Close Race Quotes

John F. Kennedy went to bed at 3:30 in the morning on November 9, 1960, uncertain whether he had defeated Richard Nixon for the presidency. He thought he had won, but six states hung in the balance, and after months of exhaustive campaigning, he was too tired to stay awake any longer.

It's no exaggeration to say that the undecideds could go one way or another.

This election could come down to just a handful of votes. It could come down to just one vote.

Eric Bischoff wanted to destroy Vince in the ratings, but we wanted them to stay in the game. We wanted it to be neck-and-neck. We didn't want to skunk the other team and spike the football every single time.

I don't feel that Shaunae Miller cheated me because she didn't break any rules or anything like that, but I do feel like it's a very difficult way to lose. Having worked so hard and I know that that was such a close race, it just kind of made it even harder to deal with defeat just because of how it was done. But I don't think that she had any ill intention by it or did it on purpose. I think it just kind of happened.

The Michigan Republican primary apparently is tighter than Willie Nelson's headband.

In 1998 Harry Reid and I had a very close race. It was less than a tenth of a percentage point. We had a reasonable recount. There were a lot of things that I could have pursued at the time, but I just felt that at the time that I should have, you know, conceded the race.

As everyone knows, Voter News Service, a consortium with a good track record, gave out bad numbers that night. In the closest race in history the wheels apparently came off a rattle trap computer system which we relied on and paid millions for. Through our self-examination and investigation we have determined that there was no intentional political favoritism in play on election night on the part of Fox News.

We shouldn't deny and sort of ignore that we also have the first female candidate who has really shown that a woman could run for President and do so and be very viable. Remember, this race is very close. It reflects the fact that we have two excellent candidates.

In the final analysis this congressional race is always going to be a close race, whether there's a presidential race or governor's race or not. But is this a better year? Yes, this would probably be a better year.

I want to be back every year. If I don't go, I want it to be because someone else just was having a great season. I want it to at least be a close call.

The winner's margin of victory also matters. If it's a squeaker, that will make the lessons learned for both parties much murkier.