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VICTORIOUS: President Obama takes the stage with First Lady Michelle and their daughters, Malia (left) and Sasha, before delivering his victory speech in Chicago last night.
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A jubilant Obama greeted his supporters in Chicago early this morning.
“While our journey has been long, we have picked ourselves up, we have crawled our way back, and we know in our hearts for the United States of America the best is yet to come,” Obama told a screaming crowd of about 10,000 supporters.
Obama said he congratulated Romney on a “hard-fought campaign,” and said he looked forward to sitting down with his Republican rival “to talk about where we can work together to move this country forward.”
After a bitter campaign, Romney was gracious in defeat.
“This is a time of great challenges for America and I pray that the president will be successful in guiding our nation,” Romney said as he conceded to his disappointed supporters in Boston.
Romney appealed for bipartisanship, while avoiding mention of his campaign agenda of repealing ObamaCare and tackling the nation’s soaring debt.
“At a time like this, we can’t risk partisan bickering and political posturing,” Romney said, praising running mate Paul Ryan for his “commitment to principle” and thanking his wife, Ann. “Like so many of you, Paul and I have left everything on the field,” he said.
Obama defeated Romney in all but one of the battleground states, rolling up wins in Ohio, Virginia, and Colorado — states that Obama had snatched from Republicans in his historic 2008 victory.
That put Obama’s expected electoral vote margin at a lopsided 303-206, with Florida still outstanding.
The count was well past the 270 electoral votes needed to win, with more states to be counted early today.
The win in Ohio — this year’s hardest-fought prize — sealed Obama’s victory, causing supporters at his campaign-watch party in Chicago to erupt into cheers.
In the Midwest industrial states of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Iowa — all strong union states where Obama and Vice President Joe Biden visited time and again over four years—a majority of state votes turned back Romney’s call for “real change” and opted to bank on Obama’s promise to “fight for you.”
Throughout the contest’s final weeks, Obama campaigned across the industrial Midwest, slamming Romney for opposing the auto bailout.
The president also assembled a sophisticated ground game to turn out votes, as he and Romney both assembled well lubricated financial machines — each raising about $1 billion as their allies threw in even more cash.
Obama’s campaign and affiliated outside groups hammered Romney for his time running Bain Capital, and the president called his rival a “pioneer” of outsourcing.
Romney hit back by pointing to the nation’s slow recovery and calling for change, saying the country can’t afford “four more years like the last four years.”
In battleground Florida, where both camps fought vigorously, Obama was on the verge of victory, leading 50-49, with 92 percent of precincts reporting.
Obama kept together his demographic coalition of minorities, women, and young voters, who responded to his nonstop invocations on the stump of immigration rights, women’s health and gaymarriage.
And he hung on to massive support from black voters. Exit polls showed 93 percent of African Americans backing Obama, nearly matching the 95 percent support black voters gave him in his historic 2008 election.
Obama prevailed for a second term despite presiding over a painfully slow economic recovery and stubborn high joblessness, issues that were still a top concern of voters as they cast their ballots yesterday, exit polls shows.
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