Romney on path to probable loss in Florida

A worker prepares boxes of absentee ballots to be scanned at the Miami-Dade County Elections Department, Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2012, in Doral, Fla.

/ AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee

Updated 6:08 p.m. Eastern Time

As election officers continue to tally votes in Florida, Romney's campaign in the state acknowledged today that it didn't have high hopes for coming out on top there, according to the Miami Herald.

Mitt Romney could not have won the presidency even with Florida's electoral votes, and he conceded the race to President Obama late Tuesday night. It looks like he also fell short in the Sunshine State: The president currently leads there by a slim margin of slightly over 50,000 votes, but many of those which have yet to be counted come from Democratic strongholds such as Miami-Dade and Broward counties. According to the Herald, the number of uncounted ballots from more conservative-friendly counties, such as Duval County and Palm Beach County, is not likely to outweigh the president's margin.

The Florida Democratic Party -- though not the Obama campaign, as has been erroneously reported elsewhere -- claimed victory in a statement Tuesday.

"On behalf of Florida Democrats, I wish President Barack Obama congratulations on his re-election and on winning Florida's 29 electoral votes," said Chairman Rod Smith. Obama campaign manager Jim Messina told reporters Thursday the campaign expects to "be the official winner in Florida later today," but the campaign has not claimed victory.

Mr. Obama won Florida in 2008, but many considered it a relative long shot for him this time around. State polls toward the end of the campaign were varied, with some showing Romney five or six points ahead, and others showing a close race with Mr. Obama holding a slim lead.

"The numbers in Florida show this was winnable," Brett Doster, Florida adviser for Romney, told the Herald in a statement. "We thought based on our polling and range of organization that we had done what we needed to win. Obviously, we didn't, and for that I, and every other operative in Florida has a sick feeling that we left something on the table. I can assure you this won't happen again."

The national Romney campaign is still waiting for the votes to be fully counted in Florida and -- though it doesn't make any real difference -- has not conceded the state.

[rksharma-2009]

Even though the results in Florida won't change the outcome of the election, it does however prove that Florida is a pathetic state run by criminals. Starting from Jeb Bush who stole the election from Gore to the present governor who was planing to steal it for Romney had it mattered. You losers, it is time to go hide somewhere, because the entire nation knows what you guys were up to.

[Handy636]

I think folks are forgetting that Bush and his republicans started with zero debt and in the space of 8 years bankrupted the country. The reps then spent 4 years stonewalling anything that Obama tried to accomplish with the goal of making the economy so bad folks would vote for them. My take is that the right will lie and cheat then say they are working for god and then go home smiling.

[bckrd1]

Too true. I am proud of the Americans who did not fall for their treachery and stood behind a President who cares about all Americans but is concerned for those who are not the 1%. It is too bad that the white seniors were ready to fall for the lies. They would have been harmed the most.

[VapeGirl]

Umm...hello CBS, the counts are in, Romney conceded FLorida(half a day agao). Obama wins it. :)

[realsickofit]

All you Demos live it up, I'm 72 so I probably won't have to pay all the debt when you run out of other peoples money.

[obicera1]

Blah....blah...blah.

[trekkiexb5]

Well, you shouldn't voted Bush in a second term, perhaps we could have not borrowed against our debt so he can finish what his Daddy started in Iraq.

The problem is they catered to YOU...the older retired middle class. And you bought it hook...line...and sinker. THe sad thing is all they really cared for was the upper rich class. Romney never stated what his plan was (ie where hewas going to get the cash) to pay off the debt.

Unfortunally, YOU are not the majority anymore.

I don't like Obama but I do know he's more honest than Romney, better than Karl Rove, more fair across the board. While I don't think he will solve the issues, I think he will try to do his best, with the best intentions of the people in his mind. For that, he deserves a second chance.

The world is changing, either you become flexible and work with it or hide your head in the sand.

[stevehamilton858]

Why does anyone care? The election is over,whether or not Romney has conceded. this is a good example of the screwed up priorities of the Republican Party. The Tea Party is as toxic to the GOP today as Senator Joseph McCarthy was when Eisenhower was president. It took Eisenhower himself to go after McCarthy, which led to the Senator's censure. the people running the GOP today, like members of the RNC and probably Mr. Romney himself, have to kick the Tea Party under the bus, and focus on negotiating with Democrats to get laws passed that are sorely needed. The TP, like all radical organizations, can only lead to more gridlock, because they won't compromise, and compromise is needed in order to negotiate. Read the Constitution carefully and you will see that the officials who drafted the document wanted to insure that laws had to be negotiated, that no one chamber or the president had monarchical power.

[cubscout09]

In 1787, the year the Constitution was drafted, Massachusetts, the cradle of the Revolution, was in a state of civil war. Shays' Men were attempting to exercise what would later be known as a Second Amendment Solution, by seizing the local armories.

The dispute was settled by,
1) volleys of musket balls and grapeshot.
2) Alexander Hamilton establishing the original national debt by borrowing to settle war debts, i.e. paying Shays' Men back wages.
3) Creating a path to clemency and citizenship for rebels, Tories and other "enemy" combatants, which included an sworn oath to obey the new Constitution. It may suprise some to find out that the ratification of the Constitution was a close thing.

[Makesyawonder]

It's pretty obvious...Cubans cant count.

[cubscout09]

You really need to research.
1) Governor Rick Scott's biography and resume, with attention to allegations of fraud.
2) Secretary of State, Kurt Browning's biography and resume, with attention to allegations of voter suppression.

[Bush-cheney-R-Terrorists]

Can you imagine what would have happened if there were a tie and the country actually needed to know the results from Florida? It is beyond stupidity at this point in Florida.

[twmat311]

Wonder if the strategists planned that - a victory path that didn't need Florida (after the Katherine Harris fiasco)

[sandiegopete]

Florida still hasn't completed its count. This is why business people are bad choices to run governments. They just do not understand that a government is not a business. The first requirement of any elected official is to serve the people the person was elected to represent. The first requirement for a business person is to make a profit for the company.

The poor job done by the governor of Florida demonstrates why businss people are not suitable to run governments.

[SusanStoHelit]

Whooooo Hoooo!

Every last battleground state!

Even with the 'poll tax' of an outrageously long line to vote, they still couldn't even take Florida!

[bb543]

Nipples erect yet, child ?

[Mathion]

North Carolina went to Romney, Susan.

Just remember, while the right-wing lost, the left-wing didn't really gain that much, either. The voters "message" is ambiguous to those on the left or the right, but it's clear enough for those of us in the middle who aren't enamored of most of the core policies of both leftist and rightist ideologies.

Without a "resounding victory" for either left or right, it was the middle who made the call. Though some may spin it that it was an endorsement of leftist policies, it wasn't. It was a rejection of rightist social policies. If people where THAT happy with leftist policies, the House would be back in Democratic hands.

It isn't.

What the message clearly said was "Stop acting like whiny toddlers, grow the hell up, do your damn jobs and work TOGETHER to fix the country!"

[ladyang]

Repugs, neocons, teabaggers, evan-taliban heres a word of advise long longs to cast votes are never a good thing for you. We will wait forever to cast a vote against you. You will lose forever! 336 electoral votes. That a mandate bit$$es!

FORWARD!

Where are u JV1970 (LOSER)

[twmat311]

They're all busy digging out their 2008 talking points sheets...invalid in 2008, and even more so now - but it's all they have.