Obama re-elected; Romney concedes

Mitt Romney conceded the election to President Obama, saying early Wednesday he prayed the president succeeds in leading the nation for four years.

“This is a time of great challenges for America,” Romney said. “And I pray the president is successful in guiding our nation.”

Romney said the country was at a “critical point” and “can’t risk partisan bickering.”

Obama, he said, “must reach across the aisle to do the people’s work.”

Governments at all levels, he said, must “put the people before the politics.”

“I believe in America; I believe in the people in America,” Romney said. “I ran for office because I’m concerned about America.”

Romney said he and running mate Paul Ryan “let everything on the field … but the nation chose another leader.”

U.S. voters kept the status quo in Washington Tuesday, re-electing President Obama and retaining the current leadership in Congress.

In states considered both camps considered must-win, networks projected Obama the winner in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Iowa, Nevada, Wisconsin, Michigan, Colorado, Virginia and Minnesota.

Romney picked up North Carolina, a battleground state that was in Obama’s column in 2008.

As of midnight, Florida was too close to call.

As of 12:30 a.m., Obama had a projected 290 electoral votes and Romney had 201 electoral votes. A candidate needs 270 electoral votes to win the presidency.

With 75 percent of the popular vote in, Obama had 49,578,064 votes, just a few hundred votes behind Romney’s 49,557,024 votes.

Of the typically red states Obama won in 2008, Romney flipped two — North Carolina and Indiana.

Supporters cheered, waved American flags and danced in the streets in front of the Obama headquarters in Chicago and in cities across the country.

MSNBC posted on its Twitter page that Obama’s re-election marked the first time since presidents Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and James Monroe that America elected three, two-term presidents in a row.

It also is the first time since Franklin D. Roosevelt that a president won re-election when the unemployment rate was above 7 percent, CNN said.

The road to the White House was pocked with some bitter campaigning on both sides, as each candidate accused the other of not having a plan to lead the country for the next four years. Romney jumped on the economic malaise and high unemployment, touting his business acumen. Obama asked voters to give him another four years to help nurture the slowly recovering economy.

The Republicans, meanwhile, will retain control of the House of Representatives and possibly pick up a few seats now held by Democrats.

Democrats will keep control of the Senate next year, holding on to enough shaky seats while picking up three seats now occupied by Republicans.

Democrats scored a huge win Tuesday night with Elizabeth Warren’s victory in Massachusetts over Republican Sen. Scott Brown.

Democrats also picked up seats in Indiana and in Maine.

In a mild surprise, Rep. Joe Donnelly, D-Ind., beat Republican Richard Mourdock, who ousted longtime Sen. Dick Lugar in Indiana’s GOP primary.

In Maine, independent candidate Angus King, who is expected to caucus with the Democrats, won the seat now held by retiring Sen. Olympia Snowe.

Meanwhile, Democratic Sens. Claire McCaskill of Missouri and Sherrod Brown of Ohio — both targeted by Republicans — won re-election.

In the battle of former governors in Virginia, Democrat Tim Kaine defeated George Allen to keep retiring Sen. Jim Webb’s seat blue.

In Connecticut, Rep. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., defeated Republican Linda McMahon, who also lost her 2010 senatorial bid, to succeed Sen. Joe Lieberman, an independent who caucuses with Democrats.

A service of YellowBrix, Inc.

Category: National