Early success for Bush
03/11/2004 03:04  - (SA)  

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Cecilia Torres chants "Vote or Die" outside the MTV studios in New York. (Mary Altaffer, AP)

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Washington - George W Bush took an early lead in Tuesday's US presidential election, television networks projected, but as the polls closed in several states where he had been favoured the vote was too close to call.

Bush was set to win the states of Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky and West Virginia and their 39 electoral votes, while Democratic challenger John Kerry was projected to take Vermont, with three electoral votes, according to the projections.

Analysts had predicted those outcomes for some time, but exit polling data and early returns made the vote in several states where Bush had been heavily favoured - North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia - too narrow to predict, the networks said.

Also too close to call was the key battleground state of Ohio with its 20 electoral votes hanging in the balance after the polls closed, CBS, Fox and NBC television reported.

Ohio went to Bush in 2000.

A candidate needs 270 electoral votes to win the hotly contested race.

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