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WASHINGTON -- A sleep-deprived President Bush was in the Oval Office on Wednesday morning when he got the message he'd been waiting hours to hear: John Kerry was on the phone.

Their brief conversation at 11:02 a.m. EST avoided a protracted national ordeal and ended an agonizing wait for the president. The low point for Bush came Tuesday afternoon when he glanced over an aide's shoulder and saw Election Day exit polls forecasting his defeat. They turned out to be wrong.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Bush and Kerry took three or four minutes to put the bitter campaign behind them. Bush received the call at a desk formerly used by President John F. Kennedy, Kerry's political hero.

"You waged one tough campaign," Bush told his rival, according to McClellan. "I hope you are proud of the effort you put in; you should be."

McClellan and other advisers said Bush never really doubted he would win a second term, but he expressed surprise Tuesday when surveys of voters leaving the polls showed him losing. Bush saw the disheartening numbers minutes after Air Force One landed at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., after his final campaign stop.

"I'm surprised," he told adviser Karen Hughes. "But it is what it is."

The actual results told a different story. Bush and his advisers became increasingly confident as polls closed across the country and new data emerged.

"Obviously, we were looking at the exit polls, like everybody else, but you don't count on the exit polls. And it's a good thing we didn't," McClellan said.

While Bush was preparing in the pre-dawn hours Wednesday for his victory speech at the Ronald Reagan federal building, Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina, the Democrats' vice presidential candidate, signaled around 2:30 a.m. that Kerry wasn't ready to concede defeat in the pivotal state of Ohio.

Kerry's refusal to concede left Bush in limbo, waiting for results. He scrapped plans to declare victory unilaterally and went to bed about 5 a.m. when it became clear that the vote counting would stretch well into Wednesday.

After two hours of sleep, the president went back to work -- and to wait.

After Kerry called, Bush hugged his aides, then walked down the hall to share the news with Vice President Dick Cheney before retreating with his wife to the private quarters of the White House. The president, a dedicated fitness buff, went for a workout before joining supporters at his delayed victory rally.

As the president expressed his gratitude for the election results, his twin daughters couldn't stop their tears, and first lady Laura Bush struggled to keep her composure.

"We had a long night -- and a great night," Bush told cheering Republicans. "America has spoken, and I'm humbled by the trust and the confidence of my fellow citizens.

"With that trust comes a duty to serve all Americans. And I will do my best to fulfill that duty every day as your president."

Bush tried to reach out to the 55 million voters who cast ballots for Kerry.

"A new term is a new opportunity to reach out to the whole nation," he said. "We have one country, one Constitution and one future that binds us. And when we come together and work together, there is no limit to the greatness of America."

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