Bush Hails 'Historic Victory'

President Bush declared reelection victory Wednesday and his allies claimed a Republican mandate amid gains for the party in the House and Senate.

Appearing at Washington's Ronald Reagan building, addressing supporters who had come and gone the night before with the race still undecided, Mr. Bush basked in his decisive win four year after the Supreme Court decided his first, contested election.

"We had a long night — and a great night," he said. "Voters turned out in record numbers and delivered an historic victory."

An hour earlier, John Kerry conceded defeat.

"I'm sorry that we got here a little bit late and a little bit short," the Massachusetts senator told supporters at Boston's Faneuil Hall. Kerry spoke a few hours after calling Mr. Bush to concede defeat.

"We had a good conversation. We talked about the danger of division in our country and the need, the deep need for unity, for finding that common ground, coming together," he said. "Today, I hope we can begin the healing."

"We had a very good phone call. He was very gracious," Mr. Bush said of their talk.

Kerry's announcement concluded America's second tight election in a row, although unlike 2000, the period of uncertainty was limited to hours this time, not weeks.

While Democrats had briefly held out hope they could win the critical state of Ohio when provisional ballots were counted, Kerry and his advisers gave up that hope this morning, and yielded.

"I would not give up this fight if there was a chance we could prevail," Kerry said as he ended his run, his voice hoarse and occasionally strained by emotion.

As Kerry bowed out, Ohio moved into the president's column. Hours later, New Mexico came into the Bush side, giving Mr. Bush an electoral count lead of 279 to 252, with only Iowa remaining uncalled.

"The president ran forthrightly with a clear agenda for the nation's future and the nation responded by giving him a mandate," Vice President Dick Cheney said before he introduced his boss Wednesday afternoon.

Mr. Bush will enjoy strengthened Republican control of Congress for the next two years, as the GOP padded its Senate majority — knocking out Democratic leader Sen. Tom Daschle of South Dakota in the process — and easily held on to the House.

The chance of a Supreme Court nomination fight looms along with legislative battles. To cheering supporters, the president named economic growth, tax reform and social security among his top policy concerns.

"We will hold our deepest values of family and faith," Mr. Bush said. "We will help the emerging democracies of Iraq and Afghanistan so they can grow in strength and defend their freedom and then our service men and women will come home with the honor they have earned."

The Republican gains came amid the highest turnout in decades. Mr. Bush built a solid foundation by hanging on to almost all the battleground states he got last time. Facing the cruel arithmetic of attrition, Kerry needed to do more than go one state better than Al Gore four years ago; redistricting since then had left those 2000 Democratic prizes 10 electoral votes short of the total needed to win the presidency.

Florida fell to Mr. Bush again — close but no argument about it. But Mr. Bush's relentless effort to wrest Pennsylvania from the Democratic column fell short. He had visited the state 44 times, more than any other. Kerry picked up New Hampshire in perhaps the election's only turnover.

As the last polls closed in the West on Tuesday, all eyes turned to Ohio. Early on, Kerry's team voiced confidence. Mr. Bush's camp was nervous. But as the actual vote tallies came in, the feelings reversed. While only two networks declared Ohio for Mr. Bush, Kerry was behind by more than 100,000 votes.

Democrats clung to hopes that provisional ballots would overcome Mr. Bush's lead. With Mr. Bush leading by 145,000 votes and roughly 190,000 yet to be counted, one top Kerry adviser said the Democrat's chances of winning Ohio were difficult at best.

Early Wednesday, White House chief of staff Andrew Card claimed victory for Mr. Bush, and indicated Mr. Bush would not wait long to declare victory himself. Card called Mr. Bush's lead in Ohio "statistically insurmountable, even after provisional ballots are considered."

After senior advisers to Kerry met all morning, they decided that even if provisional ballots swung heavily in the Democrat's favor, the 130,650 lead by Mr. Bush was simply too large to overcome. One senior Democrat familiar with the discussions said Democratic vice presidential candidate John Edwards was suggesting to Kerry that he shouldn't concede.

But at about 11 a.m. Kerry called Mr. Bush to concede, Kerry senior adviser Joe Lockhart told CBSNews.com's David Paul Kuhn.

In his final campaign speech, Kerry thanked his family, his running mate and supporters. He spoke of those he'd met on his long campaign, telling the crowd, "I know your struggles, I know your hopes. They are part of me now. I will never forget you and I'll never stop fighting for you."

Kerry added that, "America is in need of unity and longing for a larger measure of compassion" and promised to "do my part to bridge the partisan divide."

In his own remarks, Mr. Bush also stressed the need to end the country's division.

"A new term is a new opportunity to reach out to the whole nation. We have one country, one Constitution and one future that binds us, and when we come together and work together there is no limit to the greatness of America," Mr. Bush said. "The campaign is over and the United States of America goes forward with confidence and faith."

Kerry's defeat might usher in a period of self-examination for Democrats, who have now lost two consecutive elections by a single state. Exit poll data suggests that Mr. Bush's emphasis on two themes - the war on terror and moral values - resonated with voters and negated voter unhappiness with the state of the economy and the war in Iraq.

"I think the biggest problem the Kerry campaign had really has to do with the Democratic party itself," Ken Chandler, editorial director of the Boston Herald. "They're out of sync, out of touch. They need to re-tool before the next general election."

[CBS News National Exit Poll results are based on interviews with 11,027 voters. The sampling error is plus or minus 1 point. Exit Polls from specific states are based on interviews with at least 1930 voters, and could have a sampling error of as much as plus or minus 2 points.]