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 much 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 14
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
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