MSM should be asking Romney camp why the concession was delayed so long.

[yellowcanine]

Networks made the call around 10:15 PM.
Romney's concession speech was around 1:00 am.
That is almost 3 hours. And I don't buy the crap about needing to rewrite a victory speech. That should have taken about 5 minutes.

[unblock]

1. they needed to make sure the margin of victory was beyond the reach of theft.

[MgtPA]

2. Wasn't it 11:15?

[yellowcanine]

9. You are correct, got central time and eastern time mixed up.

But still, 2 hours is way too long and unprecedented I do believe. By midnight, Karl Rove aside, it was clear to everyone the race was won by Obama.

[MgtPA]

20. I agree! As soon as MSNBC called Ohio for Obama, I switched to Fox in order to watch the tears,

and got to see the Karl Rove act live. What fun that was!

[DonViejo]

10. Yes, it was 11:15 p.m. EST....

Yesterday, there were numerous articles from the NYT, the WaPo and other media outlets explaining the delay. Those articles are here on DU, in OP's. Sorry, you'll have to search for them. One article reported on Romney's reaction to Rove going bat shit crazy on FOX...Romney allegedly told his campaign staff to concede Ohio, just as Rove was swinging from the coconut trees.

[madaboutharry]

3. They were in denial.

Or maybe they were on the phone with the Ohio SOS.

[LisaL]

12. OH hasn't even counted 200,000 provisional ballots yet.

By OH law, they have to wait until Nov 17 to count these ballots.
Since the number of outstanding ballots is larger than the margin of victory, at least theoretically it is possible that OH could flip. Of course since these ballots normally favor democrats, Obama lead should only grow once they are counted. But I don't think Romney would have conceded to this day if it was up to OH. No way.

[CreekDog]

24. it wasn't lost just because of Ohio --it was lost when Ohio no longer mattered

Once Colorado came in (right around the same time) and Nevada and Iowa held and the West Coast does what it always does (at 8pm), Obama could have lost Ohio, VA, NC, and Florida and still have won.

[lalalu]

4. They had to use a defibrillator on him.

[TwilightGardener]

5. I think there was a reason for not writing a concession speech.

It's the same reasoning behind not packing a parka when you visit Hawaii. Why would you need it? Mittens was guaranteed to win, by somebody or a group of somebodies. He had fireworks and a victory speech ready, and that's it.

[peace13]

6. The theft always happens when most are asleep.

Too many people witnessing the computer go down in Ohio would draw attention. That is why KKKarl was so upset. They didn't give time for the flip!

[Coyotl]

7. Actually NOT = They were waiting for votes to be counted

and wisely so. When the networks call a state, that is based on inference, not the results. They waited for the results.

[Third Doctor]

11. I agree.

[yellowcanine]

14. There was enough information to know Obama had won.

All the networks, including Fox (except for Karl Rove) had come to this conclusion.

[LisaL]

15. And in 2000, they came to conclusion Gore won FL.

Then Gore un-won FL and the rest is history.

[yellowcanine]

17. But they did not call the election for Gore at that point. Besides, they were

relying more on exit polls in that election. And the exit polls were actually correct - people thought they had voted for Gore but it turned out a lot of them did not have their vote counted for Gore. Probably at least 10,000 Gore votes were lost in Palm Beach County because of the butterfly ballot. No one could have anticipated such an event. It was a fluke.

[Coyotl]

22. NOT! There was enough information to infer Obama had won.

That's the difference. Remember when there was enough information "to know" Bush had won Florida.

I e-mailed the Gore people and told them they were wrong as Gore drove to his concession speech. I proved that he was winning Florida with a simple algorithm. They had accepted an "inference" and I offered a different "inference" based on a math equation. To "know" is to have all the votes counted, while to "infer" is to use the votes counted to make a prediction, which can be wrong!

[LisaL]

8. If it was up to OH, Romney wouldn't have conceded to this day.

You have to realize that OH still has ~200,000 provisional ballots that has not bee counted. Which is larger than the margin of victory for Obama. So, however unlikely, theoretically it is still possible that Romney could win OH.
So no way he would have conceded if it was up to OH alone. But after CO came in strong, it become impossible for Romney to win, since, even if he were to win OH, he still would lose.

[Bad Thoughts]

13. Votes decide the presidency: concession was not necessary

Unless Romney planned some legal challenge to the obvious vote lead Obama was building in Ohio and the other outstanding states, no concession was necessary. The presidency is not a negotiation between great men.

[yellowcanine]

16. Question of courtesy - not necessity. All the more reason why he should have conceded.

Concessions can be taken back, as Gore did in 2000, if events change drastically. The Gore concession unfortunately turned out to be premature but no actual harm was done. OTOH in this case, Romney looked churlish by delaying the concession when it was clear Obama had won.

[Bad Thoughts]

18. GOP called foul when Gore retracted

Do you remember how the Republicans felt that Gore had effectively "folded" when he conceded, and that his challenges should be illegitimate? I agree that concessions help move toward the next stage of the nation's political life, but they don't mean anything constitionally, and there's no need to know why Romeny waited three minutes, three hours or three days.

[gravity]

19. Romney lost

Talking about the reasons why Romney lost is more important than worrying about the one hour delay in giving a concession.

[leftyohiolib]

21. he was busy cancelling the staffers credit cards

[HopeHoops]

23. Simple. He didn't have one written. All he could squeak out was a sub-5 minute speech.

He looked completely shell-shocked.