Kerry concession based on numbers more than principle

Glenn Reynolds--and to some extent Ann Althouse--give Kerry too much credit when they praise the candidate's decision to concede:

Congratulations to Senator Kerry for doing the right thing, particularly as I imagine he was facing pressure from some diehards to stretch things out.

But Kerry's decision to concede was based not on altruistic principle but on a realistic assessment of the numbers in Ohio, as I laid out earlier.

An e-mail message I just received from John Kerry himself backs up this thesis:

I would not give up this fight if there was a chance that we would prevail. But it is now clear that even when all the provisional ballots are counted, which they will be, there won't be enough outstanding votes for our campaign to be able to win Ohio. And therefore, we cannot win this election.