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.That's 75,000 more than Ohio's Secretary of State estimated, but whatever. If we take her figure as accurate, that would mean that Kerry would need to win 194,000 of those to overturn Bush's current lead. That's 77%, which is 28% more than he's won in the first 5.5m votes counted. Sounds pretty unlikely. (Even more unlikely if the Sec. of State's estimate is right - Kerry would need 89% of the provisional votes).
I had high hopes that Kerry wouldn't pull "a Gore" and would want to end this gracefully. He may yet. I think he needs to do so, early today, for the good of the country and himself. I don't think his political career is over, but it will be if he disgraces himself now. He'll be Al Gore II, which cannot be an attractive prospect.
UPDATE 4:35pm: Kerry has conceded. It's the right thing to do.
