World News 07-11-2000 America Goes To The Polls who: Al Gore and George W. Bush what: Still neck-and-neck in polls on election day when: Today snippet: The Mirror is the only truly partisan British newspaper in the race for the US presidency today, proclaiming "Don`t Dump Dubya On Us" - referring to Republican candidate George W Bush`s "love of his middle initial". The Texas governor would be a menace to international politics, says the paper. "Hard to imagine a bigger chump outside our own Tory Party leader`s private office, isn`t it?" Other journalists find it hard to tell the difference between Bush and his equally inadequate Democratic Party rival Al Gore. "There is barely a cigarette paper separating the two US presidential candidates in terms of votes AND personality," comments Gareth Morgan in The Star, branding the contest "Blunder versus Blander". The final day of campaigning yesterday was frantic. "Oozing confidence, Mr Bush took his campaign deep into opposition territory on the last full day on the stump," says The Guardian, "campaigning in Mr Clinton`s Arkansas and Mr Gore`s Tennessee before returning to his home in Austin, Texas." Mr Gore, meanwhile, went to Iowa, Missouri, Michigan and Florida while the latest polls revealed that the key blue-collar states of Pennsylvania, Missouri and Minnesota have tipped towards the democrats. However, both parties are concerned that low voter turnout could scupper their chances. "A turn-out of even marginally over 50 per cent will be hailed as a triumph for democratic participation," says Rupert Cornwell in The Independent. "The polls give Mr Bush a tiny edge, but no pundit worth his name is wagering a dime on the outcome." [... more]

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