Supporters at Romney HQ started feeling sad.

The team conferred.

There was only one thing to do: Accept defeat. Haha, just kidding. There was only one thing Fox could do: Confront the nerds.

Megyn Kelly left the studio to talk to the Decision Desk about why they made such a call. She walked with calm determination.

She set off toward a network of hallways that will transport her to the nerds.

She approaches her first gauntlet of nerds.

But these aren't the big nerds. These are little nerds. The big nerds are deeper in the bowels of Fox. She had to coax the cameramen to come along.

She lost sound in her earphone, but she soldiered on until she penetrated the nerds' lair.

"Are you comfortable with your call in Ohio with the doubts Karl Rove just raised?" "We're actually quite comfortable with the call," the nerds replied. Oh.

"Right now there's too much [vote for] Obama," Nerd 1 says, for Romney to make up the difference. "Yes, there are a number of counties out there that will come in for Romney, but the largest thing outstanding right now is the Cleveland area..." Nerd 2 chimes in: "There just aren't enough Republican votes left... Cleveland is so overwhelmingly Democrat... as the vote comes in we would expect the president's margin to rise."

But what about Karl Rove?! "Explain his theory and why you disagree with it." Nerd 2 explains, "It's not that I disagree with it." But the handful of Republican precincts can't overwhelm the Democratic votes still to come.

But but but! What about the exit polls? "Could this be an exit poll thing?" Kelly asks. The exit polls were so wrong in 2004.... "What we're looking at is actual raw vote... What we're seeing is sufficient vote in Ohio on the Democratic side to say that Ohio will go for Obama." Megyn asks, And you're certain? "99.95 percent."

"They seem very confident," Kelly says, not entirely confident in the nerds.

Here is video of the segment that sent Kelly on her long walk.

And here is Kelly grilling the decision desk.

This article is from the archive of our partner The Wire.

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