Adviser: Romney "shellshocked" by loss
Alex Wong/Getty Images
BOSTON, Mass. Mitt Romney's campaign got its first hint something was wrong on the afternoon of Election Day, when state campaign workers on the ground began reporting huge turnout in areas favorable to President Obama: northeastern Ohio, northern Virginia, central Florida and Miami-Dade.
Then came the early exit polls that also were favorable to the president.
But it wasn't until the polls closed that concern turned into alarm. They expected North Carolina to be called early. It wasn't. They expected Pennsylvania to be up in the air all night; it went early for the President.
After Ohio went for Mr. Obama, it was over, but senior advisers say no one could process it.
"We went into the evening confident we had a good path to victory," said one senior adviser. "I don't think there was one person who saw this coming."
They just couldn't believe they had been so wrong. And maybe they weren't: There was Karl Rove on Fox saying Ohio wasn't settled, so campaign aides decided to wait. They didn't want to have to withdraw their concession, like Al Gore did in 2000, and they thought maybe the suburbs of Columbus and Cincinnati, which hadn't been reported, could make a difference.
But then came Colorado for the president and Florida also was looking tougher than anyone had imagined.
"We just felt, 'where's our path?'" said a senior adviser. "There wasn't one."
Romney then said what they knew: it was over.
His personal assistant, Garrett Jackson, called his counterpart on Mr. Obama's staff, Marvin Nicholson. "Is your boss available?" Jackson asked.
Romney was stoic as he talked to the president, an aide said, but his wife Ann cried. Running mate Paul Ryan seemed genuinely shocked, the adviser said. Ryan's wife Janna also was shaken and cried softly.
"There's nothing worse than when you think you're going to win, and you don't," said another adviser. "It was like a sucker punch."
Mitt Romney's concession speech
Their emotion was visible on their faces when they walked on stage after Romney finished his remarks, which Romney had hastily composed, knowing he had to say something.
Both wives looked stricken, and Ryan himself seemed grim. They all were thrust on that stage without understanding what had just happened.
"He was shellshocked," one adviser said of Romney.
Romney and his campaign had gone into the evening confident they had a good path to victory, for emotional and intellectual reasons. The huge and enthusiastic crowds in swing state after swing state in recent weeks - not only for Romney but also for Paul Ryan - bolstered what they believed intellectually: that Obama would not get the kind of turnout he had in 2008.
They thought intensity and enthusiasm were on their side this time - poll after poll showed Republicans were more motivated to vote than Democrats - and that would translate into votes for Romney.
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The next story I'd like to see on this subject would be details of Rove's arrest and incarceration.
The real moochers are millionaires and billionaires who pay a lower tax rate than working people and large corporations that earn billions in profit and pay little or no tax.
The real moochers are corporations, Romney and other wealthy individuals who offshore their money to avoid paying their fair share of taxes ($100 billion is lost annually).
The real moochers are corporations that send jobs overseas and receive $58 billion annually in tax breaks.
The real moochers are profitable oil, gas and coal companies that receive $11 billion annually in tax breaks and subsidies.
The real moochers are Wall Street and the big banks that received a $700 billion bailout; and large financial institutions, multinational corporations, and some of the wealthiest individuals that received $16 trillion in near-zero interest Fed loans.
The real moochers are Big Pharma, Big Agra and other industries that receive billions in subsidies.
The real moochers are Romney and other private equity managers that benefit from the carried interest loophole.
Top ten interests funding Romney/Ryan's campaign: securities/investment, insurance, health professionals, pharmaceuticals/health products, real estate, lawyers/law firms, manufacturing/distributing, finance, banks/credit, and oil/gas.
How exacty was their world being changed by a sitting president staying in office ?
really, that kind of over commitment scares me, when u cant deal with a loss in a mature way it makes me think you would govern the same way.
thats why He lost, LACK OF TRUST, Freaks dont run goverments anymore in the USA, Just like u cant turn a H03 into a house wife
They control every Movement, Facial Expression, Thoughts and really enjoy that "Fist" up da Wazzzooooo.....LOL.
You BetCha....Fer Sure.
I am sitting here laughing so hard it almost hurts.
Why are the selfish republican's so mad at the liberals?
My goodness folks you blew any chances of winning when you chose the great Mitt Romney as your almighty man.
I give some republican's credit for knowing Romney didn't have a chance of winning over president Obama, right George?
It's going to be fun to watch the republican's fall in love with the blacks, latino's, and all the other so called alien's ( there words not mine).
Lets hope when they start courting there new loves, they will bring lots of pretty flowers and the best candy they can afford...
HE WAS VERY SMUG/DISRESPECTFUL, TO PRESIDENT OBAMA, ON SEVERAL OCCASSIONS...But what really troubled me is that his beliefs, campaign issues seemed to change like the weather-He wasn't forthright, honesty, or credible?! I've never witnessed such unprofessionalism, as I did, in The Presidential Election of 2012?? (I, also could relate to Vice President, Joe Biden's behavior, in debate with Ryan...I couldn't stop chucking, as so many things seemed to go to the point absurdity!!
I, for one, can not vote a man like Romney into the highest office of Presidency, IF I CAN'T TRUST HUM! I THINK MANY PEOPLE FELT LIKE THAT...OBVIOUSLY. Romney said, he lost for many reasons, but they have little to do with the main reasons he lost....I truly believe he hung himself, with that muth of his! lol He may be a heck of a business man, a marketeer, a system analayst, but with that goes some slick, shady selling sometimes, and it didn't work for him-The People Weren't Buying It-Period!! I was quite sure that Obama would take Ohio/Florida, etc.., and win hi second term, and I'm a politician. I told my 22 yr. old daughter, "LIFE ISN'T ALWAYS FAIR, & SOMETIMES A PERSON WINS, THAT SHOULDN'T HAVE,....BUT I WAS TUGHT, & BELIEVE, STILL, THAT THE BEST MAN STILL USUALLY WINS-THE ONE WITH GOOD CHARACTER, MORALS, VALUES,HONESTY, STANDS STRONG. & BY WHAT E BELIEVES IN, HA HUMILITY/HUMBLE,& THAT'S OBAMA, MY FELLOW AMERICANS! HE DESERVES A 2ND TERM, JUST LIKE FDR DID, TO PROVE HIMSELF, ETC.." HE TOLD AMERICANS 1ST TERM, WHOEVER WINS, TO FIX THIS MESS WILL TAKE LONGER THAN A 1 TERM..MUCH MORE, AS WE DIDN'T GET HERE OVERNIGHT.
AND ISN'T SAD, THAT WE NEVER ONCE SAW 1 OUNCE OF HUMILITY, OR HUMBLENESS, OR SOME HONESTY IN MITT ROMNEY, UNTIL HE LOST, AND GAVE HIS CONCESSION SPEECH TO AMERICA.....IT WAS ALL TOO LATE BY THEN..
HE WAS VERY SMUG/DISRESPECTFUL, TO PRESIDENT OBAMA, ON SEVERAL OCCASSIONS...But what really troubled me is that his beliefs, campaign issues seemed to change like the weather-He wasn't forthright, honesty, or credible?! I've never witnessed such unprofessionalism, as I did, in The Presidential Election of 2012?? (I, also could relate to Vice President, Joe Biden's behavior, in debate with Ryan...I couldn't stop chucking, as so many things seemed to go to the point absurdity!!
I, for one, can not vote a man like Romney into the highest office of Presidency, IF I CAN'T TRUST HUM! I THINK MANY PEOPLE FELT LIKE THAT...OBVIOUSLY. Romney said, he lost for many reasons, but they have little to do with the main reasons he lost....I truly believe he hung himself, with that muth of his! lol He may be a heck of a business man, a marketeer, a system analayst, but with that goes some slick, shady selling sometimes, and it didn't work for him-The People Weren't Buying It-Period!! I was quite sure that Obama would take Ohio/Florida, etc.., and win hi second term, and I'm a politician. I told my 22 yr. old daughter, "LIFE ISN'T ALWAYS FAIR, & SOMETIMES A PERSON WINS, THAT SHOULDN'T HAVE,....BUT I WAS TUGHT, & BELIEVE, STILL, THAT THE BEST MAN STILL USUALLY WINS-THE ONE WITH GOOD CHARACTER, MORALS, VALUES,HONESTY, STANDS STRONG. & BY WHAT E BELIEVES IN, HA HUMILITY/HUMBLE,& THAT'S OBAMA, MY FELLOW AMERICANS! HE DESERVES A 2ND TERM, JUST LIKE FDR DID, TO PROVE HIMSELF, ETC.." HE TOLD AMERICANS 1ST TERM, WHOEVER WINS, TO FIX THIS MESS WILL TAKE LONGER THAN A 1 TERM..MUCH MORE, AS WE DIDN'T GET HERE OVERNIGHT.
AND ISN'T SAD, THAT WE NEVER ONCE SAW 1 OUNCE OF HUMILITY, OR HUMBLENESS, OR SOME HONESTY IN MITT ROMNEY, UNTIL HE LOST, AND GAVE HIS CONCESSION SPEECH TO AMERICA.....IT WAS ALL TOO LATE BY THEN..