BOSTON -- U.S. Sen. John Kerry Wednesday morning called President George Bush and conceded the election. The Kerry campaign also said Kerry would make a 1 p.m. EST speech in which he will formally concede. The White House said Bush will make nationally televised speech at 3 p.m. EST declaring victory.
The 2004 presidential election had come down to the electoral votes of Ohio -- with both main candidates within striking distance of the 270 votes needed to secure the presidency. Bush owns a 136,221-popular vote edge in Ohio, but there are thousands of provisional and absentee ballots to be counted.
Before the word Wednesday morning that Kerry had contacted Bush, the last message from the Democratic Party ticket was a defiant one from Sen. John Edwards, the party's candidate for vice president, who at 2:30 a.m., said: "It's been a long night. We've waited four years for this victory. We can wait one more night."
He also said, "John Kerry and I made a promise to the American people that with this election, every vote would count and every vote would be counted."
