Final push for Romney falls short

COLUMBUS, Ohio — It ended here.

In Ohio, early reports of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s loss were especially shattering for volunteers and supporters who spent time in the trenches of this crucial swing state.

“Paul (Ryan) and I have left everything on the field,” Romney said in his concession speech. “We have given our all to this campaign.”

Throughout the campaign, the state and its 18 electoral votes were hotly contested commodities.

After calling Ohio, pundits began to call the election.

Both candidates made stops in the state during the election’s final days.

On Monday night, hours before the polls opened, Obama had a rally at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio, with musical supporters Bruce Springsteen and Jay-Z.

In the same city and on the same night, Romney addressed supporters at Landmark Aviation.

Romney spokesman Robert Reid said Tuesday morning that Ohio was “critical.”

During the final push, supporters stepped up their efforts to get out the vote.

U.S. Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, Romney adviser and campaign chairman, said volunteers knocked on 2.7 million doors and made 5.9 million phone calls in the run up to the election.

Those numbers are due in part to out-of-state volunteers.

Glenn Thomas of Frisco, Texas, traveled to Ohio on Thursday with a group of 100 volunteers. He knocked on doors and made phone calls, convinced his efforts here would matter more than those he made back home.

“It’s the battleground,” Thomas said.

The same group sent hundreds to other key states.

“I can talk to people in Texas all I want, and the reality in Texas is that they’ll vote the way they vote,” Thomas said. “Here in Ohio there’s an opportunity to either influence or to motivate people to get out the vote.”

Thomas flew back to Texas on Tuesday. He watched the results come in from home and said at 11:30 p.m. he was unwilling to concede a loss until the remainder of Ohio’s votes had been counted.

But just before Romney’s concession, Thomas said he was feeling a little depressed.
He worried about the country’s polarization, about the deficit and about what Obama’s administration would mean for the country and for his five children. Still, he wouldn’t take it back.

“I’d do it again,” Thomas said. “I’d probably do it harder.”

“Every vote counts, and hopefully the work that we did in coming there keeps us on top or puts us back on top,” Thomas said.

Volunteers Jeremiah Stock, 18, Ben Northrup, 15, and Olivia Cox, 16, traveled from Kentucky to knock on Ohio doors and ring Ohio phones.

They came with 200 other volunteers from the Jeremiah Generation, a group of homeschooled young people who travel to volunteer for Republican candidates.

This is Northrup’s fifth campaign with the group, and before the results were called, he said it’s the tightest race he’s worked.

“This seems at least the most critical and stressful one,” Northrup said. “Very high pressure, very taut.”

The three waited with other volunteers in corner of the ballroom. Teenagers and children sprawled on the floor, waiting for results. They said they were sure it would be close, but they added that no matter the outcome, the experience would be well worth the time and experience.

After the announcement, Northrup said he felt okay about the loss. He’d prepared for the worst, he said, and hoped for the best.

Given the amount of work they’d put into volunteering in this state, it was difficult.
“It’s always a bummer to know that your whole life’s blood and tears, the work kind of didn’t count,” Northrup said.

Volunteers Chris Lee and Daryl Kelly came from Pasco and Richland, Wash., respectively, and paid their travel expenses to make their voices heard.

They concentrated their efforts in Ohio, Lee said, because Ohio would determine the course of the presidential election.

“For the last 100 years, not a Republican has won without winning Ohio,” Lee said.
And after their Republican lost, Lee said he was disappointed and worried for the
future.

Still, Lee said, the effort they put into this crucial state was worth it. They gave everything they possibly could, he said.

“And to you here tonight, and to the team across the country — the volunteers, the fundraisers, the donors, the surrogates — I don’t believe that there’s ever been an effort in our party that can compare with what you have done over these past years,” Romney said.