Presidential Election 2012 Results: Obama Wins - LIVE Updates and Coverage
After literally years of campaigning, political ads, mudslinging, pandering and more than one ruined career, Presidential Election Day 2012 is finally here. Most polls seem to indicate President Barack Obama and Governor Mitt Romney are in a dead heat, although Obama may have a slight edge. For an excellent summary by the New York Times of the 512 different ways Obama or Romney can win the White House, click here.
The current swing states are Florida, Ohio, North Carolina, Virginia, Wisconsin, Colorado, Iowa, Nevada and New Hampshire. Obama and Romney have been polling in all of these states within the percentage of error, so it is impossible to tell who will win. However, Obama currently has a few more "solid" and "leaning" states than Romney, and he is also viewed as the favorite in several online gambling sites.
One state leaning Democrat is Michigan, which also happens to be Romney's home state. Obama supported the General Motors bail out, which saved thousands of jobs in the state, and which Romney opposed. Despite this, there are some polls that show Obama and Romney effectively tied. With sixteen electoral votes, Michigan will be an incredibly important state to win for either candidate.
Michigan will also vote in the senate election, with two-term incumbent Debbie Stabenow being challenged by Republican Pete Hoekstra. Most polls indicate a safe Stabenow win. Michigan polling stations close at 9 pm EST.
Policy Mic will be covering the elections live. For live updates, bookmark and refresh this page.
12:05 am - Sorry for the break there. Just went down to U St in Washington, DC and everyone was on the streets celebrating. Makes sense, since this city voted for Obama by a margin of 91% to 7%.
10:41 pm - Republicans likely to keep control of House, Dems will keep the Senate. No surprises.
10:22 pm - Key voting groups for Romney are White Evangelicals (80% support) and Whites (59% support). For Obama are Blacks (93% support) and Latinos (73% support).
10:08 pm - Claire McCaskill (D) of Missouri beats rival Todd Akin, another Republican who recently made national headlines because of controversial comments about rape and abortion.
10:06 pm - David Axelrod, Obama campaign senior advisor, isn't surprised by anything tonight.
10:03 pm - Latest poll closings: Romney gets Utah and Montana. Iowa and Nevada still undecided.
9:50 pm - Swing state New Hampshire just called for Obama.
9:44 pm - From the Senate race: Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Joe Donnelly (D-IN) both projected to win. Joe Donnelly's opponent, Richard Mourdock, recently made national news with controversial comments about rape and abortion.
9:38 pm - From MissInfo.tv:
9:35 pm - Huge Update: Obama wins Wisconsin. According to the New York Times "Paths to the White House" Obama now has 230 paths and Romney has 24.
9:26 pm - In the Massachusetts Senate race, it's still too early to call. But Elizabeth Warren (D) holds a 4 point lead over incumbent Scott Brown (D) with 25% reporting.
9:18 pm - Apparently all the voter ID law controversies were a bit overblown. Obama has comfortably taken Pennsylvania.
9:17 pm - Well said:
9:14 pm - With 79% reporting, Florida is showing a difference of 191 votes. That is insane.
9:09 pm - According to NPR, current electoral count is Obama - 124, Romney - 154
9:01 pm - Michingan Update: Michigan has been called for Obama. Michigan was originally a swing state, but mostly because of Obama's bailout of the auto industry there, he has gained much support.
8:51 pm - Michigan Update: Polls close in eight minutes; with 2% reporting Obama has a ~8 point lead.
8:43 pm - Apparently Romney is so confident of a win, he didn't write a concession speech, only a victory speech.
8:41 pm - Brian Williams just hit the nail on the head: The luckiest people in this election are those that own local television stations.
8:37 pm - Virginians are still voting, despite polls having closed over ninety minutes ago.
8:33 pm - Chris Murphy (D) just called the winner of the Connecticut Senate seat, despite his opponents excessive ad spending.
8:22 pm - Connecticut senate race: Chris Murphy (D) and Linda McMahan (R, wife of Vince McMahon of WWE fame) are in a dead heat.
8:07 pm - Turns out those Florida figures are only for absentee and early voting figures. I suppose I should give these guys a bit more credit.
8:01 pm - Next round of poll closings. Click on the link at the end of this article to see the latest results. Florida still "too close to call" despite 11% reporting and a 50.8% to 48.4% Obama lead.
7:54 pm - Virginia Board of Elections will not post any results until at least 8 pm because there are still long lines of people waiting to vote. Polls officially closed at 7, but those that showed up before then are allowed to wait in line.
7:37 pm - Just realized that Obama currently has 75% of the reporting votes in South Carolina. But both NPR and NBC are calling a Romney win. Interesting little contradiction.
7:30 pm - Next round of closings: Swing states Ohio and South Carolina, and West Virginia (5) goes towards Romney. Sorry folks, no big upsets yet.
7:22 pm - With mere hours left before the end of this election, there are still political ads being squeezed in. Seriously, if you don't know who you're going to vote for yet, you have some big political participation issues.
7:20 pm - Swing states of New Hampshire, Florida and Virginia are all reporting around 1% of votes with slight leanings towards Obama. But that is actually useless information, because it's still way to early to tell. Thanks NBC.
7:02 pm - First results are in. No surprises though. Virginia is still too early to call. Indiana (11) and Kentucky (8) for Romney and Vermont (3) for Obama.
6:42 pm - 18 minutes until real election coverage begins. Until then, celebrate the end of political ads by watching a montage of 60 years of presidential election ads:
Update 5:54 pm - Don't want to watch cable news chatter? Keep up to date with NPR's Big Boards keeping track of the Presidential, Senatorial and House elections live.
