big battleground states had been called. "Going into this we said it would be clos,e, and we didnt lie," said Tom Brokaw, who was anchoring NBCs election coverage for the final time. He steps down as "Nightly News" anchor on Dec. 1. Although networks called states where there was little doubt quickly and consistently, there was little of the often visible on election nights. Rivals waited nearly 30 minutes, for instance, to join CBS inputting Virginia and North Carolina in Bush's ss column. Calif ornians voted Tuesday to spend $3 billion on stem cell research, putting the state on the cutting edge of a field questioned by conservatives and the Bush administration. Arizonans approved a crackdown on illegal immigrants, adopting a measure that would deter them from voting or obtaining certain government services. Montana: The state became the 10th state to legalize marijuana for medical purposes, and Oklahoma voters approved a state lottery, leaving only nine states without one. In all, 163 measures were on the ballots in 34 states. California: Backers of Proposition 71, which will support human embryonic stem cell research, said the measure was needed because the Bush administration has restricted funding to about $25 million a year. The campaign became a battle of Hollywood stars after Arnold Schwarzenegger broke Republican ranks to line up in support with late "Superman" actor Christopher Reeve and "Family Ties" actor Michael J. Fox. Actor and director Mel Gibe son was among foes of the measure. Arizona: The state immigration initiative the first of its kind in the nation was touted by supporters as a way to curtail fraud by requiring people to produce proof of immigration status when obtaining certain government services. It would punish state workers who looked the other way. "People understand at a gut level that we've got a problem with illegal immigration and we've got to address it," said Randy Pullen, a leading supporter of Proposition 200. Arizona is the busiest illegal entry point on the border, and spends millions annually to provide food stamps, welfare and other social services to illegal immigrants. Florida: Residents voted to raiserte state's minimum wage to $615 an hour, a dollar higher than the federal minimum wage. A similar measure was on Nevada's ballot. Florida voters also approved a measure limiting the privacy rights of girls seeking abortions, meaning the Legislature can now pass a law requiring parents to be notified. Lawmakers had been stymied in efforts to pass such a law by court rulings that say they violated the privacy provision of the state constitution. In the West Many of the most noteworthy ballot items were in Western states, including a popropostentially history-makinal to legalize marijuana in Alaska. Federal drug czar John Walters denounced the measure; supporters defended it as a sensible alternative to existing drug policies. In Oregon, voters rejected a measure that would have dramatically expanded its existing medical marijuana program. Colorado defeated a measure would have allocated its electoral votes proportionally, based on the popular vote for president, and would have applied to this year's race between President Bush and John Kerry. With defeat of the measure, either Bush or Kerry will get all nine of the state's electoral votes, which otherwise might have split 54. Voters in Maine and South Dakota both declined cpDortuni-tie- s to lower taxes. South Dakotans defeated a bid to ' scrap the sales tax on groceries, while a measure to cap property taxes lost in Maine after opponents said it would force layoffs of teachers and firefighters. , U.S.-Mexi- ' ' Gay-righ- PRESS high-profil- measures in Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Michigan, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma and Utah call for a ban on civil unions as well. The Ohio measure, considered the broadest of the 11 because it barred any legal status that "intends to approximate marriage," gathered equal support from men and women, blacks and whites. In five of the states, legislators placed the proposed amendments on the ballots, while in the six others Arkansas, Michigan, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio and Oregon the measures were advanced by conservative, church-backe- d citizens groups that collected signatures on petitions. Already this year, voters in Missouri and Louisiana have weighed in on the isamendsue, with ments winning more than 70 percent of JEREMY HARMONDaily Herald the vote in both states. Mark Bennett lies on the floor at the Utah Democratic Party election night Louisiana's amendment was later celebration at the Marriott hotel in downtown Salt Lake City as more and more struck down in state court on the Democratic candidates fall to their Iepublican challengers and as Kerry falls grounds that it improperly dealt with more than one subject by banning not farther behind Bush in the electoral eotiege. only same-se- x marriage but also any lerelationgal recognition of common-lanomic lines," said Sadie Fields of the ships, domestic partnerships and civil riage now, though officials in Portland, unions. The court challenge in Georgia Georgia Christian Coalition. "The people Ore., married more than 2,900 same-seinvolves a similar argument. in this state realized that we're talking couples last year before a judge halted Conservatives say they will continue about the future of our country here." the practice. "It feels like a death," said Kelly to press for a federal constitutional Conservatives had expected for amendment banning gay marriage, on weeks that the amendments would preBurke, 35, of the amendment's passage in Oregon. She is a mother , the premise that even toughly worded vail in at least 10 of the states, thus bans in state constitutions could be who began receiving health care coverdemonstrating widespread public disap' age for the first time after she wed elec-- overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court. proval of the Massachusetts court ml-- ! tncian Dolores Doyle, her lesbian part- activists, meanwhile, will ing a year ago that legalized gay mar smner of 15 years, in Portland last March, lawcontinue pressing marriage-right- s riage there. National and local gay suits in states such as Oregon, Califorrights groups campaigned vigorously !ri' n( The amendments in Mississippi, where polls had showed a cWse Jn,tana and Oregon refer only to marriage, nia and New Jersey, where they believe the high courts might eventually rule in race, but they failed to prevent a swe'IJ specifying that it should be limited to None of the 11 states allow gay mird' 9iions of one man and one woman. The their favor. . 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