President Barack Obama handily
defeated Gov. Mitt Romney and won himself a second term 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.
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."
Romney conceded in Boston in an
earlier speech around 1 AM ET. "Like so many of you, Paul [Ryan] and I
have left everything on the field. We have given our all to this
campaign," Romney said. "I so wish that I had been able to fulfill your
hopes to lead your country in another direction. But the nation chose
another leader." Romney congratulated the president and his campaign on
their victory.
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 only
picked up North Carolina. Florida is still too close to call, but even
if Romney won the state, Obama still handily beats him in the Electoral
College vote. The popular vote will most likely be narrower than the
president's decisive Electoral College victory.
The Obama victory marks an end to a years-long campaign that saw
historic advertisement spending levels, countless rallies and speeches,
and three much-watched debates.
The Romney campaign cast the
election as a referendum on Obama's economic policies, frequently
comparing him to former President Jimmy Carter and asking voters the
Reagan-esque question of whether they are better off than they were four
years ago. But the Obama campaign pushed back, blanketing key states
such as Ohio early on with ads painting him as a multimillionaire more
concerned with profits than people. The Obama campaign also aggressively
attacked Romney on reproductive rights issues, tying Romney to a
handful of Republican candidates who made controversial comments about
rape and abortion.
The
ads were one reason Romney faced a steep likeability problem for most of
the race, until his expert performance at the first presidential debate
in Denver in October. After that debate, and a near universal panning
of Obama's performance, Romney caught up with Obama in national polls,
and almost closed his favorability gap with the president. In polls,
voters consistently gave him an edge over Obama on who would handle the
economy better and create more jobs, even as they rated Obama higher on
caring about the middle class.
But the president's Midwestern firewall—and the campaign's impressive
grassroots operation—carried him through. Ohio tends to vote a bit more
Republican than the nation as a whole, but Obama was able to stave off
that trend and hold an edge there over Romney, perhaps due to the
president's support of the auto bailout three years ago. Romney and his
running mate Paul Ryan all but moved to Ohio in the last weeks of the
campaign, trying and ultimately failing to erase Obama's lead there.A shrinking electoral battleground this year meant that only 12 states were really seen as in play, and both candidates spent most of their time and money there. Though national polls showed the two candidates in a dead heat, Obama consistently held a lead in the states that mattered. That, and his campaign's much-touted get-out-the-vote efforts and overall ground game may be what pushed Obama over the finish line.
Now, Obama heads back to office facing what will most likely be bitterly partisan negotiations over whether the Bush tax cuts should expire. The House will still be majority Republican, with Democrats maintaining their majority in the Senate.
Photos: Barack Obama wins four more years
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