Footprints: 1988-2004 state exit poll discrepancies
TruthIsAll 1) The GOP needed votes in solid Blue states to decrease Democratic margins (see NY and CA) in order to pad the Bush popular recorded vote "mandate". 2) The GOP needed to steal fewer votes in Battleground states where their objective was to win the Electoral vote. 3) The GOP pretty much ignored the Red states; most of them were rural with small populations. But they did not ignore the Red states with large minority (Democratic) voting blocs, such as TX, MS, AL, TN, SC, VA. They could pad the popular vote by not counting minority votes.