Campaign ends, but battles go on

By Richard Allen Greene
BBC News

The most heated US election campaign in a generation has finally drawn to a close, but George W Bush's narrow victory has not healed deep divisions in the country.

In the days following the election, ordinary Americans I met during a September road trip voiced radically different opinions about the results - from the mother of a marine who said the whole world was safer with Mr Bush back in office, to the Protestant minister who called the president's policies insane.

Bled does not see either side giving up the fight any time soon

Jeremy Bled took two months off from work in the run-up to the election to run a voter-registration effort.

He was pleased at "the sheer number of people who turned up at the polls" - turnout was the highest since 1968 - but concluded "we are more divided than ever as a nation."

"This is perhaps the worst thing for America. The Republicans barely won and they will have a hard time trying to convince those who opposed their candidate that they are truly willing to find a middle ground.

"On the other side, the Democrats lost a race they fought hard to win and there is every indication they will continue to fight after they finish licking their wounds."

Mr Bled, a Kerry supporter, said he himself was insulted on election day - "called a faggot, a coward and a baby killer" - in a way that reminded him of being at school "with bullies, nerds, teams and generally juvenile behaviour".

No end in sight

Post-election polling suggests that many Americans share Mr Bled's fear that the end of the campaign does not mean the end of partisan rancour.

A Gallup poll found that 51% of Americans were pleased with the outcome - exactly the same percentage that voted for Mr Bush.

Huddleston sees little good in the result - and is not sure he trusts it

Thirty-eight percent of respondents said they were upset with the result.

A slim majority - 57% - thought the president would unite the nation in the next four years, while 39% expected him to be divisive.

Rowland Huddleston, who campaigned as a veteran for Kerry, has very low hopes indeed.

"It's a total disaster," he said of the result - which he said he suspected had been rigged via electronic voting machines.

He accused the Bush administration of a lack of compassion for the less fortunate.

"They live in such a bubble that they think people who are struggling [do so] because of their ineptitude - but the [less well off] didn't have the leg up that [Mr Bush and his allies] had.

He was equally vehement about Mr Bush's environmental policies, saying the president had "trashed pages and pages of environmental laws and regulations".

And he said the president was a warmonger: "As a Christian, I resent that they have turned [Jesus], my prince of peace into a war god."

Safer with Bush

Martha Morris, who lives just a few miles from Mr Huddleston in Nashville, Tennessee, could not disagree more.

The mother of a US marine who has fought in Iraq, Mrs Morris said her country had been forced into war - and that the world was safer because of Mr Bush's willingness to fight it.

Marine mom Martha Morris says America must stand up to terrorists

"We must protect our own people and the people of this world who have stood with us against the terrorists. No-one can predict what mad men will do, but we can stop them if the world will work with us," she said.

"With this president, we will always do the right thing. Just ask the Iraqi people who are learning to live in freedom."

She was proud of the US election result, saying it showed "we are still the people our forefathers believed us to be - good and solid people who will die to protect the land and the freedom of those who will fight evil with us".

Cynthia Guerra, a small-business owner in Mr Bush's home state of Texas, also backed the president, but cited more practical reasons.

"I think that we need to keep a president in office that knows what is going on," she said.

She said Mr Kerry's Iraq policy would have been similar to Mr Bush's, but that he would have needed time to get up to speed on the situation there.

Social issues

Mrs Guerra, a political independent, also agreed with Mr Bush's position on abortion, stem-cell research and gay marriage - all of which he opposes.

"This part of his platform apparently has been supported by many Americans. Since we are living in a time where values need to be revisited and taught again to our younger generation, President Bush will be the right leader to continue to stress those points," she said.

Not all Americans agree.

James White is senior minister of the First Congregational United Church of Christ, a mainstream Protestant church in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

He said the Christian conservative focus on abortion and gay marriage was "absolutely sickening".

US ELECTION ROAD TRIP Kevin Anderson and Richard Greene travelled across the US to get to the heart of the issues in this year's election. They sent back regular in-depth reports telling us what they found Read more about the trip Read Kevin's weblog

He said his congregants "think that honesty and care for the poor ('the widow, the orphan, and the sojourner in your midst'), the environment, health provision, and peace are weightier matters of Christian ethics, not bedroom behaviours."

He predicted "more tax cuts for the rich and welfare cuts on the poor, more money to the military-industrial complex and the insane space war, lowered protection of the environment ... In short, I see very little positive" in the election result.

And he said Mr Bush's foreign policy had alienated friends and driven enemies into "deadlier acts of terrorism".

Evangelical Christian preacher Ted Haggard, on the other hand - also of Colorado Springs - said re-electing Mr Bush sent an important signal to his country's enemies.

"It communicates to Osama Bin Laden and people who think like him that America won't back down in the middle of a difficult war. The whole world will be more peaceful and safer," he said.

Culture wars?

Pastor Ted, as his thousands of congregants call him, downplayed the alleged divisions in American society.

"The culture wars are exaggerated. It's not nearly as divided in America as it was during Vietnam or the civil rights era."

I agree with what Mr Kerry said in his concession speech, 'We are all winners because in the morning we all wake up and we are all still Americans' Ana Vasquez

He said the liberal media in particular overemphasised the idea of culture wars.

"They're saying this deep divide is insurmountable, but they can't remember history. They can't remember 30 years ago."

But Ana Vasquez has seen the national divide at first hand.

She is the youngest of four sisters - two of whom are Democrats and one of whom is a Republican. She is an independent who backed Mr Kerry.

"Half of America is really sad and upset that Mr Bush won re-election, and that statement in itself is very sad. I have never witnessed the type of passion for or against a candidate such as with this election."

But she said she remained optimistic for America.

"I will continue to be positive and hopeful for the future of our country. I love my city, state and country, and I agree with what Mr Kerry said in his concession speech, 'We are all winners because in the morning we all wake up and we are all still Americans.' "