After calling the state of Ohio for President Obama, NBC, CNN, CBS and others are predicting that he has won re-election. "This happened because of you. Thank you," Obama tweeted at 11:14 p.m. ET.
From NBC:
One after another, crucial states that had been deemed toss-ups before Election Day fell into the president’s hands: Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, New Hampshire, Iowa. With each Obama win, the path to victory for Romney got narrower and more demanding.
Finally, the results in Ohio put Obama over the top, handing him the Electoral College swing votes he needed to remain at the reins of a divided and anxious nation. Ohio has sided with the winning candidate in every presidential election since 1960.
For full Decision 2012 coverage, visit NBCNews.com.
So many people turned out to vote Tuesday that several crucial states, including Florida and Virginia, remained open after closing to accommodate the people who waited in long lines that snaked from the doors of polling places.
Obama, the country’s first black president who won election in 2008 on a promise of hope and change, triumphed this time with a starkly different message: asking voters to stick with him as he continues trying to fix the economy and improve America’s standing in the world.
He survived a long, punishing, exorbitant race against former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney that highlighted two contrasting visions of the country. Where Romney emphasized the need to lower taxes, relax federal regulations and cut government spending, Obama promised to raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans and deploy government’s help in pulling the country out of the economic doldrums.
Obama’s win also means that his signature piece of legislation, the over haul of the country’s health-care system, will remain law.