The extremely close vote in Florida is likely to lead to a recount, which could still provide a path to victory for Mitt Romney, said Dick Morris in an exclusive interview with Newsmax TV minutes before major networks called the race for President Barack Obama.
With Obama leading Romney by a mere 0.5 percentage points in the Sunshine State, an automatic recount is likely — a development that could give the Republican candidate a victory in a way that would mirror the 2000 election victory of George Bush over Al Gore by a margin of just 537 Sunshine State votes.
“Things will change very quickly if we could put Florida in the win column for Romney,” said the former adviser to President Bill Clinton and Fox News analyst. “A lot of votes are yet to be counted, so we are going to see which counties have yet to report those votes and we are going to check those statistics very quickly.
“In Florida there’s about 10 percent of the vote out there and it looks to me like it’s going to come down to perhaps a dead-even tie race, certainly within the half a point that triggers an automatic recount. I believe absentee voters can be counted until the 15th or 17th of November and those can be decisive.”
Morris added that Ohio, Iowa, and Colorado tallies were also very close and might be subject to recounts that could put Romney up in the days ahead.
He added that the Romney campaign was disappointed by the loss in New Hampshire.
“I thought that we’d carry New Hampshire — but there is still a clear path for a Romney victory. You start with Virginia, where he is now about 80,000 votes ahead with two-thirds cast — about a four point lead. If he hangs on to Virginia, probably does, he is up 3 [points] in North Carolina, with I think two-thirds counted, or perhaps more, so I think those two.
“Then you have Florida and Ohio, Iowa, and Colorado and he has to win Florida and Ohio, plus Colorado…. So there is still a shot for him to put it together.”
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