ABRAMS QUITS, OR DOES SHE? – AT 11:30 P.M. ET:  Stacey Abrams, Democratic candidate for governor of Georgia, has ended her quest for further counts, recounts, and fantasy counts, and has affirmed that she has lost the election.  But it was a strange withdrawal, consistent with obvious plans for a political future.  From AP and others: 

Democrat Stacey Abrams ended her bid to be Georgia governor late Friday in a speech which she said was not a 'concession' but an acknowledgment that she cannot win.

She said Brian Kemp, the Republican candidate, would win the vote count which was due to be certified at 5 p.m., just as she made the speech to supporters in Atlanta.

But she ended her bid to be the nation's first black female governor defiantly saying that she would be suing in federal court over the election's 'gross mismanagement', taking a bitter election with claims of racist voter suppression into a new arena.

Her move means that Kemp will be named Georgia's governor, having overseen the election's running as the secretary of state.

She  said her announcement was not a concession because that would acknowledge 'an action as right.'

'I acknowledge that former (Georgia) Secretary of State Brian Kemp will be certified as the victor,' Abrams told supporters in Atlanta. 

'But to watch an elected official who claims to represent the people in this state baldly pin his hopes for election on the suppression of the people's democratic right to vote has been truly appalling.'

'So, let's be clear, this is not a speech of concession, because concession means to acknowledge an action as right, true or proper,' she said.  

Abrams, 44, had considered a court challenge to force a runoff, which is allowed by state law if neither candidate gets a majority of the vote. Initial results showed Kemp just over that threshold.

COMMENT:  Not exactly gracious  And, of course, the race card is played.  But let her have her day in court, where she must prove her charges. 

I did think it was poor style for Brian Kemp to remain as secretary of state during the election.  His office oversaw that election.  He should have recused, simply for style.

That said, no serious acts of suppression have apparently been found.  And you may be sure the liberal press was looking.  Stacey was their hero.

A victory for the GOP.

November 16, 2018