Did Team Hoffman "panic" on election night?

The Washington Independent is asking why Doug Hoffman conceded so quickly on election night, with thousands of uncounted ballots and plenty of questions still unanswered.

Why did Hoffman concede in the first place? That I’d credit to the campaign’s overconfidence. They went into election day planning for a clear victory…

When votes started coming in far, far below their expectations, they lost hope very quickly.

Hoffman himself was so devastated during his election night speech that he temporarily forgot to mention that he was conceding the election — Mike Long ran onstage with a note reminding him to — and he left the election party making no more statements to the press.

Simply put, I think Hoffman panicked on election night and is now honestly, frantically trying to undo a mistake. I don’t know if he or his team realize the long-term political damage of this.

This read of election night squares with my experience.

When I arrived at Hoffman HQ, the mood wasn’t just buoyant, it was certain.

Rob Ryan, Doug Hoffman’s spokesman, boasted to reporters that he was wearing his RINO tie, a kind of victory trophy for having shoved Dede Scozzafava aside.

(Hoffman’s failure to reach out to Scozzafava after she withdrew may have cost him the election.)

When the vote started coming in, with Bill Owens actually leading, people at the Hotel Saranac were shocked and devastated.

One Hoffman supporter pointed out to me quietly that Hoffman had lost his home town of Saranac Lake, where he grew up and stationed his campaign office.

Put simply, the Conservatives were expecting a coronation. As I’ve written before, I expected the same thing.

But voters get the final say. And unless Mr. Hoffman can provide evidence to the contrary, the voters have spoken plainly.