Barack Obama wins election for second term as president
President Barack Obama handily defeated Gov. Mitt Romney and won himself a second term on Tuesday after a bitter and historically expensive race that was primarily fought in just a handful of battleground states. Obama beat Romney after nabbing almost every one of the 12 crucial battleground states.
The Romney campaign's last-ditch attempt to put blue-leaning Midwestern swing states in play failed as Obama's Midwestern firewall sent the president back to the White House for four more years. Obama picked up the swing states of New Hampshire, Michigan, New Mexico, Iowa, Virginia, Wisconsin, Colorado, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Minnesota and Ohio. Of the swing states, Romney picked up only North Carolina. Florida is still too close to call, but even if Romney wins the state, Obama still beat him in the Electoral College vote. The popular vote will most likely be narrower than the president's decisive Electoral College victory.
In a sweeping victory speech early Wednesday morning, Obama thanked every American who voted, and vowed to work with leaders from both parties to tackle the country's challenges. "Our economy is recovering, a decade of war is ending, a long campaign is now over," he told a crowd of cheering supporters in Chicago. "And whether I earned your vote or not, I have listened to you, I have learned from you and you have made me a better president." Obama added he has "never been more hopeful about America. ... We're not as divided as our politics suggest. We remain more than a collection of blue states and red states."
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Romney concedes presidential election to Obama
Republican Mitt Romney conceded the U.S. presidential election to President Barack Obama early on Wednesday morning after a hard-fought campaign.
"This is a time of great challenges for America and I pray that the president will be successful in guiding our nation," Romney told supporters in Boston after calling Obama to congratulate him.
Obama defeated Romney in a number of key swing states, despite the weak economic recovery and stubbornly high unemployment that dogged his campaign.
Television networks called the election late on Tuesday, but the Romney campaign waited more than an hour to agree on the results in Ohio.
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Obama nation exults after election win
CHICAGO - The speed and scale of the victory crashed over Barack Obama's die-hard supporters like a shockwave, unleashing joy and relief after what had been a tense and often ill-tempered campaign. In a ballroom in Chicago, outside the White House.
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Why Mitt Lost
He couldn’t separate himself from the Republican Party’s growing extremism.
What ought to pain Republicans most about Barack Obama’s victory
is that 2012 was entirely winnable for them. In European elections over
the past few years, voters have thrown out leaders who were in charge
during the worst of the financial crisis, whether those leaders deserved
the blame or not. Economic indicators in the United States, where an
unemployment rate of 8 percent is highly correlated with defeat for the
incumbent party, pointed in the same direction. Obama himself had proven
a disappointment to many of his former supporters, going from a beloved
symbol of generational and social change in 2008 to a detached and
remote figure, with limited ability to touch an emotional chord in the
electorate.
That Mitt Romney lost nonetheless is in part a tribute to his own weaknesses as a candidate. The Obama campaign put Romney on the defensive early about his work at Bain Capital, and left him there. The Republican nominee made any number of horrendous gaffes. He ran a disastrous GOP convention. He never found a way to talk about himself or his agenda in a way that middle class voters could relate to.
But even a clumsy candidate might have beaten Obama if not for a simple factor that could not be overcome: the GOP’s growing extremism. The Republican strategy of making the election a referendum on the president’s handling of the economy was perfectly sound. The problem was that the Republican Party couldn’t pass the credibility test itself. For many voters disenchanted with Obama, it still was not safe to vote for his opponent.
That Mitt Romney lost nonetheless is in part a tribute to his own weaknesses as a candidate. The Obama campaign put Romney on the defensive early about his work at Bain Capital, and left him there. The Republican nominee made any number of horrendous gaffes. He ran a disastrous GOP convention. He never found a way to talk about himself or his agenda in a way that middle class voters could relate to.
But even a clumsy candidate might have beaten Obama if not for a simple factor that could not be overcome: the GOP’s growing extremism. The Republican strategy of making the election a referendum on the president’s handling of the economy was perfectly sound. The problem was that the Republican Party couldn’t pass the credibility test itself. For many voters disenchanted with Obama, it still was not safe to vote for his opponent.
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