The bans won by a 3-to-1 margin in Kentucky and Georgia, 3-to-2 in Ohio, and 6-to-1 in Mississippi.”This issue does not deeply divide America,” said conservative activist Gary Bauer. “The country overwhelmingly rejects same-sex marriage, and our hope is that both politicians and activist judges will read these results and take them to heart.”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 Georgia, Ohio and Mississippi, gay-rights activists were considering court challenges of the newly approved amendments. Once again, the outcome of the US presidential election could come down to the result in a single state. If he carries Ohio he is virtually guaranteed a second term in the White House.As of 8am UK time, with 97% of precincts reporting in Ohio, Mr Bush had 2,706,778 votes and Mr Kerry 2,581,451 a difference of more than 125,000.But the Democrats claimed there were still 250,000 votes uncounted – many of them provisional ballots.Provisional ballots are cast by people who turn up to vote, but have their eligibility questioned.Rather than simply turning these people away, they are allowed to cast a provisional ballot.If they are later proved eligible to vote their ballots are counted. “Europeans must hope that his administration will be much more multilateral in character, and that he will act swiftly to rebuild the Atlantic partnership which is so vital to security.”Iraq will remain an issue of potential division for some time to come.”. George Bush won a second term as President of the United States today after his election opponent John Kerry conceded defeat.

If Mr Kerry moves to the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue, then his Massachusetts senate seat will become vacant, until it is filled by a special election later in the year.Thus the Republicans at worse are assured of a 50-49 majority for the next few months – and that assumes that the Democrats will hold on to their other seats. In the multi-candidate election in Louisiana, the Republican candidate was on the brink of passing the 50 per cent mark which would give him the seat without a run-off vote next month.. The defeat in North Carolina, the seat previously held by the vice-presidential candidate John Edwards, was another bitter blow. It saw a narrow defeat for Erskine Bowles, Bill Clinton’s former chief of staff, who was trying to replace him. To offset potential losses there, Democrats were hoping to pick up Republican seats in Alaska and Colorado.In Kentucky, the baseball hall-of-fame pitcher Jim Bunning edged ahead in his race with Democrat Dan Mongiardo, a surgeon. The 73-year-old Mr Bunning had seemed a certainty for re-election just a month ago, but some eccentric behaviour had brought him to the brink of defeat, amid rumours about his mental health.The Republican hat-trick across the South means that the party will have at least 50 of the 100 Senate seats -and thus outright control.If President Bush secures re-election, the 50 will amount to a majority, given that the casting vote in the event of a tie will rest with the Vice-President, Dick Cheney.

It would also be a massive psychological victory for the Republicans, who made Mr Daschle – branded as an “obstructionist” by the White House – a special target.As the results came in, a beaming Bill Frist, the Senate majority leader, predicted that Republicans would increase their grip on the sharply divided Senate. “We’re going to pick up seats,” Mr Frist told CNN.Democratic candidates were also in close struggles to hang onto seats in Florida and Louisiana. But it was not clear whether he could prevail over his Republican opponent, the former congressman Jim Thune.A Daschle defeat would not only throw the party leadership on Capitol Hill into turmoil. The Republicans retained their majority in the Senate last night, capturing three previously Democratic seats in the South, and fending off a strong challenge from the Democrats in Oklahoma.
The main consolation on a tough night on the Congressional front for the Democrats was a sweeping victory for the rising party star Barack Obama, often talked of as a future president, in Illinois.Mr Obama leapt to national attention with a stunning keynote speech at the Democratic Convention in July. When the new Congress convenes in January he will be the lone black senator, and only the third in recent history.As it became apparent that the Democratic bid to wrest back control of the Senate had failed, all eyes were on the struggle in South Dakota, where Tom Daschle, Senate minority leader and the most powerful Democratic officeholder in Washington, inched ahead in early returns. Republicans were virtually certain to strengthen their grip on the House They also retained control of the Senate.. But one model suggested that everything could come down to tiny Hawaii, last but one of the states to report and where, quite unexpectedly, Mr Kerry and Mr Bush were in a neck-and-neck finish.In addition to choosing their next president, Americans were also voting for all 435 members of the House of Representatives and 34 of the 100 Senators.

The candidate seemed calm and confident, but already wistful and nostalgic for the campaign that at last was over. “It is really important that people go out and vote,” he declared. “Our country will be strong and united no matter what happens.” In addition to the “Big Three” swing states of Florida, Pennsylvania and Ohio, the upper mid-western trio of Minnesota, Iowa and Wisconsin were also playing a pivotal role, as well as New Hampshire, New Mexico, Nevada and Colorado. Last night, the challenger was awaiting the result in his Boston townhouse, after giving a series of interviews to local TV stations in states across the country where the polls were still open.”I’m confident we have made the case for change and a new direction for America,” Mr Kerry said, after voting with his daughters Vanessa and Alexandra. Those votes are only certified and tallied after election day itself.After Teresa Heinz Kerry voted in Pittsburgh, Mr Kerry and his wife went back to Boston to cast his own ballot. “My hope is that this election ends tonight,” he said, echoing the near-universal wish of his countrymen, Democrats and Republicans alike, that the vote produces a quick and clear-cut result, and no re-run ­ in Florida, Ohio, or anywhere else ­ of the mess in 2000.Nonetheless, if the count is really close, controversial “provisional ballots” cast by people who say they have been wrongly left off electoral rolls, could be crucial. He and I are in the exact same position, and I’m sure he’s happy, like I am, that the campaign is over.

We both campaigned as hard as we possibly could.” The tone of his words stood in stark contrast with the campaign, which has seen the candidates and their surrogates exchanging bitter, often personal attacks ­ of which the nastiest, beyond doubt, were ads by pro-Bush veterans questioning Mr Kerry’s valour in Vietnam.His last campaign-trail appearance done, Mr Bush returned to Washington. “This election is in the best of hands, the people’s hands,” he said as he visited a Republican office in Columbus.Of Mr Kerry, the President remarked: “I wish him all the best. All were beyond the reach of the pollsters stationed outside individual voting stations.Yesterday, the first hard count came shortly after midnight from the hamlet of Dixville Notch in New Hampshire, close to the Canadian border, and favoured Mr Bush. But, omen or otherwise, the 26 voters in that remote corner of northern New England cut his margin of victory, from 21 to five in 2000, to a 19-7 win this time.Leaving nothing to chance, both candidates continued on election day to chase the few undecided or less-committed voters.