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Barack Obama has won the presidential vote in Florida – widening his electoral victory margin over Republican rival, Mitt Romney.
The vote count in the only state which had not declared a result from Tuesday’s election gave Barack Obama 50% to Mitt Romney’s 49.1%, according to Florida state department figures.
Barack Obama has now won 332 electoral college votes – Mitt Romney has 206.
The slow count brought back memories of the bitterly contested recount in 2000.
The Sunshine State’s famous “hanging chads” sparked a crisis in that year’s Bush-Gore election, eventually leading to a Supreme Court ruling that installed George W. Bush in the White House.
The figures released by the Florida state department suggest Barack Obama won 4,236,032 votes out of a total of 8,471,095 cast – 73,858 more than Mitt Romney and well above the 0.5% difference which would have triggered an automatic recount.
The result will not come as a surprise to either President Barack Obama or Governor Mitt Romney – it has been assumed that the president would win since late on Tuesday.
But it is significant nonetheless as it further strengthens President Barack Obama’s negotiating position when it comes to doing deals with Republicans in Congress.
And because there are so many Latino voters in the state, the result will also reinforce the message that Republicans need to do more to win the Hispanic vote.
Barack Obama has won the presidential vote in Florida, widening his electoral victory margin over Mitt Romney
Exit polls suggest that Florida’s Cuban Americans voted for the Democratic Party in record numbers.
The newly re-elected Barack Obama has said the wealthy must pay more taxes under any political settlement to avert a looming budget crisis.
He has urged Congress to act against the so-called fiscal cliff, a package of tax rises and spending cuts due early next year.
But in a dueling news conference on Friday, Republican House Speaker John Boehner said tax rises would not be acceptable.
Budget analysts warn the US will tip into recession unless a deal is struck.
Barack Obama has repeatedly called for the affluent to pay more, but such a plan is anathema to Republicans.
The fiscal cliff would see the expiry of George W. Bush-era tax cuts at the end of 2012, combined with automatic, across-the-board reductions to military and domestic spending.
Florida’s problems began even before Election Day, with lengthy queues reported during the early-voting period.
Democrats launched a legal challenge against a Republican-backed measure to limit the period during which voters could cast ballots before the election, from 14 days to eight.
They said it was a blatant attempt to suppress Democratic turnout – Florida’s African-American voters have tended to cast ballots early in previous elections.
But Governor Rick Scott said the measure, passed by the state’s Republican-controlled legislature in 2011, aimed to limit voter fraud.
The early-voting period officially ended last Saturday. Election supervisors in Miami-Dade and other counties did open up voting for several hours on Sunday.
But after being swamped by voters, one polling office in Miami-Dade County temporarily shut its doors. Some in line began to shout: “Let us vote!”
There was also a technical error with an automated phone system that told more than 12,500 voters in another county that the election was on Wednesday.
Florida was not alone in reports of lengthy Election Day queues. Voters waited for hours in states such as Virginia, New York and Washington DC.
Four-star general David Petraeus was a star on the battlefield, commanding the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, but his impeccable judgement failed him when he engaged in an extramarital affair with biographer Paula Broadwell that led to his downfall as CIA Director.
Celebrated as a scholar and a warrior, the 60-year-old Princeton graduate is admired as much for his intellect as he was his tactical ability and charisma on the battlefield.
Seen as one of the top American leaders of his generation, David Petraeus became known as an “A list” celebrity, is credited with pulling Iraq back from the brink of all-out civil war and had a career so stellar he once seemed on course for the US presidency.
After his revolutionary counter-insurgency tactics saved Iraq, David Petraeus oversaw battlefield success in Afghanistan commanding a surge of 30,000 troops ordered by President Barack Obama in late 2009.
“I don’t think he was professionally overrated. His were genuine accomplishments,” said James Carafano, a war historian with the conservative Heritage Foundation think tank.
Senator John McCain, the 2008 GOP presidential candidate and the senior Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said on Friday that David Petraeus is one of “America’s greatest military heroes”.
“His inspirational leadership and his genius were directly responsible – after years of failure – for the success of the surge in Iraq,” John McCain said.
Indeed, as the U.S presidential campaign heated up in 2011, there was genuine talk of the war-hero running as part of a Republican ticket, potentially as vice-president.
The rumors continued up until August of this year, when the White House was forced to deny a report that President Barack Obama feared Mitt Romney stumping for the then CIA chief as his running mate.
In fact, at the time of his nomination to the CIA post, some Washington insiders had said the White House wanted to find a high-profile position for David Petraeus to ensure he would not be recruited by Republicans as a challenger to the 2012 Obama-Biden ticket.
However, ever the loyal soldier, David Petraeus repeatedly distanced himself from ambitions of elected office.
“I am not a politician, and I will never be, and I say that with absolute conviction,” David Petraeus said on NBC’s Meet the Press in August 2010.
When he was nominated to lead the CIA there were some concerns in intelligence circles that the high-profile four-star Army general might not be able to lead from the shadows as appropriate for a spy chief.
But once he took over the head office at the U.S. spy agency, David Petraeus kept a decidedly low public profile.
Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat, expressed regret about the resignation of “one of America’s best and brightest” and said it was an “enormous loss” for the country.
“At CIA, Director Petraeus gave the agency leadership, stature, prestige and credibility both at home and abroad. On a personal level, I found his command of intelligence issues second to none,” Dianne Feinstein said.
After accepting his resignation about a year-and-a-half after nominating David Petraeus to the CIA post, Barack Obama said: “By any measure, he was one of the outstanding General officers of his generation, helping our military adapt to new challenges, and leading our men and women in uniform through a remarkable period of service in Iraq and Afghanistan, where he helped our nation put those wars on a path to a responsible end.”
David Petraeus was sworn in as CIA chief in September 2011 by Joe Biden with his wife Holly at his side
In 2010, David Petraeus stepped into the breach as the new commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan to replace General Stanley McChrystal who was fired by Obama in a scandal over an article in which McChrystal and his aides made mocking comments about the president and some of his top advisers.
In 2009, David Petraeus was diagnosed with early-stage prostate cancer and underwent radiation treatment. The media-friendly general joked at that time at a Washington event that reporters were only gathered “to see if the guy is still alive”.
David Petraeus, born in Cornwall, New York, lives in Virginia with his wife Holly. They have two grown children, a son who was an Army Ranger who served in Afghanistan, and a daughter.
Known for his intensely competitive nature, David Petraeus graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1974, was the top of his 1983 class at the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College and went on to earn a doctorate in International Relations at Princeton in 1987.
His commands included the legendary 101st Airborne Division during the 2003 invasion of Iraq and during that campaign he quickly secured the north of the country around Mosul.
The soldier headed up the American efforts to train Iraqi security forces and eventually returned to the Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas to write his counterinsurgency manual – which is now required reading.
From that point onwards he became the logical choice for President George W. Bush to lead his “surge” in January 2007 which allowed the United States to completely withdraw from Iraq four-years later.
David Petraeus’s wife, Holly, is an activist and volunteer who champions military families, and she continued that work after her husband retired from the military and moved to the CIA.
Holly Petraeus currently is assistant director of the office of service member affairs at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, where she tries to keep unscrupulous lenders from taking advantage of military personnel.
The bureau was championed by Harvard law professor Elizabeth Warren, who was elected to the Senate from Massachusetts this week.
Holly Petraeus is the daughter of four-star General William Knowlton, who was superintendent of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point when Petraeus was a cadet.
She briefed the press at the Pentagon on her efforts recently and was introduced by Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, who called her “a true friend of the Department of Defense and a dedicated member of our military family”.
David Petraeus has four Defense Distinguished Service Medal awards, three Distinguished Service Medal awards, the Bronze Star Medal for valor, and the State Department Distinguished Service Award.
The contoversial resignation of CIA Director David Petraeus on Friday threatens to undermine next week’s hearings into the deadly attack at the U.S. Consulate in Libya, at which he was scheduled to testify.
David Petraeus resigned as head of the CIA following revelations he had engaged in an extramarital affair with his biographer Paula Broadwell and acknowledging that he “showed extremely poor judgment”.
The highly-decorated general, 60, had recently traveled to Libya and the Middle East, and was to testify about the Benghazi attack next week behind closed doors to the House and Senate intelligence committees.
Fears have also emerged as his resignation comes at an extremely sensitive time. The administration and the CIA have struggled to defend security and intelligence lapses before the attack that killed the U.S. ambassador to Libya and three others.
It was an issue during the presidential campaign that ended with Barack Obama’s re-election Tuesday.
David Petraeus had led the CIA for only 14 months. His sudden departure threatened to usher in a period of instability at the spy agency, which is grappling with a leveling off in its budget after a decade of steady increases.
The agency is also fending off questions about its performance before and after the attack that led to the death of U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens in Benghazi, Libya.
U.S. officials insisted that the CIA’s handling of the Benghazi incident had nothing to do with David Petraeus’ decision to resign.
The CIA has come under intense scrutiny for providing the White House and other administration officials with talking points that led them to say the Benghazi attack was a result of a film protest, not a militant terror attack.
It has become clear that the CIA was aware the attack was distinct from the film protests roiling across other parts of the Muslim world.
Michael Morell rather than David Petraeus now is expected to testify at closed congressional briefings next week on the September 11 attacks on the consulate in Benghazi.
According to the New York Times, David Petraeus told the White House of the affair, only one day after Barack Obama secured a second term in the White House.
The president did not immediately accept it, aides told the Times, and only reluctantly agreed to it on Friday.
David Petraeus resigned as head of the CIA following revelations he had engaged in an extramarital affair with his biographer Paula Broadwell
News Corps’ Rupert Murdoch was one of masses who took to Twitter to voice his opinion. The 81-year-old Aussie wrote: “Petraeus resignation. Timing, everything suspicious. There has to be more to this story.”
Chiming in with her own conspiracy theory, conservative talk show radio host Laura Ingraham wrote: “CIA Chief Petraus resignation…something about this stinks to high heaven.”
She added: “COINCIDENCE?! Petraeus is set to testify NEXT week at a closed door session on Capitol Hill about Benghazi. Did BHO push him out? This stinks!”
But some, like Huffington Post founder Arianna Huffington, reacted to the news in a very forgiving fashion.
“Turns out Petraeus is (sic) human being. And of course we definitely can’t have human beings in government!” she wrote.
For the director of the CIA, being engaged in an extramarital affair is considered a serious breach of security and a counterintelligence threat.
If a foreign government had learned of the affair, the reasoning goes, David Petraeus or the person with whom he was involved could have been blackmailed or otherwise compromised. Military justice considers conduct such as an extramarital affair to be possible grounds for court martial.
Failure to resign also could create the perception for the rank-and-file that such behavior is acceptable.
At FBI headquarters, spokesman Paul Bresson declined to comment on the information that the affair had been discovered in the course of an investigation by the bureau.
In a statement from the president, Barack Obama said: “I am completely confident that the CIA will continue to thrive and carry out its essential mission.”
But there is no indication that he broke any agency rule in connection with his admitted affair, sources familiar with the matter said.
The CIA has no broad rule banning officials from engaging in extramarital affairs, though if discovered, liaisons by CIA personnel with suspected foreign agents would pose security problems for a U.S. spy.
Barack Obama, who accepted David Petraeus’ resignation in a phone call with him Friday afternoon, said that Michael Morell, the agency’s long-time deputy director, would serve as acting CIA chief.
Michael Morell, who is well respected at both the White House and on Capitol Hill, had previously served as acting director following the departure of former CIA chief Leon Panetta.
He is a leading candidate to be David Petraeus’ permanent successor, sources said.
Other possible candidates being discussed on Capitol Hill include John Brennan, Barack Obama’s chief counter-terrorism adviser; Obama national security adviser Thomas Donilon; and former congresswoman Jane Harman, who chaired the House intelligence committee.
David Petraeus’ resignation also adds a new vacancy on Barack Obama’s national security team. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said she will leave after Barack Obama’s first term, and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is widely expected to leave as well.
David Petraeus’ wife, Holly, has been an advocate for U.S. veterans and head of the Office of Servicemember Affairs at the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Last month, David and Holly Petraeus appeared together at a reception at the Canadian Embassy in Washington to celebrate the premiere of the Ben Affleck film Argo, which chronicles a successful operation in which the CIA and Canadian diplomats smuggled a group of U.S. officials out of Tehran during the 1979-80 U.S. Embassy hostage crisis.
In a letter to the CIA workforce, David Petraeus said that he met with Barack Obama at the White House on Thursday and asked “to be allowed, for personal reasons, to resign from my position”.
“After being married for 37 years, I showed extremely poor judgment by engaging in an extramarital affair,” David Petraeus wrote.
“Such behavior is unacceptable, both as a husband and as the leader of an organization such as ours.”
Barack Obama, who was re-elected to a second term on Tuesday, said in a statement that he accepted David Petraeus’ resignation, praising him for his work at the CIA and for leading U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The sudden and dramatic turn of events appeared to end the public career of a widely admired man who played a key role in the Iraq war, led the U.S. Central Command and commanded U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan.
David Petraeus’ name had circulated speculatively as a possible Republican presidential nominee before Barack Obama tapped him as CIA chief. Before taking the CIA post, he retired as an Army general after nearly four decades of military service.
CIA director David Petraeus has resigned from his post after admitting an extramarital affair.
In a statement, David Petraeus said he had submitted his resignation to President Barack Obama, and that he had shown “extremely poor judgement”.
He described his behavior as “unacceptable” for the leader of the nation’s main intelligence agency.
David Petraeus became CIA boss in 2011 after heading international forces in Iraq, then in Afghanistan.
He was the highest-profile military officer of the post-9/11 years, winning plaudits for his role running the “surge” in Iraq and implementing a counter-insurgency strategy in Afghanistan.
David Petraeus’ resignation came just three days after President Barack Obama’s re-election, and prompted a flurry of statements from the White House, intelligence community and General Petraeus himself.
Announcing his decision to stand down, the former general was full of contrition.
“After being married for over 37 years, I showed extremely poor judgment by engaging in an extra-marital affair,” David Petraeus said in a statement.
“Such behavior is unacceptable, both as a husband and as the leader of an organization such as ours. This afternoon, the president graciously accepted my resignation.”
Barack Obama’s statement said Mr Petraeus had “provided extraordinary service to the United States for decades”, citing both his time as CIA director and service to the military.
“By any measure, through his lifetime of service David Petraeus has made our country safer and stronger.”
“Going forward, my thoughts and prayers are with Dave and Holly Petraeus, who has done so much to help military families through her own work.”
CIA deputy director Michael Morell will serve as acting director of the agency, the White House confirmed.
James Clapper, director of national intelligence, thanked David Petraeus for his decades of service: “Dave’s decision to step down represents the loss of one of our nation’s most respected public servants.
“I have spent more than five decades serving our country-in uniform and out-and of all the exceptional men and women I have worked with over the years, I can honestly say that Dave Petraeus stands out as one of our nation’s great patriots.”
CIA director David Petraeus has been married to Holly since 1975
David Petraeus is believed to have feared that his infidelity would eventually become public, and therefore took the decision to quit before he was forced out.
Extra-marital affairs are considered particularly damaging for intelligence officials due to the confidential nature of their work and the risk they could leak national security secrets.
David Petraeus, 60, has been married to Holly, née Knowlton, since 1975, after they meet when he was a military cadet at West Point and she was the daughter of the academy’s superintendent.
When he was sworn in as director of the CIA by Vice President Joe Biden, Holly held the Bible on which he swore his oath of office.
David Howell Petraeus is a retired U.S. Army four-star general and the most celebrated American soldier of his time.
Known as a scholar and a warrior, the West Point graduate is admired as much for his intellect as his tactical ability and charisma on the battlefield.
He oversaw the crafting of the successful 2006 U.S. counterinsurgency measures in Iraq and accepted without hesitation Barack Obama’s request to leave Central Command in 2010 and lend his expertise to the failing international effort in Afghanistan.
Spending 37 years in the military, David Petraeus retired from service and took up his post as director of the CIA on September 6, 2011.
Born in Cornwall-on-Hudson in New York in 1952, David Petraeus is the son of small town librarian Miriam and Sixtus, a sea captain who had emigrated from the Netherlands.
Immediately upon his graduation from high school in 1970 he enrolled as a cadet at West Point Military Academy where he served with distinction – graduating in the top five of his class in 1974.
Just after his graduation he married Holly Knowlton, daughter of West Point superintendent General William A. Knowlton.
Despite his close working relationship with Barack Obama and other Democratic officials, David Petraeus was spoken of as a possible running mate for Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney this year.
The Secret Service was forced to foil repeated assassination attempts on Barack Obama and Mitt Romney during this year’s election campaign, it has been claimed.
An article in GQ made the startling assertion that “several assassination plots were nipped in the bud” by agents during the course of the campaign.
However, some are now skeptical about the claims, insisting that there were no more than a handful of attempts on the lives of Barack Obama and Mitt Romney this year.
Barack Obama, who has long been considered at risk from violent extremism partly because of his historic status as America’s first black President, is protected by a vast Secret Service detail at all times.
Mitt Romney was given official protection in January, as he was beginning to close in on the position of Republican presidential nominee.
His Secret Service detail was withdrawn early on Wednesday morning, just hours after he conceded defeat to Barack Obama.
The moment Mitt Romney’s agents left his side was detailed by GQ‘s Marc Ambinder, who reported that they were called off with the order: “Javelin, Jockey details, all posts, discontinue.”
He also dropped in the tantalizing tidbit: “Protectees were protected 100 per cent of the time. Several assassination plots were nipped in the bud.”
The Secret Service was forced to foil repeated assassination attempts on Mitt Romney and Barack Obama during election campaign
Over the past year, a number of people were reported to have been investigated by the Secret Service for issuing threats to either Barack Obama or Mitt Romney.
While most of these threats turned out to be little more than ill-advised tweets born from frustration, a few warranted a more robust response.
Most notably, a group of four soldiers from Georgia hatched a convoluted plot to kill the President and overthrow the federal government.
However, Marc Ambinder’s comments led some to assume that he had information about other threats which were not already public knowledge.
He told Politicker: “There was that guy who shot at the White House from across the ellipse, and then the soldiers arrested for plotting the assassination of the president and others.”
But he added that he did not possess any inside information, defending his description of the multiple foiled threats.
Marc Ambinder later tweeted: “Press folks, please stop bothering the Secret Service. If there are/were other plots, they sure as hell didn’t tell me about them.”
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who has been under fire from conservatives for his effusive praise of Barack Obama after Hurricane Sandy, telephoned the president after his election win but only sent an email to Mitt Romney, it was revealed today.
Chris Christie told reporters at a press conference on Thursday that he had talked to Barack Obama.
“We didn’t have a political strategy discussion,” he said.
“I said, <<Congratulations on your win last night, Mr. President>>, he said, <<Thank you>>.”
Asked about whether he had spoken to Mitt Romney, Chris Christie said: “No. We exchanged emails last night. We haven’t spoken on the phone yet.”
Chris Christie, who is up for re-election in New Jersey next year and is a likely 2016 presidential candidate, is partly blamed by some senior Mitt Romney aides for the Republican nominee’s defeat.
They believe that his outspoken commendations of Barack Obama helped create an aura of bipartisan appeal that was invaluable.
Stuart Stevens, Mitt Romney’s top strategist, has said that Mitt Romney was “winning this race by five or six points before Sandy” but “came out of Sandy one or two behind”.
Part of Mitt Romney’s post-Sandy drop was due to his being all but absent from the television screens for three to four days. But conservatives have been quick to condemn Chris Christie, a one-time vice-presidential possibility for Mitt Romney, for what they regard as a deliberate undermining of the former Massachusetts governor.
When Chris Christie was asked at the time by Fox News if Mitt Romney had any plans to visit New Jersey, he said: “I have no idea, nor am I the least bit concerned or interested. I’ve got a job to do here in New Jersey that’s much bigger than presidential politics, and I could care less about any of that stuff.”
Governor Chris Christie telephoned Barack Obama after his election win but only sent an email to Mitt Romney
In an opinion article entitled “Excommunicating Chris Christie”, Brett Decker of the Washington Times blasted Chris Christie as a moderate on guns, climate change and social issues and as being either “politically tone-deaf” or “purposely” trying to help Barack Obama.
“Mr. Christie handed Mr. Obama a big gift in the form of photo-ops, public hugs and gratuitously complimentary statements about the opposing party’s standard bearer.”
On Wednesday, Chris Christie appeared to be at pains to deny that he had been anything other than completely supportive of Mitt Romney.
“I wouldn’t call what I did an embrace of Barack Obama,” he said at a Wednesday press conference.
“I know that’s become the wording of it, but the fact of the matter is, you know, I’m a guy who tells the truth all the time.
“And if the president of the United States did something good, I was gonna say he did something good and give him credit for it.
“But it doesn’t take away for a minute the fact that I was the first governor to endorse Mitt Romney, that I travelled literally tens of thousands of miles for him, raised tens of millions of dollars for him and worked harder, I think, than any other surrogate in America other than Paul Ryan, who became his running mate.”
According to the Huffington Post, Chris Christie declined an invitation by Romney to an event in Morrisville, Pennsylvania, some three miles away across the Delaware river from Trenton, New Jersey’s capital, in the final week of the campaign.
While this was seen by some as a snub, the political downside of Chris Christie appearing at a political rally when many in New Jersey were still suffering extreme hardship after Hurricane Sandy would have made any appearance unlikely.
Responding to the story, Chris Christie lambasted the “know-nothing, disgruntled Romney staffers” who had made the accusation.
He added that he had told Mitt Romney before Hurricane Sandy hit that he would probably not be available for the rest of the campaign.
“I said to him, <<Listen, Mitt, if this storm hits the way I think it’s going to, I’m off the campaign trail from here to Election Day>>,” he recalled.
“And he said to me, <<Chris, of course. That’s what you have to do. Do your job. Don’t worry about me. I’ll take care of things>>.
“So all this other noise, I think, is coming from know-nothing, disgruntled Romney staffers who, you know, don’t like the fact that I said nice things about the president of the United States. Well, that’s too bad for them.”
It’s been a long slog of a campaign and many Americans – whether their favored candidate won or lost – are just relieved it’s over. Here are 10 signs Election Day has been and gone.
1. No-one cares about Ohio
Once every four years, the state finds itself at the centre of the political universe, before dropping off the map. Ohio is often the butt of American jokes – seen as the embodiment of a Midwestern backwater. But as the election draws near, the world’s media descends, and commentators talk breathlessly about how “it’s all about Ohio”.
“People enjoy it,” says Fred Andrle, a former talk show host in Ohio. Most of the time, “we are considered fly-over people”.
Ohio law student Andrew Gordon-Seifert, 24, appreciated the attention – not least from the candidates themselves. But he says: “There’s a sentiment of cynicism – they realized how important we are to getting elected, but will they be there for us in the future?”
2. Mattress ads back on television
There were more than one million campaign ad airings in this presidential campaign – almost double that in 2008 and 2004. It has been a bonanza in terms of ad revenues for TV stations, but now the adverts have returned to staple subjects like mattresses, a dog’s arthritis or erectile dysfunction. Answering the phone has become a whole lot easier for those in swing states too – if there is a call, it is probably a real person.
3. The polling addicts are in detox
There are lots of “poll junkies” out there, says self-confessed addict Daniel Hamermesh, who teaches economics at the University of Texas at Austin and Royal Holloway in London. With a habit of checking the latest polls at least four times a day, he set himself the target of going cold turkey up to Election Day. He lasted just three days.
“I fell off the damn wagon,” he says.
But with the election over, he says he’s coping fine: “The thing that caused the addiction is gone – it’s as if there has been a tobacco blight, and the tobacco is gone,” he says.
“My wife is happy to have me back more full-time.”
4. All the news is about this cliff thing
Lots of things get put on ice during election season, but this one will have to come out of the freezer soon. The “fiscal cliff” refers to a deadline of December 31st for Congress to agree on spending levels and tax rates. The Fitch ratings agency recently called it the “single biggest near-term threat to a global economic recovery”. The word “bipartisanship” is one that has come out of the deep-freeze in the last couple of days. It will be needed.
Ten signs Election Day is over
5. You only read Buzzfeed for pictures of cats
Once upon a time, Buzzfeed was a site devoted to cats playing the piano, photos of kids with weird haircuts, and 90s nostalgia. But then Politico whiz-kid Ben Smith came on board just in time for the drama of the 2012 election. Suddenly the site known for articles like This Grandma And Her Cat Are The Cutest Best Friends Ever and 9 Most Controversial Salads was a must-read for political junkies, with trenchant articles from a stable of talented reporters, putting forward a mix of breaking scoops and in-depth features. They’re probably still doing all that stuff, but now that the election is over, you’re more interested in those salads.
6. Joe Biden stops emailing you
You can open your inbox without it being full of emails from the candidates or their campaign teams, usually exhorting you to dig deep into your pockets or give up some time to get people out to vote.
Mitt Romney’s final email on Election Day began with the words: “Friend, Polls are open for a few more hours. Your vote, and your outreach efforts, will determine the outcome. America’s future is up to you.”
7. Celebrities go back to selling you their perfume, not their political views
Celebrity endorsements have been a staple in American politics for some time, and this year was no exception. Barack Obama managed to muster a longer line-up, with more A-listers, but the celebrity moment of the campaign definitely goes to Clint Eastwood for his soliloquy to an empty chair at the Republican National Convention. That may well be remembered, but the B-and-C-listers will vanish back into oblivion.
8. Election tat is piling up
It will be decades before the bog-standard mugs, badges, bumper stickers and posters of this campaign gain any significant value as collectors’ items, says Steve Ferber an expert on political memorabilia. Campaigns have begun to charge for things which used to be given away for free, he says. There has also been an “amazing increase” in buyers from abroad, he says – especially from the UK, Germany and Australia, who are keen on Barack Obama items.
9. You can say what you like on Facebook
Election time can create some awkward moments with friends and family on the other side of the political divide. Student Andrew Gordon-Seifert says most of the political chat among his friends was on Facebook, and things could get testy at times, with inflammatory political posts, and angry ripostes. He took care about what he would say politically – both online and in person – to keep the temperature down. Now it’s over, “we can get back to not being so divided”, he says.
10. The talk is all about 2016
In-between the fierce recriminations and soul-searching among the Republican Party, is speculation on who will run for the presidency in 2016 (Hillary Clinton versus Jeb Bush, is Politico‘s prediction). This future-gazing actually begins a few days before Election Day, says Karlyn Bowman with the conservative think tank, American Enterprise Institute.
“We’re polled out. Everyone is so exhausted, that people just want to turn to something new,” she says.
Many who live and breathe politics are now – with their source of sustenance suddenly gone – feeling a little deflated now, she says.
But the main sentiment is a kind of collective phew: “Everyone will say a prayer – not just for Thanksgiving, but that the campaign is over.”
President Barack Obama will make a statement on the economy later, setting the stage for a political showdown over a looming budget crisis.
Barack Obama is expected to discuss the so-called fiscal cliff, a package of tax rises and spending cuts due early next year unless Congress acts.
Budget analysts warn the US will tip into recession unless a deal is struck.
Barack Obama has repeatedly called for the wealthy to pay more taxes, but such a plan is anathema to Republicans.
The fiscal cliff would see Bush-era tax cuts expire at the end of 2012, combined with automatic, across-the-board reductions to military and domestic spending.
The International Monetary Fund has repeatedly warned that failure by US lawmakers to reach a deal would deepen uncertainty over the global economy.
Investor concerns over the issue have been partly blamed for two straight days of losses on financial markets.
John Boehner, leader of the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, told ABC News on Thursday: “Raising tax rates is unacceptable.
“Frankly, it couldn’t even pass the House. I’m not sure it could pass the Senate.”
John Boehner reiterated his opposition to tax rises in a news conference on Friday morning.
He spoke shortly before Barack Obama was due to deliver his statement from the East Room of the White House at 13:05.
Barack Obama is expected to discuss the so-called fiscal cliff, a package of tax rises and spending cuts due early next year unless Congress acts
The president’s statement could set the tone for his second-term working relationship with Republicans, whom he has battled repeatedly over the last four years.
A White House official said the president’s oft-stated call for tax rises on the wealthy has been vindicated by his resounding victory over Republican challenger Mitt Romney in Tuesday’s election.
“One of the messages that was sent by the American people throughout this campaign is … [they] clearly chose the president’s view of making sure that the wealthiest Americans are asked to do a little bit more in the context of reducing our deficit in a balanced way,” senior White House adviser David Plouffe was quoted by Reuters news agency as saying.
Barack Obama’s position has been that taxes should rise on earnings above $250,000.
John Boehner says his party is willing to countenance cutting loopholes and special exemptions, but only in exchange for an overhaul of the tax code.
Republican lawmakers also want cuts to federal healthcare programmes such as Medicare, Medicaid and food-stamp assistance for the poor.
A Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report published on Thursday warned that the US economy would fall back into recession if no deal were struck on the fiscal cliff.
The analysis projected that the package of tax rises and spending cuts would cut the ballooning US deficit by $503 billion through to next September, but also shrink the economy by 0.5% and cost millions of jobs.
Meanwhile, as Barack Obama turns his attention to shaping a second term in office his administration is expected to undergo a shake-up in the coming weeks.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Defence Secretary Leon Panetta and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner are among those expected to leave their posts.
Speculation has been swirling in Washington over possible replacements, with Democratic Senator John Kerry among those tipped as a substitute for Hillary Clinton.
Meanwhile, Republicans are trying to find out what went wrong their presidential election campaign.
The party’s officials said they would poll voters extensively in battleground states, as well as holding focus groups and discussions with supporters.
The review would not attempt to alter the party’s ideological base, Republican National Committee spokesman Sean Spicer told the Washington Post.
“This is no different than a patient going to see a doctor,” Sean Spicer said.
What is the fiscal cliff?
• Under a deal reached last year between President Barack Obama and the Republican-controlled Congress, existing stimulus measures – mostly tax cuts – will expire on 1 January 2013
• Cuts to defence, education and other government spending will then automatically come into force – the “fiscal cliff” – unless Congress acts
• The economy does not have the momentum to absorb the shock from going over the fiscal cliff without going into recession
Several American businesses reacted to the news of President Barack Obama’s re-election with both anger and despair, as one McDonald’s location hung the US flag at half-mast and upside-down.
Some diners at the Follansbee restaurant in West Virginia could not believe their eyes when the say the flag on the day after Barack Obama secured more electoral votes than Republican rival Mitt Romney.
An upside-down flag is a “signal of dire distress in instances of extreme danger to life or property”, according to federal law.
Mitt Romney won West Virginia in Tuesday night’s election – and its five electoral votes.
Karen Mezan, the McDonald’s franchise owner, said in an emailed statement to WTOV-TV: “Unfortunately, a flag cable broke and during the process of trying the fix the flag, it was inadvertently turned upside down.
“It wasn’t noticed that the flag was upside down until a customer inquired about it. We are working on fixing the flag right now. It’s important to note that this was an accident, not intentional.”
Follansbee McDonald’s restaurant hung the US flag at half-mast and upside-down
While US flag flew in reverse in West Virginia, a Florida real estate mogul backed down from a pledge to lay off some or all of his 8,000 in protest of Barack Obama’s victory.
Instead, David Siegel says he gave all of his workers a raise this week, to help them cope with new taxes and regulations that he believes the president will heap on in his second term.
David Siegel is perhaps known for his ambitious attempts to build the largest house in the world outside Orlando, Florida.
Modeled after the Palace of Versailles in France, he hopes it will be worth $100 million when it’s completed.
The property magnate’s 1,400-word rant was largely copied from a chain email which circulated around the time of the 2008 presidential election, according to Gawker.
David Siegel told Bloomberg BusinessWeek on Wednesday, the day after the election, that he hadn’t laid off anyone – yet.
“I’m going to work my hardest to keep the company going and expand the best I can. We’ll see what happens,” he said.
He added that he had given all employees in his company a raise, at least five per cent, to “help them handle the additional burdens the government will put on them”.
Last month, David Siegel told his workers that the company was performing well, saying: “The economy doesn’t currently pose a threat to your job.
“What does threaten your job however, is another 4 years of the same Presidential administration. Of course, as your employer, I can’t tell you whom to vote for, and I certainly wouldn’t interfere with your right to vote for whomever you choose. In fact, I encourage you to vote for whomever you think will serve your interests the best.”
He added: “So where am I going with all this? It’s quite simple. If any new taxes are levied on me, or my company, as our current president plans, I will have no choice but to reduce the size of this company.
“Rather than grow this company I will be forced to cut back. This means fewer jobs, less benefits and certainly less opportunity for everyone.
“So, when you make your decision to vote, ask yourself, which candidate understands the economics of business ownership and who doesn’t? Whose policies will endanger your job?
“Answer those questions and you should know who might be the one capable of protecting and saving your job.”
The 77-year-old starred alongside his wife Jackie, 46, in a documentary film titled Queen of Versailles, chronicling the construction of the 30-bedroom house and the struggles of David Siegel’s company during the financial crisis and recession.
The flamboyant businessman has previously boasted of using his employees for political ends.
He apparently surveyed his 8,000 workers before the 2000 election, and encouraged only those who supported George W. Bush to vote – an act which he believes brought the Republican victory in Florida, and therefore in the race as a whole.
In Bedford, Virginia, Lyons Jewelers posted a massive sign in the store window saying: “Closed to mourn the loss of the America that our forefathers endowed to us.”
WDBJ-TV reports that the store also had a sign that said “Shame on the U.S. and Virginia” and one that read “Lyons will reopen tomorrow to continue the fight against a president who seeks my demise”.
Also on Wednesday, a man who claimed to own a business in Las Vegas called into a local radio station to announce he had fired 20% of his staff.
The man, who called a talk radio program on KXNT, gave his name only as “Dave” and said “elections have consequences”.
He claimed that Tuesday night’s victory for the Democratic president was the tipping point for him to decide that he needed to cut back his business to save money.
He said he had 114 employees and that he sacked 22 of them.
“I explained to them a month ago that if Obama gets in office that the regulations for Obamacare are gonna hurt our business, and I’m gonna have to make provisions to make sure I have enough money to cover the payroll taxes, the additional health care I’m gonna have to do, and I explained that to them and I said you do what you feel like in your heart you need to do, but I’m just letting you know as a warning this is things I have to think of as a business owner,” he said.
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Many of Americans were upset when Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney lost the election and most of them used social media to post shockingly racist tweets against President Barack Obama.
A map collected by Floating Sheep, a collective of geography academics, shows the shocking demographic of racist “hate tweets”, many of them collected from states that were won by Mitt Romney.
The majority of the tweets, as Jezebel noted, were often from young white residents in southern states.
One male user wrote on Election Day following Romney’s loss: “Ok we pick a worthless n***** over a full blooded American what the h*** has our world come its (sic) called the white house for a reason.”
Another wrote: “F*** you, Obama. Your (sic) a stupid n***** and you don’t do anything good for our country.”
Using geodata called DOLLY (Data On Local Life and You), Floating Sheep mapped out tweets beginning November 1. They then calculated the percentage of each state’s so-called hate tweets in relation to the gross number of tweets coming out of that state.
Their results showed that states like Arkansas and Mississippi were relatively inundated with racist tweets. However, they measured only the quantity of tweets, noting that a lone Twitter user could be sending out dozens of vitriolic tweets all on their own, thus adding to the location-inspired measure, or LQ.
A map collected by Floating Sheep, a collective of geography academics, shows the shocking demographic of racist hate tweets after Barack Obama re-election
The map also reveals other southern states like Tennessee, Georgia, and the Carolinas had their fair share of people tweeting bigoted things. Floating Sheep noted that both the East and West coast had a lower number of such tweets.
The site noted, too, that the phenomenon wasn’t only in the south – a series of racist tweets trickled up the Eastern Seaboard, and could also be found in Utah and Missouri.
While it was not openly addressed by the candidates on the campaign trail, political pundits have insisted that demographics and race played a huge role in helping Barack Obama keep the White House.
On Election Day, a riot broke out at The University of Mississippi – known as Ole Miss – as more than 400 students yelled out racial slurs and burned Obama-Biden campaign posters after the Democratic incumbent was crowned the victor.
Emotions ran high among the angered college conservatives in Oxford, Mississippi, with university police being called in shortly after midnight to diffuse the crowd.
The incident began as a small gathering of frustrated voters, meeting to share their misery at Barack Obama getting another four years in office, shortly after midnight.
But word soon spread over social media and the crowd began to swell to hundreds of students, yelling out racial slurs, chanting anti-Obama rhetoric and some reportedly throwing rocks at cars.
Police were called and told the crowd to go home but their presence only attracted more attention and the mass began to multiply.
Two students were arrested in the fracas, one for public intoxication and one for failure to comply with police orders, the university confirmed.
“Disperse or go to jail,” University Police Department officers told the crowd, according to the student newspaper, The Daily Mississippian.
But Ole Miss student Nicholas Carr tweeted that the whole thing was being overblown, saying that more people were taking pictures of the so-called riot than actually joining in on the chanting.
“I was there the whole time. No rocks were thrown. There was 1 sign lit on fire. For about 45 seconds,” Nicholas Carr wrote.
“Mostly, it was 100s of college kids who heard the word riot and ran to take pictures and see what it was about. Again, no rocks or missiles thrown.”
But the school’s administration confronted students on Wednesday and blasted Tuesday’s behavior as “a very immature and uncivil approach to expressing their views about the election”, University of Mississippi Chancellor Dan Jones said in statement.
“The gathering seems to have been fueled by social media, and the conversation should have stayed there.”
President Barack Obama won re-election with a similar coalition that carried him to the presidency in 2008: women, young voters, African Americans and Latinos.
But the popular vote was not as strongly in Barack Obama’s favor this time, owing to declines in some key but shrinking parts of the electorate.
1. The female vote
Men and women split between the candidates: overall, 55% of women voted for Barack Obama, 44% for Mitt Romney. For men, 52% voted for Mitt Romney and 45% for Barack Obama.
In 2008, Barack Obama gained a higher percentage of the male vote (49%) and a similar percentage of the female vote (56%).
However, there was a division between married and unmarried women: 53% of married women voted for the Republican candidate, while Barack Obama won unmarried women two-to-one: 67% to 31%.
Overall, women make up more of the electorate – 53% – slightly more than their share of the US population.
2. The ethnic vote
Barack Obama overwhelmingly won the black vote with 93%, a sliver lower than four years ago. Latinos also voted strongly for the Democrat – 71% in total and probably made electoral differences in Colorado and Nevada. Latinos or Hispanics made up 10% of total voters in the US, up one percentage point from 2008.
President Obama lost some of the white voters that propelled him to a strong win in 2008, with 39% voting for a second Barack Obama term in comparison to 43% in 2008. The white electorate, while still a majority, dropped to 72% of the country as a whole, down from 74% four years ago, and 77% eight years ago.
3. The youth vote
Young voters were a key part of Barack Obama’s victory for a second time.
Sixty per cent of voters aged 18 to 29 years voted for Barack Obama, slightly down from his percentage four years ago of 66%.
But the percentage of voters in this age range increased slightly, to 19% of the electorate.
Voters aged 30 to 44 were fairly split, with a slight inclination to Barack Obama, 52% to 45%.
The largest percentage of the electorate in terms of age, 45 to 64, went to Mitt Romney with 51%.
President Barack Obama won re-election with a similar coalition that carried him to the presidency in 2008: women, young voters, African Americans and Latinos
4. Lower-income Americans
Lower-income voters went decisively for Barack Obama.
Of those making under $50,000, 60% voted for Barack Obama.
The president did not do badly with middle-income and richer voters either, gaining 46% and 44%, respectively in each category.
The three income categories are fairly split among the electorate, with the lower-income group representing 41% of the total vote.
5. The religious vote
Mitt Romney gained 62% of the Protestant vote.
Catholics and other Christians were split among the two major candidates.
Those of no religion as well as Jewish voters gave Barack Obama a vote of confidence at 70%.
Mitt Romney, who would have become the first Mormon president if he had won, also gained the large majority of Mormon voters: 78%.
Those who went to religious services at least once a week were more likely to vote for Mitt Romney (59%).
However, 55% of those who said they attended such services “a few times a month” voted for Barack Obama.
6. The economy
Throughout the campaign, both candidates said it was all about the economy, and voters’ decisions largely came down to who they thought was best on the issue.
Fifty-nine per cent of those polled said the economy was their foremost concern. Among those, a slight majority (51%) went for Mitt Romney. So how does this match with an Obama win? Fifty-four per cent of voters who named unemployment as their top economic concern voted for Barack Obama.
The president also received many more votes from those concerned about healthcare and foreign policy, while deficit-minded voters strongly chose Mitt Romney.
7. Mitt Romney’s empathy gap
What matters most in Americans’ minds when they vote? About three in 10 wanted a “vision for the future” and another three in 10 wanted a president who shared their values.
Those who wanted a vision for the future voted more for Mitt Romney (54% to 45% for Barack Obama).
However, another two in 10 voters wanted a president who “cares about people like me”.
They overwhelmingly voted for Barack Obama – 81% in total – a sign that Mitt Romney suffered an empathy gap among some voters.
All numbers based on exit polling conducted by Edison Research across the United States on 6 November.
Barack Obama wasted little time on Wednesday as he headed back to Washington hours after celebrating his election victory in Chicago and securing a second term in the White House.
Fresh challenges lie ahead for the president as the stock market tumbled in response to his triumph at the polls over Mitt Romney and sabre-rattling from Republicans who demanded that he make good on his promise to work with both sides of the political aisle in the next four years.
Barack Obama was joined by First Lady Michelle Obama and their children Malia and Sasha as they departed the Windy City on Air Force One. They arrived in Washington at about 6:30 p.m. and returned to White House which has been their home for the last four years – and where they will remain for the next four.
Tuesday night, Barack Obama called for unity and set out an optimistic vision of America’s future this morning in a rousing acceptance speech.
He promised “the best is yet to come” and said the fierce battle with Mitt Romney had made him a better president, vowing: “I will return to the White House more determined and inspired than ever.”
In a speech that saw a return to the soaring rhetoric he has become known for since his election in 2008, Barack Obama said he had “listened and learned’ from the American people during his campaign.
With his voice going hoarse at times, he said that “progress comes in fits and starts” and the road is littered with “difficult compromises”. But he said he enters the next four years with an “economy recovering, a decade of war ending and a long campaign is over”.
Barack Obama wasted little time on Wednesday as he headed back to Washington hours after celebrating his election victory in Chicago and securing a second term in the White House
Barack Obama paid tribute to his opponent and hopes they can “work together in the coming weeks”.
The GOP has indicated that they will hold him to it.
Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell was frosty in his post-election remarks.
“The voters have not endorsed the failures or excesses of the president’s first term,” Mitch McConnell said.
“Now it’s time for the president to propose solutions that actually have a chance of passing the Republican-controlled House, and deliver in a way that he did not in his first four years in office.”
Republican House Speaker John Boehner added speaking to reporters on Wednesday morning: “Mr. President, this is your moment. We want you to lead… Let’s find the common ground that has eluded us.”
A package of huge tax hikes and spending cuts – known as the “fiscal cliff” – is scheduled to take effect in the new year if the parties cannot come to a compromise.
So far, Republicans have adamantly refused to raise taxes, even on America’s richest people, as part of a deficit-reduction package. Barack Obama and other Democrats maintain that such tax hikes must be part of the deal.
The president’s administration is optimistic about an agreement.
Vice President Joe Biden told reporters on Wednesday that he and Barack Obama are anxious to move forward on a bipartisan solution to the “fiscal cliff”, but a compromise will hinge on Republicans.
“What is the takeaway going to be on the part of our Republican colleagues? What judgment are they going to make?” Joe Biden told reporters on Air Force Two, as he flew from Chicago, where he watched election returns Tuesday night, to his home in Delaware.
“I know it takes a little time to kind of digest what’s going on. But I think people know we’ve got to get down to work and I think they’re ready to move,” Joe Biden said.
Joe Biden said he believes there are at least six Republican senators who are prepared to compromise on fiscal issues, adding that Democrats “are going to have to compromise too. It’s not like we’re going to go in and say: <<This is our deal. Take it or leave it>>.”
Another challenge for Barack Obama lies in the stock market, as the Dow Jones industrial average plummeted 200 points within minutes after the opening bell and it continued falling, down 354 points two hours later.
In late afternoon trading, it was down 323 points, or 2.5%, while index futures also plunged after the European Union slashed its growth forecast for next year.
[youtube WmsP4ikvRuA]
New York stocks on Wednesday night took fright at the outcome of the American presidential election as the world braced itself for prolonged and difficult negotiations over the US budget deficit and debt levels.
Despite all the discussion of a bipartisan approach to tackling the US’s $1trillion a year budget deficit, investors fear that President Barack Obama will face a renewed struggle reaching an agreement with Congress by the deadline for the “fiscal cliff” of January 1st, 2013.
Failure to meet that deadline, enshrined in law, would mean that automatic budget cuts and tax rises would come into effect taking $600 billion out of the economy and sending America and much of the rest of the world back into recession.
In trading on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged from the opening bell and by mid-afternoon was showing a loss of 300 points or 2.24% the biggest single day fall in 2012 and the largest loss since November 2011. It closed down 312.95 points at 12932.73.
Disquiet about the outcome of the election and its impact on the rest of the world triggered a worldwide reaction with the FTSE 100 index plunging in its wake by 1.58%.
The overall mood on the markets was not assisted by fears of a deep slowdown in Europe and further troubles on the streets of Athens as Greek parliament met to approve a new fiscal package.
Among the biggest fallers on Wall Street were banking shares with JP Morgan, Citibank, Bank of America and Morgan Stanley suffering big setbacks. Although New York state was a solid Democratic win in the election, the banks were big financial backers of Mitt Romney in the hope he might ease some of the onerous regulation imposed since the Great Panic of 2008 if he won.
Matters were not helped by the intervention of Goldman Sachs that has lowered its forecast for American growth next year from 1.9% to 1.5%, barely enough to lower unemployment from its current level of 7.9% of the workforce.
In contrast to share prices, however, the dollar advanced against both the pound and the euro as part of the flight to safety, including American bonds, by international investors.
In times of uncertainty investors traditionally move away from risky assets like shares and opt for hard currencies and bonds. The pound was trading last night at just below the $1.60 level at $1.5986.
Dow Jones plunges 300 points after Barack Obama re-election as Wall Street suffers worst day of the year
A big concern on financial markets is that the credit rating agencies will decide to follow the actions of Standard & Poor’s in August 2011 – when the last budget negotiations were in full flow – and remove the AAA credit rating enjoyed by the US.
In a note Fitch said the President would need to quickly secure a deal with Congress to avoid the fiscal cliff and raise the debt ceiling – the total amount of debt that the US can issue – if a ratings downgrade was to be avoided. America has among the highest debt levels in the Western world at 107% of gross domestic product according to the International Monetary Fund.
The fear is that unless Congress and the White House can deal with the fiscal deadlock before January 1st, 2013, then the automatic cuts would immediately trigger a recession potentially wiping as much as 2.5% of output and leading to a sharp rise in the jobless rate.
There had been hopes the election would cleanse the poison in US politics that has held up budget negotiations. In reality nothing has changed in that a Democratic president still has to deal with a hostile House where the Tea Party extremists still hold some sway.
They believe that the US’s budget problems would be solved by cutting welfare payments and keeping taxes low.
Another credit rating agency, Moody’s, said it would not be changing its assessment of the US economy until after the deadline for the fiscal cliff had passed.
Mitt Romney thanked family and campaigners for support in his concession speech after admitting defeat in 2012 US election.
Congratulating Barack Obama on his win, Mitt Romney said the Republican Party’s “principles would endure” the defeat and asked his supporters to join him and his wife Ann in praying for Obama and the U.S.
“Thank you.
I have just called President Obama to congratulate him on his victory. His supporters and his campaign also deserve congratulations. I wish all of them well, but particularly the president, the first lady and their daughters.
This is a time of great challenges for America, and I pray that the president will be successful in guiding our nation.
I want to thank Paul Ryan for all that he has done for our campaign and for our country. Besides my wife, Ann, Paul is the best choice I’ve ever made. And I trust that his intellect and his hard work and his commitment to principle will continue to contribute to the good of our nation.
I also want to thank Ann, the love of my life. She would have been a wonderful first lady. She’s – she has been that and more to me and to our family and to the many people that she has touched with her compassion and her care.
I thank my sons for their tireless work on behalf of the campaign, and thank their wives and children for taking up the slack as their husbands and dads have spent so many weeks away from home.
I want to thank Matt Rhoades and the dedicated campaign team he led. They have made an extraordinary effort not just for me, but also for the country that we love.
And to you here tonight, and to the team across the country – the volunteers, the fundraisers, the donors, the surrogates – I don’t believe that there’s ever been an effort in our party that can compare with what you have done over these past years. Thank you so very much.”
Mitt Romney thanked family and campaigners for support in his concession speech after admitting defeat in 2012 US election
“Thanks for all the hours of work, for the calls, for the speeches and appearances, for the resources and for the prayers. You gave deeply from yourselves and performed magnificently. And you inspired us and you humbled us. You’ve been the very best we could have imagined.
The nation, as you know, is at a critical point. At a time like this, we can’t risk partisan bickering and political posturing. Our leaders have to reach across the aisle to do the people’s work. And we citizens also have to rise to the occasion.
We look to our teachers and professors, we count on you not just to teach, but to inspire our children with a passion for learning and discovery. We look to our pastors and priests and rabbis and counselors of all kinds to testify of the enduring principles upon which our society is built: honesty, charity, integrity and family. We look to our parents, for in the final analysis everything depends on the success of our homes. We look to job creators of all kinds. We’re counting on you to invest, to hire, to step forward. And we look to Democrats and Republicans in government at all levels to put the people before the politics.
I believe in America. I believe in the people of America. And I ran for office because I’m concerned about America. This election is over, but our principles endure. I believe that the principles upon which this nation was founded are the only sure guide to a resurgent economy and to renewed greatness.
Like so many of you, Paul and I have left everything on the field. We have given our all to this campaign.
I so wish – I so wish that I had been able to fulfill your hopes to lead the country in a different direction, but the nation chose another leader. And so Ann and I join with you to earnestly pray for him and for this great nation.
Thank you, and God bless America. You guys are the best. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thanks, guys.”
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Barack Obama announced that the “best is yet to come” during a moving acceptance speech as the news came that he had been re-elected as President of the United States.
President Barack Obama vowed to return to the White House “more determined and inspired than ever”, saying he had “listened and learned” during his campaign.
As the re-elected President thanked his family for their support, his Republican rival Mitt Romney did the same in his concession speech.
Congratulating Barack Obama on his win, Mitt Romney said the Republican Party’s “principles would endure” the defeat and asked his supporters to join him and his wife Ann in praying for Obama and the U.S.
Barack Obama announced that the “best is yet to come” during a moving acceptance speech as the news came that he had been re-elected as President of the United States
Barack Obama acceptance speech in full:
“Tonight, more than 200 years after a former colony won the right to determine its own destiny, the task of perfecting our union moves forward,’ The newly re-elected President said.
It moves forward because of you. It moves forward because you reaffirmed the spirit that has triumphed over war and depression, the spirit that has lifted this country from the depths of despair to the great heights of hope, the belief that while each of us will pursue our own individual dreams, we are an American family and we rise or fall together as one nation and as one people.
Tonight, in this election, you, the American people, reminded us that while our road has been hard, while our journey has been long, we have picked ourselves up, we have fought our way back, and we know in our hearts that for the United States of America the best is yet to come.
I want to thank every American who participated in this election, whether you voted for the very first time or waited in line for a very long time. By the way, we have to fix that.
Whether you pounded the pavement or picked up the phone, whether you held an Obama sign or a Romney sign, you made your voice heard and you made a difference.
I just spoke with Governor Romney and I congratulated him and Paul Ryan on a hard-fought campaign. We may have battled fiercely, but it’s only because we love this country deeply and we care so strongly about its future. From George to Lenore to their son Mitt, the Romney family has chosen to give back to America through public service and that is the legacy that we honor and applaud tonight.
In the weeks ahead, I also look forward to sitting down with Governor Romney to talk about where we can work together to move this country forward.
I want to thank my friend and partner of the last four years, America’s happy warrior, the best vice president anybody could ever hope for, Joe Biden.
And I wouldn’t be the man I am today without the woman who agreed to marry me 20 years ago. Let me say this publicly: Michelle, I have never loved you more. I have never been prouder to watch the rest of America fall in love with you, too, as our nation’s first lady.
Sasha and Malia, before our very eyes you’re growing up to become two strong, smart beautiful young women, just like your mom. And I’m so proud of you guys. But I will say that for now one dog’s probably enough.
To the best campaign team and volunteers in the history of politics – the best. The best ever. Some of you were new this time around, and some of you have been at my side since the very beginning.
But all of you are family. No matter what you do or where you go from here, you will carry the memory of the history we made together and you will have the life-long appreciation of a grateful president. Thank you for believing all the way, through every hill, through every valley.
You lifted me up the whole way and I will always be grateful for everything that you’ve done and all the incredible work that you put in.
I know that political campaigns can sometimes seem small, even silly. And that provides plenty of fodder for the cynics that tell us that politics is nothing more than a contest of egos or the domain of special interests. But if you ever get the chance to talk to folks who turned out at our rallies and crowded along a rope line in a high school gym, or saw folks working late in a campaign office in some tiny county far away from home, you’ll discover something else.
You’ll hear the determination in the voice of a young field organizer who’s working his way through college and wants to make sure every child has that same opportunity.
You’ll hear the pride in the voice of a volunteer who’s going door to door because her brother was finally hired when the local auto plant added another shift.
You’ll hear the deep patriotism in the voice of a military spouse whose working the phones late at night to make sure that no one who fights for this country ever has to fight for a job or a roof over their head when they come home.
That’s why we do this. That’s what politics can be. That’s why elections matter. It’s not small, it’s big. It’s important. Democracy in a nation of 300 million can be noisy and messy and complicated. We have our own opinions. Each of us has deeply held beliefs. And when we go through tough times, when we make big decisions as a country, it necessarily stirs passions, stirs up controversy.
That won’t change after tonight, and it shouldn’t. These arguments we have are a mark of our liberty. We can never forget that as we speak people in distant nations are risking their lives right now just for a chance to argue about the issues that matter, the chance to cast their ballots like we did today.
But despite all our differences, most of us share certain hopes for America’s future. We want our kids to grow up in a country where they have access to the best schools and the best teachers. A country that lives up to its legacy as the global leader in technology and discovery and innovation, with all the good jobs and new businesses that follow.
We want our children to live in an America that isn’t burdened by debt, that isn’t weakened by inequality, that isn’t threatened by the destructive power of a warming planet. We want to pass on a country that’s safe and respected and admired around the world, a nation that is defended by the strongest military on earth and the best troops this – this world has ever known.
But also a country that moves with confidence beyond this time of war, to shape a peace that is built on the promise of freedom and dignity for every human being. We believe in a generous America, in a compassionate America, in a tolerant America, open to the dreams of an immigrant’s daughter who studies in our schools and pledges to our flag.
To the young boy on the south side of Chicago who sees a life beyond the nearest street corner. To the furniture worker’s child in North Carolina who wants to become a doctor or a scientist, an engineer or an entrepreneur, a diplomat or even a president – that’s the future we hope for. That’s the vision we share. That’s where we need to go – forward. That’s where we need to go.
Now, we will disagree, sometimes fiercely, about how to get there. As it has for more than two centuries, progress will come in fits and starts. It’s not always a straight line. It’s not always a smooth path.
By itself, the recognition that we have common hopes and dreams won’t end all the gridlock or solve all our problems or substitute for the painstaking work of building consensus and making the difficult compromises needed to move this country forward. But that common bond is where we must begin. Our economy is recovering. A decade of war is ending. A long campaign is now over.
And whether I earned your vote or not, I have listened to you, I have learned from you, and you’ve made me a better president. And with your stories and your struggles, I return to the White House more determined and more inspired than ever about the work there is to do and the future that lies ahead.
Tonight you voted for action, not politics as usual. You elected us to focus on your jobs, not ours. And in the coming weeks and months, I am looking forward to reaching out and working with leaders of both parties to meet the challenges we can only solve together. Reducing our deficit. Reforming our tax code. Fixing our immigration system. Freeing ourselves from foreign oil. We’ve got more work to do.
But that doesn’t mean your work is done. The role of citizens in our Democracy does not end with your vote. America’s never been about what can be done for us. It’s about what can be done by us together through the hard and frustrating, but necessary work of self-government. That’s the principle we were founded on.
This country has more wealth than any nation, but that’s not what makes us rich. We have the most powerful military in history, but that’s not what makes us strong. Our university, our culture are all the envy of the world, but that’s not what keeps the world coming to our shores. What makes America exceptional are the bonds that hold together the most diverse nation on earth.
The belief that our destiny is shared; that this country only works when we accept certain obligations to one another and to future generations. The freedom which so many Americans have fought for and died for come with responsibilities as well as rights. And among those are love and charity and duty and patriotism. That’s what makes America great.
I am hopeful tonight because I’ve seen the spirit at work in America. I’ve seen it in the family business whose owners would rather cut their own pay than lay off their neighbors, and in the workers who would rather cut back their hours than see a friend lose a job.
I’ve seen it in the soldiers who reenlist after losing a limb and in those SEALs who charged up the stairs into darkness and danger because they knew there was a buddy behind them watching their back.
I’ve seen it on the shores of New Jersey and New York, where leaders from every party and level of government have swept aside their differences to help a community rebuild from the wreckage of a terrible storm.
And I saw just the other day, in Mentor, Ohio, where a father told the story of his 8-year-old daughter, whose long battle with leukemia nearly cost their family everything had it not been for health care reform passing just a few months before the insurance company was about to stop paying for her care.
I had an opportunity to not just talk to the father, but meet this incredible daughter of his. And when he spoke to the crowd listening to that father’s story, every parent in that room had tears in their eyes, because we knew that little girl could be our own.
And I know that every American wants her future to be just as bright. That’s who we are. That’s the country I’m so proud to lead as your president.
And tonight, despite all the hardship we’ve been through, despite all the frustrations of Washington, I’ve never been more hopeful about our future.
I have never been more hopeful about America. And I ask you to sustain that hope. I’m not talking about blind optimism, the kind of hope that just ignores the enormity of the tasks ahead or the roadblocks that stand in our path. I’m not talking about the wishful idealism that allows us to just sit on the sidelines or shirk from a fight.
I have always believed that hope is that stubborn thing inside us that insists, despite all the evidence to the contrary, that something better awaits us so long as we have the courage to keep reaching, to keep working, to keep fighting.
America, I believe we can build on the progress we’ve made and continue to fight for new jobs and new opportunity and new security for the middle class. I believe we can keep the promise of our founders, the idea that if you’re willing to work hard, it doesn’t matter who you are or where you come from or what you look like or where you love. It doesn’t matter whether you’re black or white or Hispanic or Asian or Native American or young or old or rich or poor, able, disabled, gay or straight, you can make it here in America if you’re willing to try.
I believe we can seize this future together because we are not as divided as our politics suggests. We’re not as cynical as the pundits believe. We are greater than the sum of our individual ambitions, and we remain more than a collection of red states and blue states. We are and forever will be the United States of America.
And together with your help and God’s grace we will continue our journey forward and remind the world just why it is that we live in the greatest nation on Earth.
Thank you, America. God bless you. God bless these United States.”
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The Empire State Building was bathed in blue light on Election Night as Barack Obama won a second term in office.
Two columns of light, one red and one blue, had been winding their way up the skyscraper in a display put on by CNN.
Each column represented the number of electoral college votes secured by Barack Obama and Mitt Romney.
But at 11:20 p.m. the building was lit completely blue as the channel predicted that Barack Obama would serve another four years in office.
Dominating the Midtown skyline of Manhattan, the Empire State Building already celebrates many cultures and causes worldwide with its iconic lighting’s and this latest addition is the brainchild of CNN.
The tower changes lights to recognize key milestones such as Christmas Day and Halloween, charitable organizations such as World AIDS Day and even beloved movies such as the Disney’s The Lion King.
The tradition began in 1932 when a searchlight shone from the skyscraper to announce the election of New York born Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
To celebrate the nation’s Bicentennial in 1976, the building’s owners installed colored lights to illuminate the building at night in red, white and blue – which was the direct descendant of the popular Lighting Partner program that runs to this day.
Soaring 1,454 feet above Midtown Manhattan (from base to antenna), the Empire State Building is the World’s Most Famous Office Building.
The skyscraper’s robust broadcasting technology supports all major television and FM radio stations in the New York metropolitan market.
The Empire State Building was named America’s favorite building in a poll conducted by the American Institute of Architects.
The Empire State Building Observatory is one of the world’s most beloved attractions and is the city’s number one tourist destination.
Indeed, CNN ran a test on 3:30 a.m. last Friday but no one worked out what the skyscraper was doing before today’s announcement.
The Empire State Building was bathed in blue light on Election Night as Barack Obama won a second term in office
FAMOUS LIGHTING OF EMPIRE STATE
• In May 1998 the Empire State was bathed in blue lights to celebrate the life of Frank Sinatra in honor of his nickname Ol’Blue Eyes
• After the death of Fay Wray, the star of 1933’s legendary King Kong which makes use of the skyscraper in its final scene – the building stood in complete darkness for 15 minutes.
• For several months after the destruction of the World Trade Center in 2001, the building was lit in the red, white and blue of the Star Spangled Banner.
• On June 4, 2002, the Empire State Building donned purple and gold (the royal colors of Queen Elizabeth II), in thanks for the United Kingdom playing the Star Spangled Banner during the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace on September 12, 2001 which was a show of support after the September 11 Attacks
• The building is illuminated in tennis-ball yellow during the US Open tennis tournament in late August and early September
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Moments after Barack Obama’s victory was projected by several news outlets last night, Donald Trump took to Twitter to voice his outrage, demanding a “revolution”.
Donald Trump also said that the Democrat’s re-election to office was a “great and disgusting injustice”.
Earlier Tuesday, Donald Trump took to Twitter reminding his followers: “Whoever wins today, remember that tomorrow we still have a country struggling.
“Our work is not done until America is strong again.”
However, as it became apparent that former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney would not win the election, Donald Trump’s tweets became more enraged, and more hyperbolic.
He began with: “Well, back to the drawing board!”
Donald Trump quickly followed up with a call to revolution. He wrote: “He lost the popular vote by a lot and won the election. We should have a revolution in this country!”
He later deleted that tweet.
But he was far from over.
“This election is a total sham and a travesty,” he wrote.
“We are not a democracy!”
He also added the “serious and unprecedented trouble” that America is in – “like never before”.
Donald Trump said that Barack Obama’s re-election to office was a great and disgusting injustice
Donald Trump, 66, later went onto attack the Electoral College, but offered a kernel of hope for the still-Republican House of Representatives.
“Hopefully the House can hold our country together for four more years,” he tweeted.
“House shouldn’t give anything to Obama unless he terminates Obamacare.”
He did not tweet anything after Mitt Romney’s gracious concession speech.
Donald Trump’s attacks on Barack Obama have been more frequent in the weeks preceding the election.
Only last week, he lashed out at Barack Obama for using Superstorm Sandy to garner more votes and essentially buy the election.
The billionaire’s grudge hasn’t gone unnoticed by the president.
During a recent appearance on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno, Barack Obama quipped that their rivalry began when the two were growing up in Kenya.
“We had constant run-ins on the soccer field, he wasn’t that good,” Barack Obama told the NBC late-night host.
Barack Obama won re-election to the White House tonight with a landslide victory over Mitt Romney, according to projections from most of the television networks.
Broadcast networks called the 2012 presidential election for Barack Obama as he swept the map with wins in the swings states of Ohio, Iowa, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire and Virginia while Florida still hung in the balance.
Barack Obama seemed poised for a resounding electoral college win – despite predictions of one of the tightest finishes in history and the dogged insistence of Mitt Romney advisers that they were making gains all over the political battlefield.
Despite unemployment standing at 7.9% and Barack Obama performing very poorly during the first presidential debate, Mitt Romney was crushed nationally, though he might finish only just behind in the popular vote.
Barack Obama won re-election to the White House tonight with a landslide victory over Mitt Romney
Minutes after his victory was announced, Barack Obama tweeted: “We’re all in this together. That’s how we campaigned, and that’s who we are. Thank you.”
He also posted a picture of himself embracing his wife Michelle Obama – and the post rapidly became the most popular tweet of all time.
Mitt Romney called Barack Obama to concede defeat shortly before 1:00 a.m., a few minutes before he was set to take the stage at his Boston headquarters to deliver his concession speech.
Barack Obama has been re-elected to a second term, defeating Republican rival Mitt Romney.
With results in from most states, Barack Obama has secured the 270 votes in the electoral college needed to win the race.
Barack Obama prevailed despite lingering dissatisfaction with the economy and a well-funded challenge by Mitt Romney.
Barack Obama’s margin of victory is not yet certain because four states have yet to report results.
With swing states Virginia, Florida and Colorado still too close to call, Barack Obama has won 281 electoral votes to Mitt Romney’s 203.
Under the US constitution, each state is given a number of electoral votes in rough proportion to its population. The candidate who wins 270 electoral votes – by prevailing in the mostly winner-takes-all state contests – becomes president.
The popular vote, which is symbolically and politically important but not decisive in the race, remains too close to call.
Barack Obama has been re-elected to a second term, defeating Republican rival Mitt Romney
On Tuesday, the president held the White House by assembling solid Democratic states and a number of important swing states such as Iowa, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin. His narrow victory in Ohio, a critical Mid-Western swing state, sealed the victory.
Mitt Romney, former governor of Massachusetts, won North Carolina and Indiana, as well as the solid Republican states.
But he was unable to win in Ohio or other states needed to breach the 270 threshold.
Also on Tuesday’s ballot were 11 state governorships, a third of the seats in the 100-member US Senate and all 435 seats in the House of Representatives.
Republicans are projected to keep control of the House, while Democrats are tipped to remain in control in the Senate.
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2012 Election: voting results so far
Alabama (9 electoral votes)
Mitt Romney 61% (1,245,221 votes)
Barack Obama 38% (787,027 votes)
Alaska (3 electoral votes)
Mitt Romney 55% (120,329 votes)
Barack Obama 41% (90,743 votes)
Arizona (11 electoral votes)
Mitt Romney 55% (896,302 votes)
Barack Obama 43% (707,744 votes)
Arkansas (6 electoral votes)
Mitt Romney 60% (631,244 votes)
Barack Obama 37% (387,139 votes)
California (55 electoral votes)
Mitt Romney 38% (3,542,862 votes)
Barack Obama 59% (5,474,746 votes)
Colorado (9 electoral votes)
Mitt Romney 47% (1,100,186 votes)
Barack Obama 51% (1,199,142 votes)
Connecticut (7 electoral votes)
Mitt Romney 41% (567,679 votes)
Barack Obama 58% (815,227 votes)
Delaware (3 electoral votes)
Mitt Romney 40% (165,476 votes)
Barack Obama 59% (242,547 votes)
District of Columbia (3 electoral votes)
Mitt Romney 7% (17,337 votes)
Barack Obama 91% (222,332 votes)
Florida (29 electoral votes)
Mitt Romney 49% (4,083,321 votes)
Barack Obama 50% (4,129,360 votes)
Georgia (16 electoral votes)
Mitt Romney 53% (2,054,373 votes)
Barack Obama 45% (1,745,283 votes)
Hawaii (4 electoral votes)
Mitt Romney 28% (119,494 votes)
Barack Obama 70% (303,090 votes)
Idaho (4 electoral votes)
Mitt Romney 65% (375,417 votes)
Barack Obama 32% (182,505 votes)
Illinois (20 electoral votes)
Mitt Romney 41% (2,087,366 votes)
Barack Obama 57% (2,912,872 votes)
Indiana (11 electoral votes)
Mitt Romney 54% (1,407,195 votes)
Barack Obama 44% (1,134,577 votes)
Iowa (6 electoral votes)
Mitt Romney 46% (727,545 votes)
Barack Obama 52% (816,174 votes)
Kansas (6 electoral votes)
Mitt Romney 60% (671,154 votes)
Barack Obama 38% (425,383 votes)
Kentucky (8 electoral votes)
Mitt Romney 61% (1,086,970 votes)
Barack Obama 38% (679,105 votes)
Louisiana (8 electoral votes)
Mitt Romney 59% (1,149,054 votes)
Barack Obama 40% (781,733 votes)
Maine (4 electoral votes)
Mitt Romney 40% (230,048 votes)
Barack Obama 56% (321,017 votes)
Maryland (10 electoral votes)
Mitt Romney 37% (894,718 votes)
Barack Obama 61% (1,480,976 votes)
Massachusetts (11 electoral votes)
Mitt Romney 37% (1,115,559 votes)
Barack Obama 61% (1,813,580 votes)
Michigan (16 electoral votes)
Mitt Romney 46% (2,041,969 votes)
Barack Obama 54% (2,398,517 votes)
Minnesota (10 electoral votes)
Mitt Romney 45% (1,312,426 votes)
Barack Obama 53% (1,536,520 votes)
Mississippi (6 electoral votes)
Mitt Romney 55% (661,056 votes)
Barack Obama 44% (521,036 votes)
Missouri (10 electoral votes)
Mitt Romney 54% (1,478,961 votes)
Barack Obama 44% (1,215,031 votes)
Montana (3 electoral votes)
Mitt Romney 55% (236,677 votes)
Barack Obama 42% (180,259 votes)
Nebraska (5 electoral votes)
Mitt Romney 61% (462,972 votes)
Barack Obama 38% (289,154 votes)
Nevada (6 electoral votes)
Mitt Romney 46% (462,422 votes)
Barack Obama 52% (528,801 votes)
New Hampshire (4 electoral votes)
Mitt Romney 47% (300,241 votes)
Barack Obama 52% (335,004 votes)
New Jersey (14 electoral votes)
Mitt Romney 41% (1,356,792 votes)
Barack Obama 58% (1,916,190 votes)
New Mexico (5 electoral votes)
Mitt Romney 43% (330,863 votes)
Barack Obama 53% (407,111 votes)
New York (29 electoral votes)
Mitt Romney 36% (2,204,525 votes)
Barack Obama 63% (3,844,883 votes)
North Carolina (15 electoral votes)
Mitt Romney 51% (2,272,506 votes)
Barack Obama 48% (2,175,670 votes)
North Dakota (3 electoral votes)
Mitt Romney 59% (187,586 votes)
Barack Obama 39% (124,490 votes)
Ohio (18 electoral votes)
Mitt Romney 48% (2,571,539 votes)
Barack Obama 50% (2,672,302 votes)
Oklahoma (7 electoral votes)
Mitt Romney 67% (888,844 votes)
Barack Obama 33% (442,359 votes)
Oregon (7 electoral votes)
Mitt Romney 44% (641,965 votes)
Barack Obama 53% (779,964 votes)
Pennsylvania (20 electoral votes)
Mitt Romney 47% (2,610,385 votes)
Barack Obama 52% (2,894,079 votes)
Rhode Island (4 electoral votes)
Mitt Romney 35% (146,395 votes)
Barack Obama 63% (262,464 votes)
South Carolina (9 electoral votes)
Mitt Romney 55% (1,005,870 votes)
Barack Obama 44% (799,026 votes)
South Dakota (3 electoral votes)
Mitt Romney 58% (210,539 votes)
Barack Obama 40% (144,983 votes)
Tennessee (11 electoral votes)
Mitt Romney 59% (1,450,595 votes)
Barack Obama 39% (951,406 votes)
Texas (38 electoral votes)
Mitt Romney 57% (4,542,012 votes)
Barack Obama 41% (3,285,200 votes)
Utah (6 electoral votes)
Mitt Romney 73% (670,394 votes)
Barack Obama 25% (229,271 votes)
Vermont (3 electoral votes)
Mitt Romney 31% (87,966 votes)
Barack Obama 67% (189,301 votes)
Virginia (13 electoral votes)
Mitt Romney 48% (1,745,397 votes)
Barack Obama 51% (1,852,123 votes)
Washington (12 electoral votes)
Mitt Romney 43% (822,611 votes)
Barack Obama 55% (1,062,561 votes)
West Virginia (5 electoral votes)
Mitt Romney 62% (412,406 votes)
Barack Obama 35% (234,985 votes)
Wisconsin (10 electoral votes)
Mitt Romney 46% (1,397,888 votes)
Barack Obam 53% (1,599,656 votes)
Wyoming (3 electoral votes)
Mitt Romney 69% (170,259 votes)
Barack Obama 28% (68,779 votes)
Voting results election 2012
An electronic voting machine in Pennsylvania has been removed from service after it changed votes for Barack Obama into those for Mitt Romney.
An 18-second clip posted onto YouTube shows a voter’s finger repeatedly pressing the button for Barack Obama, but the check mark instead comes up next to Mitt Romney’s name.
This is the latest in a flurry of voting glitches across the country today from West Palm Beach in Florida where ballot counting machines broke down, to vast swathes of New Jersey where text alert systems for residents sent them to the wrong polling stations.
In comments attached to the clip, the anonymous user named “centralpavote” said that “all the other buttons worked fine” and asked voters either side if they were experiencing similar problems – which they denied.
NBC News has reported that since the clip was posted to Reddit this morning, it spread across the Internet and the offending machine has been retired from service.
The video which was filmed on the YouTube users Android phone shows the potentially serious malfunction affect only a vote for the incumbent president.
A vote for any other of the candidates for the presidency and vice presidency resulted in a successful choice – it was only a vote for Barack Obama that caused the machine to change to Mitt Romney.
An electronic voting machine in Pennsylvania has been removed from service after it changed votes for Barack Obama into those for Mitt Romney
“I initially selected Obama but Romney was highlighted,” said “centralpavote” on the introduction to his video on YouTube.
“I assumed it was being picky so I deselected Romney and tried Obama again, this time more carefully, and still got Romney.
“Being a software developer, I immediately went into troubleshoot mode.
“I first thought the calibration was off and tried selecting Jill Stein to actually highlight Obama. Nope. Jill Stein was selected just fine.
“Next I deselected her and started at the top of Romney’s name and started tapping very closely together to find the <<active areas>>.
“From the top of Romney’s button down to the bottom of the black checkbox beside Obama’s name was all active for Romney.
“From the bottom of that same checkbox to the bottom of the Obama button (basically a small white sliver) is what let me choose Obama.
“Stein’s button was fine. All other buttons worked fine.”
The voter reported the problem to an electoral official who declared it a non issue.
“I then called over a volunteer to have a look at it,” said “centralpavote”.
“She him hawed (sic) for a bit then calmly said <<It’s nothing to worry about, everything will be OK>>. and went back to what she was doing.
“I then recorded this video.”
However, far from evidence of electoral fraud, experts have weighed in with the theory that this is a calibration problem specific to the machine.
“It’s a concern but not because of fraud… that’s an obviously miscalibrated iVotronic (ES&S) voting machine,” said Jospeh Lorenzo Hall, Senior Staff Technologist at the Center for Democracy & Technology to Gawker.
“We would recommend that poll workers would recalibrate the machine and everything would be fine.
“Also, with some models of voting system if you place a thumb on accident while resting on the machine it can <<bias>> the calibration of the touchscreen up towards the errant thumb.
“That could be happening to, if it’s only for this one voter.”
Further controversy over voting continued at a polling place in a Philadelphia school where workers ignored a judge’s order to cover a mural of President Barack Obama “in its entirety”.
The art work which is positioned behind voting machines contains the words “change!” and “hope” together with a quote from the president and a painting of him.
However, electoral poll workers only covered up the mural with three pieces of paper – leaving the Obama logo and quote from the serving president in full view of all prospective voters.
Seeing an attempt to influence the votes of those attending the polling place in Ward 35, Republicans were outraged.
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The final voting precincts on the west coast won’t even begin to be tallied until early Wednesday morning, but the election could be decided much earlier than that.
Polls begin to close at 6:00 p.m. Eastern Time, and results will flood in not long thereafter. Whichever candidate reaches 270 electoral college votes wins the White House.
Crucially, Barack Obama won each of the swing states listed below in 2008.
7:00 p.m.: Virginia is the first battleground state to close its polls. Barack Obama has a slight lead in most recent polls, but the state is essentially a tossup. The president won the state in 2008 by 6.3% – but Mitt Romney has made it essential to his election strategy. If he wins Virginia, and its 13 electoral votes, it will confirm that the national race is as tight as everyone believed it to be. If Barack Obama wins, Mitt Romney’s chances of taking the White House become narrower.
Polls begin to close in North Carolina, as well. Barack Obama won the state by a narrow margin in 2008, though a strong rightward swing in the last four years means Romney has a large advantage.
7:30 p.m.: Polls close in Ohio – the most important swing state in the nation. This is a must-win for Mitt Romney. If he cannot take Ohio, with 18 electoral votes, he will have to win nearly every other swing state in the country. No Republican has ever won the presidency without Ohio. If Barack Obama loses Ohio, his chances of winning reelection become significantly smaller. Watch the Cincinnati metro area – which is perhaps the most important region of the state for determining the overall outcome. Barack Obama won Ohio by 5.4% in 2008.
It is important to note that Barack Obama is likely to take an early lead in Ohio as early voters are counted first. Polls show he leads among people who cast their ballots before Election Day.
The final voting precincts on the west coast won’t even begin to be tallied until early Wednesday morning, but the election could be decided much earlier than that
8:00 p.m.: Florida, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania close their polls.
Florida is another essential state for Mitt Romney, though it is less important to Obama’s strategy. With 29 electoral votes, Florida is the largest swing state in the country. Mitt Romney has a 1.5-point advantage, though both candidates have fought hard for it. However, don’t expect rapid results from the Sunshine state. Ballots in Florida are long and voting lines are expected to be even longer – meaning it could be hours before results are tabulated.
Pennsylvania, 20 electoral votes, is heavily leaning in Barack Obama’s favor, but Mitt Romney has fought hard to reduce the Democratic lead.
New Hampshire has just four electoral votes, but both candidates have visited multiple times. Barack Obama holds and edge in the polls, but Mitt Romney owns a house in the Granite State and was governor of neighboring Massachusetts.
9:00 p.m.: Wisconsin and Colorado polls close.
Colorado isn’t a big catch, with nine electoral votes, but it’s a major test of Barack Obama’s support among Hispanic voters. Both candidates have campaigned heavily here and Barack Obama has a narrow lead in recent polls.
A Mitt Romney win in Wisconsin would be hugely symbolic. With ten electoral votes, the state has not gone for a Republican since Ronald Reagan in 1984. However, Vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan hails from Wisconsin and the divisive Republican Gov Scott Walker recently survived a recall election. Polls show Barack Obama has a four-point lead in polls.
10:00 p.m.: Iowa and Nevada, the last of the swing states, close their polls.
Iowa has just six electoral votes, but it’s important to Barack Obama – it’s the state where his presidential campaign began in 2008. The president currently leads here, though it’s a traditionally white, working-class state with a largely rural electorate – all Mitt Romney’s strong points.
Nevada, also six electoral votes, is the westernmost swing state. Barack Obama leads here in polls, as well, though the economy has been badly battered by the housing crisis and unemployment is more than 11% – much higher than the rest of the nation.
Chrysler gave all 55,000 of its employees the day off work on Election Day and urged them to go vote – a move that is likely to help President Barack Obama, since most employees are members of the heavily Democratic United Autoworkers union.
The automaker, which received a $6.6 billion government bailout under Obama’s presidency, has been at odds with Republican Mitt Romney after he accused the company of shipping jobs to China.
Voting has now opened in all 50 states and millions of Americans are standing in long lines to cast their ballots. Hawaii, which opened their polls at noon Eastern Time (7:00 a.m. local time), was the last to begin.
It’s impossible to tell yet what voter turnout for the pivotal presidential election will be – but throngs of Americans are already showing up. In Florida, some voters are reporting waiting in line for up to three and a half hours. Waits in other states were more than an hour before 10:00 a.m. and likely to grow only longer as the day progressed.
Thousands of voters turned out before dawn, hoping to cast their ballots before heading to work. Polls opened at 6:30 a.m. in Ohio, which is perhaps the most important state in this year’s neck-and-neck election. In Virginia and New Hampshire – two other pivotal states – voters began lining up before 6:00 a.m.
Chrysler gave all 55,000 of its employees the day off work on Election Day and urged them to go vote
Ralph Gilles, Chrysler’s vice president for product design, announced on Twitter that the company was shutting down for the day.
“Chrysler gave its entire work force the day off to Vote Today! Let’s go! #America,” he wrote.
Mitt Romney ran an ad in Ohio last month claiming that Chrysler was planning to build its Jeep SUVs in China. The company strenuously denied those claims and Ralph Giles even tweeted: “You are full of s***!” when Donald Trump repeated Mitt Romney’s allegation.
Ralph Gilles pointed out that all UAW workers already had the day off – a perk the union has negotiated for the last 15 years. Chrysler, which is owned by Italian car company Fiat, only extended the policy to its non-union employees.
Mitt Romney and his wife Ann showed up together at their local polling station in Belmont, Massachusetts, outside Boston, to cast their ballots early Tuesday. Vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan was seen at the polls in Wisconsin with his family.
CBS has quietly released an interview with President Barack Obama which was filmed one day after the attack on the U.S. embassy in Benghazi – and in which he refuses to call the incident an act of terrorism.
The footage, released seven weeks after it was filmed, shows Barack Obama contradicting himself yet again on the attack that left ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans dead.
When exactly Barack Obama called the September 11 al Qaeda attack in Libya “terrorism” has become an increasingly contentious area of debate – and the interview throws doubt on the president’s previous and later claims.
At the second presidential debate in October, Barack Obama claimed he had first called the incident an act of terrorism during his Rose Garden speech just hours after the attack.
But the newly-released footage, filmed 12 hours after the Rose Garden appearance, shows he was still apprehensive about the label.
“Mr. President, this morning you went out of your way to avoid the use of the word terrorism in connection with the Libya Attack, do you believe that this was a terrorism attack?” interviewer Steve Kroft asked in the 60 Minutes interview.
“Well it’s too early to tell exactly how this came about, what group was involved,” he responded.
“But obviously it was an attack on Americans. And we are going to be working with the Libyan government to make sure that we bring these folks to justice, one way or the other.”
Obama refuses to call Libyan embassy attack an act of terrorism during 60 Minutes interview
Steve Kroft continued: “It’s been described as a mob action, but there are reports that they were very heavily armed with grenades, that doesn’t sound like your normal demonstration.”
Barack Obama responded: “As I said, we’re still investigating exactly what happened, I don’t want to jump the gun on this… And my suspicion is there are folks involved in this. Who were looking to target Americans from the start.”
The interview previously aired on October 19, but this section was edited out, Bret Baier reported on Fox. CBS only released this footage on Sunday – more than seven weeks after the interview.
The network even failed to offer it up when questions were raised during the presidential debate over whether he had called the attack terrorism before blaming it on rallies against an anti-Islamic film.
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Barack Obama won election in Hart’s Location, one of two tiny New Hampshire villages that get to cast the first votes of the presidential race on Election Day.
Barack Obama won with 23 votes, Mitt Romney received 9 and Libertarian Gary Johnson received 1 vote.
In 2008, Barack Obama received 17 of the 29 votes cast.
Barack Obama won election in Hart’s Location, one of two tiny New Hampshire villages that get to cast the first votes of the presidential race on Election Day
President Obama and Mitt Romney tied in Dixville Notch, the other New Hampshire town that enjoys first-vote status.
Each candidate received five votes – the first tie in Dixville Notch history.
In 2008, Barack Obama received 15 of the 21 votes cast.
The towns have proudly held their first-vote status since 1948.
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