 Mark Duncan/APUndecided: Waiting for a result in Ohio
Kerry Concedes
As many had predicted, the battle came down to Ohio where Bush edged out Kerry for 20 critical electoral votes
By
JOSHUA MACHT
 Complete Coverage: Election 2004
Wednesday, Nov. 03, 2004
After a long night that felt very much like November 2000 all over again, John Kerry conceded the Presidential race, and President Bush is expected to declare victory at 3 p.m. ET today.
During Tuesday night and into Wednesday morning, Bush snagged the South and Midwest, while Kerry took the Northeast, West coast and much of the Upper Midwest. The states largely fell as they did four years ago, but there were some exceptions. The Republicans look close to taking New Mexico, a Gore state last time around, while the Democrats reclaimed New Hampshire. And then, there is Ohio. Many predicted that the Buckeye state would be the key to victory, and it appeared to go to President Bush early Wednesday morning. Just after 1 a.m. ET, FOX News called the state for the GOP. Soon after, Bush took Alaska, giving him what appeared to be at least 269 electoral votes and near-certain victory.
But unlike 2000 when Gore conceded only to take back his words, the Kerry campaign was not ready to give up. “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,” said Mary Beth Cahill, Kerry-Edwards campaign manager. The reason? With 100 percent of the precincts reporting, Bush had held a lead of about 136,000 votes. The Kerry camp was banking that the still-to-be-counted provisional ballots could make up the difference.
But in the morning, the long-time Massachusetts Senator realized he couldn't make up the ground in Ohio. At around 10:30 a.m. ET, he called President Bush to concede.
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