At campaign's end, Obama congratulates Romney

On Election Day 2012, President Obama made a surprise stop at a campaign field office in Chicago, where he congratulated Mitt Romney on a hard-fought campaign. He was careful to add that it was not a concession: "I'm looking forward to the results. And I expect that we'll have a good night," he said.

The visit captured Obama in full get-out-the-vote mode. He urged voters on all sides to turn out: "I would encourage everybody on all sides just to make sure that you exercise this precious right that you have that people fought so hard for, for us to have."

What did Obama do at the field office?

He picked up a phone and started calling volunteers himself. To a volunteer in Wisconsin named Annie, he opened with: "Hi is this Annie? This is Barack Obama." Then, catching himself: "You know, the president?" Obama later joked that "she was very nice to me even though she initially didn't know who I was."

On another call he told Wisconsin volunteers: "With all the work you guys are doing I'm sure we're going to win Wisconsin." The state-level phone banking was deliberate: Wisconsin was one of the battlegrounds where late turnout could decide the night.

Why congratulate your opponent before the votes are counted?

It is a small election-night tradition for presidents to praise their rival's effort while projecting confidence. Obama did both in one breath: gracious toward Romney, bullish about his own chances. The line let him look presidential before the results made him look either prescient or foolish.

How did the night actually end?

Obama won reelection, defeating Romney to secure a second term. The congratulatory call to Romney was followed a few hours later by an actual concession call from Romney to Obama, and then by the victory speech in Chicago.

FAQ

Was this a concession speech? No. Obama explicitly said he expected a good night for his campaign. It was an Election Day morale visit, not a concession.

Did Obama win Wisconsin? Yes. Wisconsin went for Obama in 2012, part of his winning map.

Where was this field office? In Chicago, the city where Obama had launched his political career and where his campaign was headquartered.

The takeaway

The image that endures from that stop is not the strategizing but the phone call: a sitting president doing volunteer phone banking, introducing himself to a stranger who had no idea who was on the line. Campaigns spend billions on messaging; on Election Day, it still comes down to one person calling another person and asking them to vote.