Nov. 6, 1962 - A mild state of tension gripped Richard M. Nixon’s “victory headquarters” at the Beverly Hilton Hotel tonight as conflicting election returns poured in. Red-uniformed “Nixonettes” posted optimistic returns, attributed to “television,” on a ballroom blackboard. At the same time, less favorable returns filtered in from news agencies. An announcement that the Republican gubernatorial candidate was about to make a significant statement in the press room was quickly followed by an announcement that Mr. Nixon was “going out to dinner,” followed by a sudden change in plans that left him closeted in his suite on the seventh floor of the hotel. At 9 p.m. PST, the Nixonettes chalked up a statewide score of 410,000 votes for Mr. Nixon to only 405,000 for his opponent, Gov. Edmund G. Brown. But at the same time, a check of the AP’s returns showed a compilation of 174,000 votes for Governor Brown and only 133,000 votes for Mr. Nixon. The discrepancy was attributed to the television networks’ “projecting” with computers from early returns — that is, taking basic figures and increasing them proportionally.
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