Bush close to victory

George Bush is today closing in on a second term as US president after a close race against John Kerry.

Kerry now needs a win in Ohio to have a realistic shot at victory, but two American networks have already declared Bush the winner of the state.

However, there is a possible twist in the Ohio race, with many provisional ballots not yet counted.

The first sign that President Bush was heading for victory came when he won the key state of Florida.

Florida has 27 votes in the Electoral College, which selects the president based on results in each state. A candidate needs 270 votes to win the White House.

Another important state, Colorado has been declared for Bush, whilst Kerry is believed to have won an important victory in New Hampshire.

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.

Bush won West Virginia, a battleground state with five electoral votes and a long history of backing Democrats until the president took it in 2000. Kerry battled back by winning the statewide vote in Maine, worth three electoral votes.

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.

Thousands of people were still in line waiting to vote more than two hours after the polls closed in Ohio, and officials said they would be allowed to stay in line as long as they were there at closing time.

Florida Secretary of State Glenda Hood said it could take until the Thursday deadline to count all of the absentee ballots in the state.

Bush won one-time battlegrounds like West Virginia, Arizona and Missouri and Kerry took New Jersey while both candidates scored a series of wins in states where they were prohibitive favorites.