Bush and Kerry in tight battle for the White House

3.45pm

WASHINGTON - President George W. Bush and Democratic Sen. John Kerry rolled to early wins in states where they were heavily favoured, but the battlegrounds that will settle the White House race were still undecided.

Voting officially ended in the two most crucial toss-up states, Ohio and Florida, but both were too close to call, according to network projections.

Long lines but few major glitches greeted voters in the final act of a presidential campaign marked by deep disputes between Bush and Kerry over the war in Iraq, the fight against terrorism and the economy.

Polls showed the race was extraordinarily close, with surveys finding a dead heat nationally and indicating most of the 10 hardest-fought battleground states could tip either way. US stocks fell after internet sites reported exit polls showed Kerry leading in key states.

With 270 electoral votes needed to win the White House, Bush had captured 15 states and 151 electoral votes to Kerry's 10 states and 109 votes.

Bush won West Virginia and Kerry took New Jersey, one-time battleground states that had drifted into each candidate's camp, and both candidates scored a series of wins in states where they were prohibitive favourites.

None of the other big battleground states, like Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan and New Mexico, were decided even though polls had closed.

Bush captured Republican leaning states like Indiana, Kentucky, Alabama and Georgia, according to network projections, while Kerry won in Democratic strongholds like Illinois, Maryland, Delaware and Connecticut.

Bush and Kerry cast votes in their home states of Texas and Massachusetts, respectively, earlier in the day then settled in for what could be a long night of watching and waiting.

Dire predictions of voter challenges and election chaos mostly did not come true in an election where turnout was expected to sail well past the 105 million Americans who voted in 2000.

But a few disputes broke out in key swing states as officials began to count ballots. A Philadelphia judge blocked the counting of up to 12,000 absentee ballots in the city until he holds a hearing on Wednesday after a complaint brought by the Republican Party.

Voters also will decide which party holds power in Congress and will vote on governorships in 11 states, with Bush's Republicans favoured to retain control of the Senate and House of Representatives.

CBS News projected Republicans would retain the House, but the Senate was still up in the air.

Republicans picked up the Senate seat of retiring Democrat Zell Miller, who campaigned for Bush, and rising Democratic star Barack Obama picked up the Illinois Senate seat of Republican Peter Fitzgerald in an easy win over former presidential candidate Alan Keyes.


'SPOTLIGHT ON FLORIDA, OHIO'

But the political spotlight was on Florida and Ohio, both won by Bush four years ago and two of the biggest remaining toss-up states in the fight for the 270 Electoral College votes needed for victory.

Bush took an early lead in voting in both, with a 56 per cent to 46 per cent edge in Florida with 40 per cent of votes counted. There was still voting under way in Ohio, where polling continues until voters stuck in long lines have a chance to cast a ballot.

Officials in Florida, site of the bitterly disputed 2000 recount that ultimately handed the White House to Bush, reported long lines but no early voting problems. In Ohio, Republicans backed away from threats to challenge voter qualifications inside polling stations.

Both sides said the outcome might not be known quickly and fielded armies of lawyers to challenge close results and prepare for the possibility of another long legal fight like the five-week Florida battle in 2000.

The lingering bitterness over that election, when Bush lost the popular vote to Democrat Al Gore but narrowly won the Electoral College after the US Supreme Court stopped a vote recount in Florida, fuelled Democratic get-out-the vote efforts this year.

Kerry must win either Florida or Ohio to have a realistic shot at victory, while a Bush loss in Florida would leave him in danger unless he took Pennsylvania or some states such as Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa -- all won by Gore in 2000.

The voting concluded an unusually close and contentious campaign focused on Iraq and national security. Bush defended his doctrine of pre-emptive war and criticised Kerry as too liberal, too inconsistent and too weak to lead.

Kerry countered by challenging Bush's "go-it-alone" international approach, his decision to go to war in Iraq without enough allied backing and his economic record of tax cuts, job losses and burgeoning budget deficits.

More than 105.4 million Americans voted in 2000 -- 51 per cent of the voting-age population -- but as many as 20 million more were expected at the polls this year. The highest modern turnout was in 1960, when about 63 per cent of the voting age population cast ballots.

There were scattered reports of voting difficulties, including broken voting machines and scarce provisional ballots that allow voters not on the rolls to cast a vote that is counted if their eligibility is later proven.

- REUTERS