For the second time in as many efforts, the American people have elected George W. Bush president — and this time without a legal battle.
Democratic opponent John Kerry called Bush late Wednesday morning to concede, ending a heated race for the White House that potentially looked to become as contentious as 2000’s court-determined struggle.
At a later formal concession speech at Fanueil Hall in Boston, Kerry told a crowd of supporters that the voters, not the court, should determine the winner of this year’s election.
“I would not give up this fight if there was a chance that we would prevail,” the junior Massachusetts senator said. “But it is now clear that … there won’t be enough outstanding votes for us to be able to win Ohio. And therefore, we cannot win this election.”
Down in the electoral vote count, Kerry faced a must-win situation in Ohio, where Bush emerged with a small lead early Wednesday morning. Although provisional ballots remained to be counted, Kerry acknowledged no scenario existed in which he could swing the Buckeye State to his favor and stave off electoral extinction.
With his yearlong campaign at its end and the country still clearly divided, Kerry pled for a resolution to the partisan divide pervading the nation.
“We are required now to work together for the good of our country,” Kerry said. “In the days ahead, we must find common cause. We must join in common effort without remorse or recrimination, without anger or rancor.”
Bush later celebrated a resounding victory with supporters at the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington, D.C. Not only did the president claim a greater share of the popular vote than Kerry — something Bush did not do against Al Gore in 2000 — but he also won an absolute majority, the first time that has happened since Bush’s father won the 1988 election.
The president earned more than 58 million votes nationwide, defeating Kerry by 3.6 million votes.
“The voters turned out in record numbers and delivered an historic victory,” Bush proclaimed.
The president said the United States has successfully weathered a turbulent four years and now stands poised to enter a “season of hope” in Bush’s second term.
“We’ll continue our economic progress,” he said. “We’ll reform our outdated tax code. We’ll strengthen the Social Security for the next generation. We’ll make public schools all they can be. And we will uphold our deepest values of family and faith.”
Bush ended Wednesday night with 279 electoral votes, nine more than needed for victory. Kerry claimed 252, while the race in Iowa remained undetermined but would not impact the final result.
Wisconsin’s 10 electoral votes officially fell into Kerry’s column Wednesday. George Twigg, Kerry’s Wisconsin spokesman, said the result was a positive ending to a disappointing 24 hours.
“Absolutely, it is a consolation,” Twigg said. “We did all we could here to keep Wisconsin a blue state. The question was just whether we would get enough states, and unfortunately we fell short.”
In a memo released Wednesday, Bush chief strategist Matthew Dowd trumpeted Bush’s efforts in targeting women and Hispanics for the president’s strong showing nationwide. In hotly contested Florida, Bush exit polling showed 55 percent of Hispanics voting for the president.
University of Wisconsin political science professor Charles Franklin, who worked for ABC News Tuesday night, said Kerry had suffered from a strong turnout among Republicans at the polls Tuesday.
“The Democratic Party has not come to grips with the fact it is no longer the majority party, and can no longer rely on more Democrats showing up at the polls than Republicans,” Franklin said.
Republicans also had success in Congress, picking up net gains of seats in the House and Senate. Among the notable Republican victories were John Thune’s triumph over Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle in South Dakota and Cuban-born Mel Martinez’s victory in the seat vacated by retiring Democratic Sen. Bob Graham in Florida.
