"The election of 1800 is still going on," he said, "and the Federalists are waiting for the rural votes to come in."

It was not time to panic yet; maybe this was just the rural vote.

Moreover, aides say they will simply fight harder for rural votes this time.

The pro-amnesty side was expected to pick up several more percentage points from rural votes yet to be counted.

With the rural vote shored up, he is turning to the cities.

However, he doesn't realize that the bosses are using him as a dummy candidate to split the rural vote.

These people delivered blocks of rural votes to the candidates they favored.

That year, the urban vote declined to 27.7 percent and the rural vote to 30.7.

"And because this race is so close, where the rural vote goes, I think, is going to make a big difference."

Four dead geese are not too high a price to pay for a few rural, blue-collar votes in a swing state.