What Happened - Loss of the Popular Vote

Well, Europe must be looking at the US with it's metaphorical jaw dropped to the floor.  I realize that many are talking about Ohio - and there were some dirty tricks there, including misleading butterfly ballets (AGAIN!), voter challenges and dirty mailings.  It will be close in the end, but I'm not optimistic.  I do hope there is a recount.  I'm actually more depressed by Bush's 3,500,000 lead in the popular vote.  I thought that the election would be close, but I didn't think that the Republicans would beat the Democrats so badly on the ground.  As you know, I have been working hard for some of the progressive grassroots groups, and they have been working extremely hard.  The difference is that we couldn't work directly with the Kerry campaign.