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NEWS
Kerry Calls Bush to Concede
Wednesday, November 03, 2004
By Liza Porteus
FOX NEWS
Sen. John Kerry has called President Bush to concede the
2004 race for the White House, FOX News has confirmed.
News late Wednesday morning of a Bush win in Nevada pushed the president
over the 270 Electoral College vote threshold he needed to win
re-election, giving him a total of 274 votes. The president is expected
to publicly speak at 3 p.m. EST.
"Congratulations, Mr. President," Kerry said in the conversation
described to The Associated Press by sources as lasting less than five
minutes. One of the sources was Republican, the other a Democrat.
The Democratic source said Bush called Kerry a worthy, tough and
honorable opponent. Kerry told Bush the country was too divided, the
source said, and Bush agreed. "We really have to do something about it,"
Kerry said according to the Democratic official.
The Massachusetts senator will meet with reporters around 1 p.m. EST at
Faneuil Hall in Boston to make some sort of formal announcement about
the future of his campaign.
News of the phone call came at 11:10 a.m. EST Wednesday. Earlier in the
morning, the Bush campaign declared victory, despite claims by Kerry's
campaign that the fight is not yet over in Ohio.
"I want to thank all of you for staying up so late with us, and good
morning," White House Chief of Staff Andy Card told haggard supporters
at the Ronald Reagan Building, speaking at 5:45 a.m. EST. "We are
convinced that President Bush has won re-election with at least 286
Electoral College votes."
Although Iowa, Nevada and New Mexico had not yet then made their results
officials, Card said the GOP camp was counting those states in its
column. Card also declared victory in Ohio, despite claims by Kerry's
campaign that the fight is not yet over in The Buckeye State.
"This all adds up to a convincing victory," Card said. "President Bush
decided to give Senator Kerry the respect of more time to reflect on the
results of this election."
Democrats had insisted Kerry was still in contention for Ohio's decisive
cache of 20 electoral votes. At issue were the more than 100,000
provisional ballots that still had to be counted.
Republican Party Chairman Marc Racicot said the president put off
declaring victory temporarily as a courtesy to Kerry, "to allow the
opportunity to look at the situation in the cold hard light of day."
Democratic strategist Elaine Kamarck said the idea of not changing
horses in midstream helped Bush win.
"I think it probably was the desire of people in uncertain times to
stick to the person they know best that is always an incumbent
advantage," she said. "There's a lot of insecurity about the world in
which we live today
inertia does win, particularly when people aren't
really sure what the world's going to look like."
Before both sides retired for an hour or two of sleep, one top Kerry
adviser said the Democrat's chances of winning Ohio, and with it the
White House, were difficult at best. Advisers planned one last look for
uncounted ballots that might close the gap before meeting with the
candidate Wednesday to determine whether he should concede or fight on.
One senior Democrat familiar with the discussions had said Kerry's
running mate, Sen. John Edwards, was suggesting to Kerry that he
shouldn't concede. The official said Edwards, a trial lawyer, wanted to
make sure that all options were explored and Democrats pursued them as
thoroughly as Republicans would if the positions were reversed.
At the Polls
Polls closed Tuesday night in all 50 states and the nation's capital in
a race that was called one of the most hotly contested in American
history.
Even with the late call of Nevada, three states Iowa, New Mexico and
Wisconsin were too close to call at noon EST on Wednesday.
Bush won Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Georgia,
Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana,
Nebraska, Nevada, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South
Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia
and Wyoming, FOX News projects.
Kerry won California, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia,
Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota,
New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island,
Vermont and Washington, FOX News projects.
So far, New Hampshire is the only state to switch parties from the 2000
election outcome.
If Nevada and New Mexico had been called for the president at some point
in the early morning Wednesday, it was expected that Bush would have
spoken then, but as dawn neared, the president went to bed. Vice
President Dick Cheney also called it a night before daybreak, saying he
wanted to sleep and eat some breakfast before starting the new day.
Around 4 a.m. EST Wednesday, New Mexico's secretary of state and
election staff went home for the night. They were to resume ballot
counting around 9 a.m. Before they left, they said thousands of absentee
ballots have to be examined by hand, not to mention the many provisional
ballots which they will go through regardless of the outcome.
Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie said the Election
Day results show the country is not as divided as suspected.
"I think we saw obviously tonight a decisive win in the popular vote. I
suspect that when everybody wakes up tomorrow, the Republicans will have
55 seats in the United States Senate as a result of the president's
strong push across the country, and we will gain seats in the House of
Representatives as well. So, I'm not sure the country is as closely
divided as is made out to be," Gillespie said around 3:30 a.m. EST. "It
looks to me a very decisive win today."
Fight for Ohio
Allegations of voter suppression abounded in The Buckeye State. Kerry
campaign manager Mary Beth Cahill said the challenger's camp was not
buying the projected tally in the crucial battleground state.
"The vote count in Ohio has not been completed. There are more than
250,000 remaining votes to be counted. We believe when they are, John
Kerry will win Ohio," a statement read.
Around 2:30 a.m. Wednesday, Edwards took the stage at Copley Square in
Boston to give supporters a brief pep talk.
Introduced as the "next vice president of the United States," the North
Carolina senator told Democratic supporters gathered for a victory rally
to go home.
"It's been a long night but we've waited four years for this victory -
we can wait one more night," Edwards said. "John and I are so proud of
all of you who are here with us and all of you throughout the country
who have stood with us through this campaign ... [We] promised every
vote would count and every vote would be counted. Tonight, we are
keeping our word and we will fight for every vote. You deserve no less.
Thank you."
But one Bush-Cheney strategist said Kerry had no chance of pulling a win
out of Ohio.
"Impossible ... he can't make up for his margin of defeat. This is a
desperate ploy," he said.
Ohio Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell told FOX News early Wednesday
morning that about 5.8 million to 5.9 million people voted this year -
about 1 million more than in 2000. He projected about a 72 percent voter
turnout this year, as compared to 63 percent in 2000.
"This is a real spike," he said. "We're going to count every vote that
was cast today and we're going to do it in a bipartisan system
that
represents the true will of the people."
Provisional ballots are not counted until about 11 days after election.
If the margin of victory for one candidate or another is comprised of
fewer votes than the number of provisional ballots they have, Blackwell
said, "that could stretch it out
[But] if it takes two more days, if
it takes two more weeks," they will be counted.
Launch Election Tracker
Blackwell released provisional vote numbers for 78 of Ohio's 88
counties, showing a total of 135,149 provisional ballots, according to
Blackwell's Web site. It appeared that the difference in the number of
votes for the two candidates was greater than the number of outstanding
ballots.
In Ohio alone, the Kerry camp had 3,200 lawyers and paralegals on
standby. Meanwhile, 27,843 volunteers were on standby statewide, 2,829
out-of-staters were in Ohio driving voters to the polls and the campaign
had 270 full-time paid staffers in Ohio, as compared with 40 for Al Gore
four years ago.
Bush: 'I Believe I Will Win'
Bush, watching the returns at the White House residence with first lady
Laura Bush on election night, his parents, daughters Jenna and Barbara,
sister Dorothy and her husband Bobby, brothers Neil and Marvin and
sister-in-law Margaret, said the Bush clan was "very upbeat."
"I believe I will win, thank you very much. I feel good about it," Bush
said. "I'm glad to be able to watch the returns here with my family and
friends. It's going to be an exciting evening."
Bush, voting earlier in the day at a local firehouse in Crawford, Texas,
made reference to the last presidential election.
"I think it's very important for it to end tonight," Bush told
reporters, referring to the expected legal challenges in some districts.
"The world watches our great democracy function."
The senator from Massachusetts cast his ballot in Boston. "I am very
confident that we have made the case for change for new leadership for a
fresh start," Kerry said.
Upon his return to Massachusetts from Wisconsin for a last-chance stop,
Kerry bent over and touched the ground. He ate his traditional Election
Day lunch of littleneck clams and a dark beer at his lucky restaurant,
Boston's historic Union Oyster House.
Cheney and his wife Lynne cast their votes Tuesday morning in Wilson,
Wyo. Edwards voted in his home state of North Carolina.
Fight for the Battlegrounds
Late into Tuesday night, Republicans were feeling much better about
their position, and said their numbers were much more accurate than the
exit polls.
One strategist was asked by FOX News just how bad they felt when they
saw the early exit polls. "I bought a box of Kleenex, but didn't open
them," he said.
"At the beginning of the night, we were asking how we could have been so
far off," the strategist said. Now, they say the actual numbers are far
closer to their projections than the early exit polls.
But Independent candidate Ralph Nader told FOX News Tuesday night that
no matter who wins Bush or Kerry voters will lose. The goal of his
campaign was to "put the progressive agenda before the public," he said.
"It's a winner-take-all mindset of most people," Nader said of why he
didn't get farther than he did in this presidential election. "[Voters]
know that only one of the two, Republican or Democrat, is going to win.
The system is very rigged against" other candidates, he added. "The
problem is, the two parties keep saying to us, 'vote for the winner' and
they keep losing" to corporate interests, he continued.
FOX News' Jim Angle, Steve Brown, Carl Cameron, Mike Emanuel, Wendell
Goler and Kelly Wright contributed to this report.
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