Baraka
10-21-2004, 06:58 PM
Bush faces nuclear fallout in Nevada over £60bn mountain of radioactive waste
In February 2002, just over a year after taking office, President Bush recommended the Yucca Mountain site to Congress. But many voters remembered that, as a candidate in September 2000, Mr Bush promised not to approve the site until it had been "deemed scientifically safe", a formulation that is credited with helping him win the state.
Four years on, and with the project stalled by legal challenges to its scientific justification, those words may come back to haunt the president in what has become a swing state. A recent poll showed that Yucca Mountain was the top issue for 3% of registered voters. "Given what's going on in this country, 3% is huge," said Ms Maze Johnson.
The polls in Nevada have ranged between a 10% lead for Mr Bush to a 1% lead for Mr Kerry. In 2000 Mr Bush won the state by 3.5%, or 22,000 votes, but Nevada has changed since then. The fastest-growing state in the US in 2003, its population has risen by 300,000 in the past four years to reach 2.4 million. For this election, there will be 1.1 million registered voters, 66,000 of them Hispanics, who traditionally lean toward the Democratic party. The increase in population means that Nevada now contributes five votes to the electoral college, one more than in 2000. Accordingly, the state has become an increasingly important and hard-fought battleground in this year's electoral race.
link (http://www.guardian.co.uk/uselections2004/story/0,13918,1333145,00.html)
In February 2002, just over a year after taking office, President Bush recommended the Yucca Mountain site to Congress. But many voters remembered that, as a candidate in September 2000, Mr Bush promised not to approve the site until it had been "deemed scientifically safe", a formulation that is credited with helping him win the state.
Four years on, and with the project stalled by legal challenges to its scientific justification, those words may come back to haunt the president in what has become a swing state. A recent poll showed that Yucca Mountain was the top issue for 3% of registered voters. "Given what's going on in this country, 3% is huge," said Ms Maze Johnson.
The polls in Nevada have ranged between a 10% lead for Mr Bush to a 1% lead for Mr Kerry. In 2000 Mr Bush won the state by 3.5%, or 22,000 votes, but Nevada has changed since then. The fastest-growing state in the US in 2003, its population has risen by 300,000 in the past four years to reach 2.4 million. For this election, there will be 1.1 million registered voters, 66,000 of them Hispanics, who traditionally lean toward the Democratic party. The increase in population means that Nevada now contributes five votes to the electoral college, one more than in 2000. Accordingly, the state has become an increasingly important and hard-fought battleground in this year's electoral race.
link (http://www.guardian.co.uk/uselections2004/story/0,13918,1333145,00.html)