Not to prolong this, but Nixon actually won the popular vote totals, also.
It's a little known fact that some of the votes in the South (specifically Alabana )were not specifically for Kennedy but for an unidentified Democrat. The news media routinely put them in Kennedy's column but the story is more complicated than that. See the Wall Street Journal article, linked below. Nixon actually won the popular vote.
http://www.opinionjournal.com/diary/?id=110004320
Very interesting. I checked , and in other states like Mississippi and Louisiana the votes for unpledged electors is actually tabulated and not credited to either Nixon or Kennedy...In Georgia, however, the only choices on the ballot were Kennedy and Nixon and Kennedy won by a landslide.
I think its obvious that the deep South mistrusted Kennedy but couldnt get themselves to vote for Nixon. Just about every state Kennedy won was by a small margin except for his home state and one or two others. Nixon did well in the midwest and far west , but barely squeaked by in his home state of California.
That election was clearly muddled as well, and I guess Nixon didnt have the stomach for a fight, afterwards. I must say, looking back, I can't see how he lost that election. I'm guessing the (slight) recession of 1960 made all the difference.. Too bad.