Moved to another area.

[mzmolly]

Did Kerry concede because of Elizabeth Edwards illness?

It makes sense in a way because Edwards urged Kerry to fight on and Kerry said "I don't want to divide the country." My guess is that Edwards said "please don't let this effect your decision, but Kerry, being the stand up guy he is replied as I stated.

The reason I say this is several fold.

First his concession speech seemed a bit like he wanted to fight and knew he let us down, but there was a reason he couldn't share. It wasn't like him to concede so early, given what he knows about the Rethuglican Party. Why not wait a few days right?

Kerry also mentioned Elizabeth specifically and very fondly in his speech.

I really think they knew something shortly before election day, and Kerry didn't want to put the families through a court battle along with battling cancer given the likely outcome.

[JI7]

1. no, i think he just saw the numbers and they weren't good for him

remember, we were waiting up the night to see if the gap would close but bush retained his large lead even after the big dem counties were counted in.

but i do think sadness in his speech may have had to do with this in addition to the election results.

[mzmolly]

2. I think it was two fold personally.

Had she not been ill perhaps he'd have waited and got more information?

As I said if the numbers were different, he would have fought on. I think he felt it was a lost cause without something substantial and he didn't want to put the families through a long court battle.

[AP]

3. According to one AP (?) report, John Edwards was the one who wanted to...

...fight on. It doesn't make sense that Kerry would make a decision based on Elizabeth Edwards's health that trumped what the Edwards family wanted to do.

Furthermore, Edwards didn't get her biopsy until sometime yesterday and Kerry decided to concede early yesterday. Although it's possible she got her biopsy results before Kerry made his decision, odds are that she didn't.

Anyway, it was obvious on Tuesday night that there weren't enough uncounted votes in Cuyahoga Cty to offset Kerry's deficit.