Oil Up to $50 as Bush Leads Early Vote By Jonathan Leff SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Oil prices rallied back above $50 a barrel on Wednesday, boosted by projections of an early electoral lead by President Bush in the tight U.S. election. U.S. light crude was up 44 cents at $50.06 a barrel in midday Asian trade and had struck an intraday high at $50.23, attempting to put a floor under the 12 percent rout over the last week. On Tuesday the market closed below $50 for the first time in a month. Early speculation of a lead by Democrat challenger John Kerry took prices lower, but network exit polls showing Bush with an electoral count lead helped reverse the losses, dealers said. "Prices have gone back up because it's looking more likely that Bush will win," said one London-based trader with a major international bank. As of 0325 GMT, Bush had 191 of the 270 electoral votes needed to win, while Kerry had 109, U.S. networks said. But the two key swing states of Florida and Ohio were too close to call and polls had yet to close in much of the western United States. Healthier U.S. crude supplies and worries over slowing global economic growth have helped prices retreat from last week's all-time high $55.67, but the U.S. election has taken the spotlight in the run-up to Tuesday's vote. Kerry has promised to halt efforts to top up government strategic reserves -- keeping more oil in the open market in the short-term -- and push greater energy conservation efforts, which could eat into oil demand in the longer term. Some analysts say a Bush win could stoke nervousness about U.S. policy in the oil-producing Middle East, particularly Iran, while Kerry is seen as more likely to work through conventional diplomatic channels. "In particular if another Bush government moves on to Iran, then oil prices would go very high and really threaten China's e economic development," said Andy Xie, Morgan Stanley's chief Asia economist. STOCKS TO TAKE AFTERNOON FOCUS Whichever way the election goes, the market's focus is likely to quickly shift later in the day to weekly commercial oil inventory data, forecast to show heftier crude tanks but yet another fall in distillates, including heating oil.     Continued ... Quelle "Oil Up to $50 as Bush Leads Early Vote" : reuters.com Main page for "Oil Up to $50 as Bush Leads Early Vote"