Kerry: 'Begin The Healing'

Sen. John Kerry ended his presidential campaign on Wednesday with a call for a more unified America, a few hours after telephoning President Bush to congratulate him on winning a second term.

"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, just over a mile from the site of the Democratic convention where he was nominated in July. 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."

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.

Introducing the nominee, vice presidential candidate Sen. John Edwards told the crowd, "Even the outcome won't change, I want you to know we will continue to fight for every vote."

"We will honor each one of you who stood with us and stood in line," he said.

With Kerry at his side, Edwards pledged to continue a campaign for the "one America" that Democrats had said did not exist under Mr. Bush.

"You can be disappointed but you cannot walk away," Edwards said to supporters. "This fight has just begin."

But for Kerry, Wednesday's speech ended the campaign that first stirred almost three years ago. And it likely marked the apex of the political career that Kerry began as a young veteran protesting the Vietnam war.

His voice hoarse and occasionally strained by emotion, Kerry said he was only stopping his run because victory was beyond reach.

"I would not give up this fight if there was a chance we could prevail," he said.

The president was expected to accept victory at around 3 p.m. CBSNews.com will provide a live Webcast of the president's speech, and CBS television stations will broadcast it live.

Kerry had delayed conceding because of the tight race in Ohio. Mr. Bush was leading in the state, but there were thousands of provisional ballots outstanding.

As Kerry bowed out, Ohio moved into the president's column. With Iowa and New Mexico still counting, Mr. Bush led the electoral count 274 to 252, and the popular vote by a margin of about 3.5 million votes.

Mr. Bush will enjoy strengthened Republican control of Congress for the next two years, with the chance of a Supreme Court nomination fight looming along with legislative battles. 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 Republican games 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 seniors 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 wish — you don't know how much — I could have brought this race home for them, for you.

"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."

"I know this is a difficult time for my supporters," he said, "but I ask them to join me in that."

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.

[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.]