Demographic change and electoral politics
If the Republican ticket were to take the same percentages of the Hispanic, black and white vote in 2004 as it did in 2000, said Matthew Dowd, the White House's pollster, it would lose the popular vote by three million ballots and the Electoral College. In 2000, Mr. Bush received 544,000 fewer votes than Al Gore but won the Electoral College."This is not only something the president cares a lot about, but also something that's a political necessity for Republicans," Mr. Dowd said.
New York Times, via P.L.A. - A Journal of Politics, Law and Autism