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The Morning Grind / DayAhead |
Overtime in Ohio
By John Mercurio
CNN Political Unit
 |  Bush supporter Gail Krolick celebrates as she watches election results at a Republican gathering in Reno, Nevada. |
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| VIDEO |
 Edwards vows to 'fight for every vote'
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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Ohio, Ohio, Ohio.
We're mumbling the word endlessly today -- not just because it's the only state that matters (we've known that for months). Really, it's because we've slept less than an hour, and it's nearly impossible to cobble together a more coherent sentence right now. (We know, we know. We're not alone.)
Ohio, Ohio, Ohio. It's one of those words that sounds really strange the more you say it. Must be something about all the O's. ...
In the twilight zone of the past 12 hours, as Kerry-leaning exit polls morphed into actual votes that favored the president, Kerry vs. Bush turned briefly into Edwards vs. Card.
White House Chief of Staff Andy Card came out this morning shortly before 6 ET and claimed 286 electoral votes for Bush, calling him the first president-elect since his dad in '88 to win a majority of the popular vote. (Which is true, if his 51 percent holds). Card said Bush sets a record for popular vote, exceeding 57 million. (Also true. Ronald Reagan got 54.4 million in '84).
"We are convinced that President Bush has won re-election," Card said. The president will make a statement later today, but is giving Kerry some time to concede before he speaks, Card added.
A few hours earlier, John Edwards indicated that a Kerry concession speech might not come today. "It's been a long night. But we've waited four years for this victory, we can wait one more night," he said at 2:28 a.m. ET in Boston's Copley Square amid a steady drizzle and a dwindling crowd of supporters.
"John Kerry and I made a promise to the American people that in this election 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."
In the sobering light of dawn, however, there were hints that calmer heads might prevail in Camp Kerry.
A senior Kerry aide tells CNN's Kelly Wallace that the Democrats' plan this morning is to look at the "real numbers in Ohio" and examine the total provisional ballots and then "look very carefully at the situation" and decide "what are the realistic prospects of Ohio turning around."
Notably, the adviser added, "we won't make this mystery too long." Campaign staff was meeting around 8:30 a.m. "We're talking to the Ohio folks, the experts, this morning," one aide said.
Camp Kerry is expected to make some sort of statement around 10 a.m. ET.
Republicans were urging Kerry to bow out this morning, some more bluntly than others. "You got to face reality. It's time to concede," former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani said on CNN's "American Morning." "You have a state that's out of reach" for Kerry.
As of 9 a.m. ET, CNN has not projected a winner in three states with a total of 32 electoral votes -- Iowa (seven), New Mexico (five) and ... oh right, Ohio (20). Our count stands at Bush 254, Kerry 252. Bush leads narrowly in all three states.
With all but one of 99 Iowa counties reporting, Bush was leading Kerry 742,449 to 729,533. CNN's Tom Watkins in Des Moines reports the main reasons for a delay there were (1) broken counting machines (2) delayed return of absentee ballots and (3) provisional ballots.
The missing county -- Greene -- is small, with 4,721 voters in 2000, not nearly enough to change the statewide total.
But other uncertainties could affect who gets the state's seven electoral votes: As many as 60,000 absentee ballots can still be counted so long as they are received by noon Monday. And the fate of about 10,000 provisional ballots has yet to be determined.
No provisional ballots have been counted in the 33 counties of New Mexico, where Bush held a 14,319-vote lead. Additionally, absentee votes in Dona Ana County (Las Cruces) were waiting until 2 p.m. ET today for a replacement counting machine, and another 6,000 absentee ballots in Bernalillo County (Albuquerque) were being hand-fed after they were rejected by a machine count.
Now, to Ohio. With 100 percent of the precincts reporting, the president leads by 136,483 votes.
Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell has directed boards of elections to not begin verifying provisional ballots until noon local time tomorrow. The only handling of provisional ballots today should be by those county boards that did not report a total number of provisional ballots issued with their final unofficial results on Election Night.
Blackwell did a heavy round of media interviews this morning and assured everyone that his office would count the ballots fairly, accurately and according to state law.
"What I've told everybody to do is take a deep breath and relax. What we're gonna give you is a solid tabulation when we give it to you," he said. "If it takes two hours, two days or two weeks, the result we give you will be a good result that the voters of the state of Ohio can have confidence in."
Ahhhh, but the GOP glee was not limited to the presidential race. Each party gained two governor's offices, but Republicans might stretch their streak to three with a win in Washington state. Republicans picked up governor's offices in Indiana and Missouri; Democrats took over in Montana and New Hampshire. Republican gubernatorial nominee Dino Rossi was clinging to a narrow lead over Democrat Christine Gregoire in Washington state.
Republicans gain
Senate Republicans took over at least six Democratic seats, the highlight being their defeat of Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle. Democrats gained control of at least two GOP seats -- Illinois and Colorado.
In South Dakota, former GOP Rep. John Thune declared victory over Daschle after his own drawn-out wait. "It would be nice just once to have an election settled before 4 a.m. in the morning," Thune said. "But I have to tell you, I've been on the other end of this equation, and if I have to wait till 4 a.m. in the morning, I'd rather be in on this end."
Daschle, the only incumbent senator to fall, is set to concede defeat this morning at 11:30 ET in Sioux Falls.
Republicans also picked up Senate seats in South Carolina, North Carolina, Louisiana, Georgia and Florida. Alaska is too close to call, but Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski is leading Democratic challenger Tony Knowles.
In Illinois, Democrat Barack Obama, whose victory was assured the day Illinois Republicans picked Alan Keyes as their nominee, became his party's only feel-good story of the night, doing a round of TV interviews in which he was forced to entertain questions about his own presidential ambitions.
In the House, Republicans scored a net gain of at least four House seats, with two elections in Louisiana still undetermined this morning. It's the first time in history, we're told, that Republicans have increased their House majority two elections in a row.
"Simply put, I'm thrilled," said Rep. Tom Reynolds, chairman of the House GOP campaign committee.
Simply put, we're tired. G'night.
