It’s late. My gut feeling of a decent victory for Kerry has evaporated over the course of an evening. Ohio is enough for Bush to cinch the White House for another four years. If Kerry were to pull it off now, we would end up with Year 2000 Redux, and the results will be bitterly contested on all fronts.

Going into this election, I had hoped for the following outcomes, in order of preference:

1. A strong, decisive Kerry victory. (Obviously.)
2. A strong, decisive Bush victory. (At least we know where we stand as a country, depressing as it may be.)
3. A bitterly contested win for either candidate. (Least preferable; will tear this country up further and further.)

All signs point to option #3, and, to be honest, leading without a mandate is going to destroy whatever chance this country had for experiencing a real healing. That said, I have to admit that I’d prefer a narrow Kerry victory over a narrow Bush victory, but only because the nation would be utterly deadlocked while a Republican congress did everything to hamstring the “illegitimate” Kerry presidency. With Bush back in the White House, a stronger Republican presence in both the House and Senate, there is no limit to where the New Republican Party can take us.

Which leads me to this, which has been running through my head all night:

Changes come
Turn my world around

I have my father’s hand
I have my mother’s tongue
I look for redemption in everyone

I wanna wear your ring
I have a song to sing
It ain’t over babe
In fact it’s just begun

Changes come
Turn my world around
Changes come
Bring the whole thing down

I wanna have our baby
Somedays I think that maybe
This ol’ world’s too fucked up
For any firstborn son

There is all this untouched beauty
The light the dark both running through me
Is there still redemption for anyone

Jesus come
Turn the world around
Lay my burden down
Turn this world around
Bring the whole thing down
Bring it down

— Over the Rhine

Good night, and God bless you all: red, blue, whatever.