Crowd Reacts With Tears as Campaign Ends

None of the hundreds of invited guests wanted to hear what Sen. John F. Kerry came to tell them Wednesday in historic Faneuil Hall: He was conceding defeat in his quest for the presidency.

“I would not give up this fight if there was a chance we would prevail,” he told family, friends and staff in the colonial-era hall decorated with paintings of early U.S. presidents.

“But it is now clear that even when all the provisional ballots are counted, which they will be, there won’t be enough outstanding votes for us to be able to win Ohio, and therefore we cannot win this election.”

With those words, which brought tears to the eyes of many in the room, Kerry ended not just his campaign but also a harrowing night and morning of uncertainty over who would occupy the White House for the next four years.

“At 7:30 last night, I was absolutely convinced that John Kerry had been elected president of the United States,” senior Kerry strategist Bob Shrum said after the speech.

Early results from exit polls Tuesday left the false impression that Kerry would oust President Bush. Shrum said he got “a sinking feeling” when Florida “slipped away” to Bush early in the evening -- and by the middle of the night “you could smell it.”

“Slowly but surely,” another top Kerry advisor said, “reality intruded on this mirage.”

By 4 a.m. Wednesday, when Kerry operatives in Ohio, Washington and Boston concluded that he had too few votes to win the state that would determine the winner of the White House, the Massachusetts senator had gone to bed. After conferring later in the morning with campaign manager Mary Beth Cahill and his running mate, Sen. John Edwards, Kerry agreed he had lost the race.

Marvin Nicholson, one of his closest traveling aides, asked Kerry what was next. Kerry answered: “Unfortunately we’re going to have to concede. The numbers aren’t there.”

Among the white colonnades of Faneuil Hall, disappointed campaign aides wiped tears from their cheeks and hugged one another even before the senator’s arrival. Spectators stood and applauded when the families of Kerry and Edwards entered the hall, followed by the candidates. But the mood was solemn, and many cried.

“It was a privilege and a gift to spend two years traveling this country, coming to know so many of you,” Kerry said. “I wish that I could just wrap you up in my arms and embrace each and every one of you individually all across this nation. I thank you from the bottom of my heart.”

Kerry was frank about his disappointment.

“I wish that things had turned out a little differently,” he said.

He also expressed gratitude to the thousands of Americans he met in two years of traveling the nation to build support for his candidacy.

“In this journey you have given me the honor and the gift of listening and learning from you,” he said. “I have visited your homes. I visited your churches. I visited your community halls. I’ve heard your stories. I know your struggles. I know your hopes. They are part of me now.”

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Times staff writer Matea Gold contributed to this report.