As Ohio Goes…

The Ohio Secretary of State’s Office reports that with 65% of precincts in, President Bush has a five-point, 180,000 vote lead. It’s now being reported on television that with 70% in, the lead is 150,000. It’s hard to see how Kerry can make this up, even with lawsuits and a reasonable amount of fraud.
UPDATE: I went through the Ohio counties to see where the votes are still out. It appears that about 1/3 of Cleveland’s precincts have reported, and out of those precincts Kerry gained around 50,000 votes. That suggests that he could gain another 100,000 as the rest of the city reports–maybe more if fraud is rampant. Through the rest of the state, however, with only few exceptions, the counties that still have votes to report are Republican. So it’s hard to see how Kerry can make up a 150,000 vote difference.
DEACON adds: Fox White House correspondent Jim Angle reports that an “authoritative” Bush source has stated that the only question about Ohio is the president’s margin of victory. Carl Cameron, who is covering Kerry for Fox, says that the Kerry camp is doubtful about the Senator’s chances in Ohio. Kerry Spot provides some of the numbers behind these assessments.
IT’S OVER: Fox has called Ohio for Bush–correctly–so the election is over. Thank God. I mean, really.