US election 2012: Obama wins second term – as it happened
This article is more than 11 years old
Obama declared president after results pile up President takes key swing state of Ohio and Iowa Maryland and Maine pass same-sex marriage ballot measures Romney congratulates Obama in Boston concession speech
People watch election results in Times Square after television networks called the election in favor of President Barack Obama. Photograph: John Moore/Getty Images Photograph: John Moore/Getty Images
People watch election results in Times Square after television networks called the election in favor of President Barack Obama. Photograph: John Moore/Getty Images Photograph: John Moore/Getty Images
So there we have it, a wonderful night for the Democrats, especially if Michele Bachmann loses as it seems she might, the icing on a large election cake that saw Obama re-elected and the Democratic party increase its hold on the Senate.
"I'm not talking about blind optimism," says Obama, who is delivering a cracker of a speech here in Chicago tonight, some of it taken straight from that 2004 convention speech that launched his career.
"it doesn't matter if you are black or white ... gay or straight," says Obama, getting a big cheer for that last one, on a night when same-sex marriage get thumbs up from voters.
It's a strong finish, again reminiscent of that famous 2004 speech, but this one is delivered with more passion.
And that's it, an avalanche of confetti comes raining down from an unseen machine, and the Obama and Biden families embrace on stage.
Obama has moved on to address America's political divisions, saying that "big decisions" necessarily stir big passions, and that isn't a bad thing:
Despite all our differences, most of us share certain hopes for America. We want out children to have the best schools and the best teachers.
We believe in a tolerant America, says Obama. "As it has for more than two centuries, progress will come with fits and starts," and he calls for "difficult compromises".
"Whether I earned your vote or not, I have listened to you," saying that he returns to the White House "more inspired than ever about the future and the work that lies ahead."
After sketching out the things he wants to do, Obama stops and says that what makes America is "the bonds that holds together the diverse nation on earth," which only works if people recognise their shared responsibility – a theme of his campaign speeches.
President re-elect Barack Obama walks on stage in Chicago to the sound of Signed, Sealed, Delivered – and the crowd goes wild.
"Tonight, more than 200 years after a former colony won the right to determine it's own destiny," says Obama, starting off with an anti-British note:
Tonight, in the election, you the American people reminds us that while the road has been long, the journey has been hard, we have picked ourselves. And we know in our hearts, the best is yet to come.
"Whether you voted for the very first time, or you waited in line for a very long time," says Obama pausing, before saying: "We have got to fix that." Now there's something worth reforming.
Now some kind words about Mitt Romney. "In the weeks ahead I also look forward to sitting down with Governor Romney and talk about how we can move this country forward," says Obama. Treasury Secretary Romney? Just kidding.
And then it's words for the family, starting with Michelle: "Let me say this publicly: I have never loved you more."
As for Sasha and Malia, Obama says: "I am very proud of you both, but I will say this now: one dog is probably enough." (The joke there being that he had promised them a dog if he won the election in 2008, hence Bo, the First Dog.)
The reaction from Israel continues, as the Guardian's Harriet Sherwood reports on comments from US ambassador Dan Shapiro today:
Dan Shapiro, the US ambassador to Israel, at an early morning forum in Tel Aviv, spoke of an "unfortunate and ridiculous notion that there's now going to be some deterioration in this relationship [between Obama and Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanhyahu]. This is not how President Obama thinks, not how he acts, not how he governs. He will be focused exclusively on US interests - and one of those is an extremely close alliance with Israel."
Mitt Romney, his wife Ann and family walk off of stage after his concession speech in Boston. Photograph: Alex Wong/Getty Images Photograph: Alex Wong/Getty Images
So the losing Republican candidate takes the stage in Boston. "This is a time of great challenges for America and I pray that the president is successful in guiding our nation," says Mitt Romney.
Then there's a lot of praise for Paul Ryan, and his wife Ann. "She would have been a wonderful first lady," Romney says in exactly the same tone of voice that he gives his normal campaign speech.
When the camera pulls back we can see what a grandiose set the Romney campaign had prepared here.
"I believe in America, I believe in the people of America," says Romney, which is nice.
But that's about it, this is a short number from Romney, never an inspiring speaker as he proves once again. And we'll never have to hear another speech from him again.
Journalist and campaigner Jose Antonio Vargas says Obama's victory can be attributed in part to a fired-up Latino base.
Obama's demographic gamble – as Politico, the cradle of inside-the-Beltway conventional wisdom, called it – has paid off. The president's decision to grant temporary legal status to undocumented youth in early summer fired up the Latino electorate, who were critical in the president's winning coalition.
In the coming weeks and months, Latinos will expect the president to follow through on his promise for immigration reform. As Obama told the Des Moines Register: "I will just be very blunt. Should I win a second term, a big reason I will win a second term is because the Republican nominee and the Republican Party have so alienated the fastest-growing demographic group in the country, the Latino community," he said.
For most Latino voters, immigration is only second to the economy as their chief concern, according to Latino Vote 2012, which is analyzing and aggregating the vote in states with a sizable Hispanic vote.
Furthermore, a majority of Latino voters say they personally know someone who is undocumented – people who Mitt Romney consistently called "illegals" during the primary and general campaign. In the past two years, Romney in particular and the Republicans in general have alienated the fastest growing electorate.
Well, well, well: Michele Bachmann's lead in the sixth Minnesota congressional district has shrunk to just 206 votes, with 61% of precincts reporting.
Bachmann's mood may not be helped by Minnesota's voters shooting down a proposed amendment to the state constitution defining marriage as only between a man and a woman.
Here's two amazing firsts: Maine and Maryland voters both approve measures to legalise same-sex marriage.
That's notable because in the previous 28 attempts to establish or defend a right to marriage equality through referendums, the same-sex marriage side had lost.
Guardian video producer Laurence Topham captures the moment when Barack Obama's supporters in Chicago learned that he was projected to win a second term as president.
Through the thick window panes of the Guardian's Washington DC bureau, you can hear cheering and shouting as the crowds gather outside the White House in celebration.
Nate Silver – yes, him – is brought down to his NYT work station on a gilded palanquin, and his words are transcribed by flunkies, in which he schools poor old Karl Roveon the subject of Ohio's outstanding votes:
The votes counted so far in Ohio show an extraordinarily close race, with President Obama only about 1,000 ballots ahead of Mitt Romney as of 11.50pm.
But the vast bulk of precincts that have yet to report their results in Ohio are in counties that have gone for Mr. Obama.
Cuyahoga County, home to Cleveland, has had only half of its precincts report and could yield another 100,000 votes or so for Mr. Obama.
Toledo’s Lucas County, which has strongly favored Mr. Obama so far, has had only 12% of its precincts report.
There are also votes outstanding in the Cleveland suburbs, and in Dayton, also areas that have gone for Mr. Obama so far. Conversely, the vast majority of areas where Mr Romney leads have reported 100% of their ballots.
Remember how earlier today, Mitt Romney said he hadn't written a concession speech? Well, that now appears to be an oversight.
Still it can't be hard to write a concession speech, right? He could take a lead from John Major's 1997 concession speech in Britain, which began: "So, we lost."
Romney crowd in Boston booing Candy Crowley. "It's all your fault!" one guy chants
Is it about to be done and dusted? Karl Rove is still arguing the toss with Michael Barone about the Ohio call on Fox News, with Barone saying that half of Cuyahoga County is still out and likely to swamp the remaining Republican vote.
Rove seems to have back tracked somewhat and claiming that "oh well if I'd seen those numbers... I was just raising a cautionary note."
In Boston, Jonathan Freedland sees movement:
They're handing out little flags in the Boston ballroom. Could that be a sign a Romney speech is coming?
This seals it, Karl Rove's maths-spinning objections in Ohio notwithstanding: AP has awarded Colorado to Obama, and ABC and CBS have called Nevada for Obama.
Florida, Virginia, take your sweet time counting your votes.
The Empire State Building is lit blue after Obama wins the presidential election on election night. Photograph: Allison Joyce/Getty Images Photograph: Allison Joyce/Getty Images
Supporters of US president Barack Obama celebrate victory in Chicago, Illinois. Photograph: Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images Photograph: ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images
An amendment that would make it legal in Colorado for individuals to possess and for businesses to sell marijuana for recreational use has passed.
The Denver Post made the call at approximately 9.15pm.
Amendment 64 led with 52.7% voting yes and 47.3% voting no, with 1,507,746 votes or more than 50 percent of active voters counted, according to the Colorado Secretary of State's office. The office said 25 counties had reported.
And they are back on Fox News and Karl Rove is still banging on, running through all sorts of numbers that who knows what they mean, but he is claiming that Ohio was still close to call.
Oh now he is channeling "the Romney people", which is interesting. So is that where he's getting all this from? Funny how he has all these statistics at his fingertips.
By the way, the Associated Press, CBS, NBC, ABC and CNN have also called Ohio for Obama, so, uh.
What follows is truly bizarre: after Rove's fleck-marked objections, a presenter goes to the Fox News decision desk to interogate those statisticians responsible for the call. They defend their decision and basically say that there was no way Romney could win Ohio.
Meanwhile, it seems the Romney campaign are not about to concede.
I know this doesn't rank with Obama's re-election, but in North Dakota Heidi Heitkamp is leading in the US senate race there. If she wins, that will actually be the most extraordinary Democratic victory of the night, believe it or not.
Another shoe drops: CNN has gone out and projected Barack Obama to be the winner in Iowa.
Why is that interesting? Because it may be that if Obama's hold on Colorado is confirmed, and also takes Nevada as expected, then the fate of Ohio, Virginia and Florida.... hold on.
Meanwhile, Mitt Romney wins Missouri, as expected by everyone.
On Fox News, the content of the debate has now moved on to slagging off Barack Obama's second term. They know how to move the news agenda along at Fox.
And we have just gone past the point in time in 2008 when Barack Obama was declared winner of the US presidency. This time they are still voting in Florida, or something.
More big news and the Mitt Romney possible path to victory narrows again: if Colorado has gone, now Romney must take the big three remaining of Ohio, Virginia and Florida, and one of Iowa or Nevada.
Latest calls: California, Washington state and Hawaii are all to be won by Barack Obama. That's the sound of California's 55 big electoral college votes hitting the Obama bucket
The Republicans gathered in a suite at the Mile High stadium overlooking Denver are beginning to fear the worst. Shoulders slumping, fewer whoops, pleading expressions as they gaze at the giant monitor showing Fox News.
“Too close to call” – a phrase repeated ad nauseam across Colorado the past week – is now suddenly, in this room of 'With Mitt' stickers, is beginning to sound like an attempt to forestall something awful.
“If Obama wins ... phoo! I mean, the implications,” said Mike Enderle, 20, wearing a t-shirt with the word Gone in the Obama logo. “The spending, abortion, homosexuality a mandatory platform for schools to teach.”
The aptly named Narrow Gauge Country band, all cowboy boots and hats, is doing its best to raise spirits with rollicking numbers for “all you hardworking folks out there”.
The volume means you can't hear the TV so people glued to the ticker tape and graphics. A huge cheer went up when the crowd thought Romney had won Wisconsin, only for desolation to follow when it realised the mistake.
“I'm nervous but full of hope,” said Cathy Swartwood, 64, gazing at the screen. This has been her first campaign. “It's the first time I'm afraid for my country. Obama is taking us in the direction of socialism.”
The band now blasting out Living on Borrowed Time. Could turn out to be an anthem for this fragile party.
College student Paige McLoughlin, 19, of Parker, Colorado, talks over paperwork with an electoral official before voting. Photograph: Brennan Linsley/AP Photograph: Brennan Linsley/AP
That's huge. Mitt Romney is in the political equivalent of sudden death: lose one more big state and he's done. So this call that he wins North Carolina merely keeps him alive.
So here is the thing: if Mitt Romney is to win the presidency he has to draw the poker equivalent of a straight flush: a perfect hand.
Romney has to take all four of Ohio and Florida and Virginia and North Carolina. Individually, none of that is extraordinary. But if he makes one slip, he's done.
Then on top of that he needs one further smaller state to take him over the top. There are only three of those left in the pot: Colorado, Iowa and Nevada (there are some other combinations but they are even less likely).
To be clear: it is not impossible for Romney to still win. But the vote totals in almost all of these states are really close.
So the big five – Ohio, Florida, Virginia, North Carolina – are still outstanding and too close to call, as are the minnows of Colorado, Iowa and Nevada.
Florida tightening again. Folks, we're heading for a recount at this pace
ABC and CBS has now called Minnesota for Barack Obama. Assuming that holds up, then David Axelrod's moustache is safe. The senior strategist had pledged to shave it off in ridiculing Republican claims to have a shot at Minnesota.
Hey, the Republicans have actually won something tonight: in the Nebraska senate race, Deb Fischer has beaten Bob Kerrey. That's Ben Nelson's old seat, so that's a Democratic loss.
Jonathan Freedland finds things getting interesting at the Mitt Romney "victory party" in Boston, as the event enters its "sad loser" phase:
There's a slightly manic quality here in Boston, with mood swings by the half hour. The last few minutes have dashed spirits a tad, as the big screens bring either confirmed news or strong expectations that New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Florida are going to Obama.
Ask them directly and most of the crowd here will say they still believe Romney can win – but they say it with little conviction. And yet there was a period, about 40 minutes ago when they were feeling more upbeat, reckoning they might just snatch Florida, Virginia and North Carolina as well as perhaps Ohio They were particularly lifted when Bob McDonnell, the governor of Virginia, said he expected to see Romney win his state "in a couple of hours."
Still, it's a pretty curious party – people nursing a glass, watching a big TV screen and feeling glum save for the odd interlude of fantasy and hope.
Not close, it seems, but Claire McCaskill has held on to her Senate seat, as the voters of Missouri rejected Todd Akin – because a state has a way of shutting that down.
In case you were wondering, for Mitt Romney to win the presidential election from this point, he has to win each of Florida, Ohio, Virginia, North Carolina, Iowa and Colorado.
Back with Jim Newell with Republicans in swing-state Virginia.
The good news is that the many, many Northern Virginia Republicans who showed up for tonight's Arlington County GOP watch party seem to be having fun. Even with the bad news trickling in-- the tighter-than-hoped-for race in Florida, the losses in Michigan and Pennsylvania, and, of course, the continuing gridlock in the Old Dominion that likely won't be resolved until forever – people are schmoozing politely and drinking all too responsibly, considering.
Oh, but what was that, Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly – the Republicans will retain the House? That announcement just aired and, while completely expected, it still earned a hearty cheer through Arlington's Ri Ra Irish Pub.
There are five enormous televisions here, all tuned to Fox News. Perhaps this plays a role in the unusually lively atmosphere here, as the race is still being treated as a toss-up. And it's not over, yet. But whether you loved or hated political science forecasting heading into tonight, it's clearly no longer a toss-up.
And there goes Wisconsin, we're told. "The firewall is holding up?" a fellow sitting across from from us proclaims asks, bewildered, before ordering fish 'n' chips.
The Arlington County GOP is hosting this party along with its affiliates in the local College Republicans and various other nearby demographic subchapters. But it's not reserved for members only. Arlington County is not a GOP stronghold, so anyone who can make it here appears to have made it.
Jeff, from New Jersey, and Dave, from Florida, both moved to Arlington two weeks ago and have already managed to locate their nearby brothers in ideology for tonight's festivities. Jeff, like 100% of people in Northern Virginia, started a new job with a defense contractor – an industry that has loudly and almost solely focused its ire this election season at those lawmakers who would allow the impending sequestration to cut deeply into the defense budget, lest Congress acts. That's a lot of money and a lot of jobs at stake, to be sure.
(Jeff adds, while discussing the Democratic party, that using big government to create jobs is not the way the economy should work.)
Dave, who works in finance, agrees: only one party, the one throwing this Irish pub election fete, rewards risktaking. It's the only way to run an economy, and Romney was the embodiment of this. His problem was largely "PR." His people "behind the scenes" could've presented him in a less ruthless light, and much earlier.
Fox News just called New Hampshire for President Obama. No one seems disappointed. How many are still watching?
Rep Eric Cantor and his wife Diana wave to the crowd at the Republican Party of Virginia post election event at the Omni Hotel in Richmond, Virginia. Photograph: Clement Britt/AP Photograph: Clement Britt/AP
Guardian commentator Glenn Greenwald calls out Fox host Bill O'Reilly for race-baiting:
This evening on Fox News, long-time anchor Bill O'Reilly, explaining why Obama was doing better in the voting than he anticipated, unleashed one of the most nakedly racist outbursts heard on national television by a prominent commentator. After first claiming that "50 percent of the people... want stuff" and thus vote for Obama because he gives it to them, O'Reilly added:
"Obama wins because it's not a traditional America anymore. The white establishment is the minority. People want things."
In other words, now that the majority in America is no longer white, the majority are lazy, dependent and eager for free government handouts. That is the type of commentary one would hear in the swamps of white supremacist websites. Even for Fox News, this is toxic and repellent.
Bill O'Reilly, commentator at the Fox News Channel, photographed in New York City. Photograph: Dennis Kleiman/Retna Ltd./Corbis Photograph: Dennis Kleiman / Retna Ltd./ Dennis Kleiman / Retna Ltd./Retna Ltd./Corbis
Fox News and CBS have called New Hampshire for Barack Obama – another blow there for Mitt Romney, whose path to victory is starting to crumble into a narrow cliff.
Huge news for the Democratic party in the Senate: several networks are calling Elizabeth Warren as the winner in Massachusetts, unseating Scott Brown, and Joe Donnelly has defeated Richard Mourdock in Indiana. That's two GOP seats turned blue.
Who had an increased Democratic senate majority in the betting pool?
A number of outlets have been taken in by some false reports that NBC had called the Massachusetts senate race for Elizabeth Warren. Ezra Klein of the Washington Post had to apologise:
I got taken in by a Twitter rumor that NBC has called MA for Warren. It hasn't. My apologies.
It's easy to get caught up in the swirl of social media. But it's also alarming that reputable news outlets would repeat second-hand information that's so easily checkable. If NBC had called MA for Warren, it would have been all over MSNBC, its own Twitter feed, and website.
The Guardian's US political commentator Ana Marie Cox has been watching Fox News so you don't have to.
So we come to the part of the evening when the Fox crew must grapple with Virginia not falling neatly into the Romney column. THEY HAD FEELINGS THAT IT WOULD. And now the feelings are hurt.
Tucker Carlson, who is a friend and I suspect also some kind of performance artist, points out — correctly! — that there are a lot of blacks in Virginia! Also in Pennsylvania. He makes this point, too: ”There’s something what went basically unnoticed by the press and that was the Obama campaign making a push of social issues, particularly abortion, and that seems to have worked. I don’t recall seeing a single national TV show taking on abortion.” Later: “If you were a voter in a white, working class state, you had no idea that they were running a campaign based on abortion!”
Dana Perino concurred: Yes, abortion was a thing for Obama, a topic “which NOBODY on the Republican side was bringing up as an issue.” Unless they were were talking about rape, of course.
Yes, this was definitely A SECRET OBAMA PLAN. Not a part of his stump speech or anything. There definitely weren’t ads. Not in, say, a white, working class state such as Missouri. Hey, remind me: Was abortion an issue in the race there?
If Tucker is correct, then we need a new category: no-information voters.
Here's a good omen for the Ohio result: Democratic incumbent Sherrod Brown has won re-election, as the polls forecast. Can he drag now Obama over the finish line with his coat-tails?
The Guardian's Chris McGreal is at the official GOP party in Florida. The race there is very, very tight and the Republicans are obviously not in the mood to party.
The official Republican Party of Florida victory party isn't exactly hopping. It booked the ballroom of a five star Tampa hotel and a few score have drifted in but no one of great import. We're told the Republican state governor, Rick Scott, won't be turning up because he's busy keeping an eye on things from the capital, Tallahassee. Which must make the Democrats nervous with the results that are coming in from Florida incredibly tight.
The crowd lets up a half-hearted cheer every time Fox News announced Mitt Romney is projected to win a state he was expected to win. But the results from Florida are nerve-wracking for Romney's supporters, with their man swapping fractional leads with the president with more than half the vote counted.
They realise that if Romney can't take Florida he's probably finished.. But even if he does by a fraction, then it doesn't bode well for other swing states when Florida was the one where Romney was supposed to be confident of victory.
An attendee watches election results at the 2012 election night reception sponsored by the Republican Party of Florida. Photograph: Edward Linsmier/Getty Images Photograph: Edward Linsmier/Getty Images
Among those at the party is Patricia Packer, wearing a red trilby. She says she voted for JFK in 1960. One of the reasons she supporting Romney is that she knew him when they both lived in Michigan when his father was governor there. That and the fact that she says Obama is the worst president in the history of the country.
Packer thinks what may be a record turnout in Florida is to Romney's benefit because it means Republicans who didn't vote for John McCain in 2008 because he wasn't conservative enough, such as the Christian evangelicals, have turned out to support Romney."It's people with religion who are voting this time. They're worried about freedom of religion under Obama. Them and dissatisfied Democrats," she said.
Democrats have another take. They attribute the high turnout to minorities and young people fearful of a Romney presidency. They may both be right, and cancelling each other out.
The Guardian's polling guru HarryEnten has some wise words on where we are so far.
Democrats will hold the Senate. They are winning, or have won, in Connecticut, Indiana, Massachusetts, and Missouri. Indiana and Massachusetts would be a pickup for the Democrats.
The black vote is holding or greater than it was in 2008 in pretty much all the swing states.
Florida is far too close to call at this point. The lead is switching back and forth. Watch Hillsborough as a leading indictaor. Obama's leading there right now. Romney is finished if he doesn't carry it, and he very well may not.
North Carolina is also too close to call. Romney leads, but it's very close. The fact that Romney is not ahead by more at this point bodes very poorly for him.
Ohio is a place where the president holds a lead. We won't know more here until more votes are in. So far there's nothing to think that the polls that gave Obama slight lead were wrong.
Virginia won't be called for a very long time. It looks to be shaping up to be one of, if not the, closest states in 2012.
So which states are still "too close to call"? All of the interesting ones, that's which.
In other words, they are still counting votes and even still voting in: Ohio, Florida, Virginia, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Colorado
It's too soon to call Wisconsin, Minnesota and Colorado, say all networks everywhere
But some news: Mitt Romney's home state of Michigan is called for Barack Obama. The Romney campaign had been blowing smoke recently about making a play for Michigan: all hot air.
The networks are calling the following for Mitt Romney: Texas, Louisiana, Kansas, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Nebraska.
Guardian reporter Daniel Hernandez gives us the latest from the swing state of Nevada as both sides claim an advantage:
The polls are open for another hour in Nevada, and Republicans are frantically trying to close the gap up Democrats built in early voting. Darren Littell, Team Nevada communications director, said he’s confident they can pull an upset. “Our voters are election day voters. We had a really strong turnout today and we’re looking to do very well.”
About 20 volunteers were still working the phones there as of 2.30pm here, while whole families, including young children, collected literature and were briefed on talking points before heading out to canvas. “We’ve had thousands of volunteers everyday this weekend,” Littell said. “For the first time in a presidential campaign, we’ve hit doors in every single county in Nevada—all 17.”
He predicted that Nevada would go for Romney because its has a 12% unemployment rate, and “some people haven’t been able to find a job for years.”
At SEIU headquarters, meanwhile, Al Martinez, President of their Nevada chapter, said: “we’re not taking anything for granted.” Their teams will stay out till the polls close. “I’m hearing from them there are a lot of African American and Latino voters still heading to the polls.”
He said that Romney volunteers were “just dropping off their door hangers — not even knocking — just hanging fliers on the doors. We knock. We want to see that someone’s there.”
Jaime Lea photographs herself and her children after casting her ballot at John Fremont Middle School on in Las Vegas, Nevada. Photograph: David Becker/Getty Images Photograph: David Becker/Getty Images
The Guardian's Ed Pilkington meets Jesse Jackson Senior in Columbus, Ohio, as one does:
I've just checked in with the Reverend Jesse Jackson who has arrived in the Hilton ballroom in Columbus Ohio where the state's Democratic party is gathering. He was interesting about the various attempts made by Republican politicians in several states this year to introduce voter ID and other regulations on voting which he classified as "voter suppression".
In Jackson's view, the attempt as he sees it to put off voters from exercise their right to vote has backfired. "The attempts to suppress the vote became a stimulus. It woke people up who might have been sleeping," he told me.
Jackson, who was in Cincinnati this week to campaign both for Barack Obama and for Sherrod Brown, the Democratic US senator for Ohio who has been fighting a tough battle with the state treasurer Josh Mandel, said he was struck by how determined voters were, particularly older ones. "I saw people wearing oxygen masks and in wheel chairs and on crutches determined to get to the polls."
Joy unconfined among Democrats: not only has Chris Murphy defeated mega-wealthy Linda McMahon for Connecticut's senate seat, but they have retaken Joe Lieberman's old seat.
They will be dancing on the streets of [insert name of Connecticut's state capital] tonight.
Linda McMahon, the former chief executive of World Wrestling Entertainment, has not fought and lost two expensive senate elections. She could have set fire to $50m of her fortune instead of running and saved money and time.
The Guardian's Adam Gabbatt is at a Romney watch party in New Hampshire.
Just 20 of us so far at the Romney campaign's "victory party" in Manchester, NH, where polls closed at 8pm.
The event is being held in Jillian's sports bar in the downtown area of the city. The wall of screens normally devoted to Sunday football has been almost entirely signed over to Fox News, with two screens showing ABC on mute.
Kelly Ayotte, Republican senator for New Hampshire, is set to be the big draw here tonight, but at the moment it is mostly grassroots supporters drinking beer and watching the televisions.
In amongst the Romney signs and red, white and blue balloons that are festooned around the bar area, I'm sat next to Bedford, NH, man Tony Cortese.
He's updating his own rolling list of declare states - red pen for Romney wins, blue for Obama.
"What I'll do is ill look at this and I'll try and come up with scenarios. It helps me understand the picture a lot more." Cortese reckons it's "too close to call" right now though.
The biggest news here so far is that the buffet just opened, and they're serving meatballs.
Romney's NH campaign results night party in Manchester. Just 20 of us so far, watching Fox News twitter.com/AdamGabbatt/st…
There are still queues in Ohio of people waiting to vote. As there is every bleedin' presidential election. How about we all chip in and buy Ohio a second voting machine?
Lots of lines in OH still, if you live near polling place go keep em happy, bring food, hats & go sing
The AP calls a bunch of senate races, the easy ones basically: Democratic victories in Delaware (Tom Carper), Maryland (Ben Cardin), Rhode Island (Sheldon Whitehouse) – and Bill Nelson is re-elected in Florida, which is no surprise.
Oh yeah, Republican Bob Corker gets re-elected in Tennessee.
Maine elects an independent to the Senate, with a win by former governor Angus King.
The Guardian's Paul Owen in Manhattan gazes up at the Empire State Building, lit up by CNN for its Great Election Gimmick (red and white columns climb the tower in accordance with projected results). The building is lit up in various colours for special occasions, and if you're not watching the closeup shots on TV, it just looks like Independence Day or whatever.
Empire State Building lit up red and blue for election night - will go all blue if Obama wins, all red if it's Romney twitter.com/PaulTOwen/stat…
In the Florida senate election, Democrat Bill Nelson is beating his Republican rival, Connie Mack, like a gong. With 12% of precincts in, it's 55%-42% to Nelson.
The Guardian's Jonathan Freedland finds a nervous atmosphere at Mitt Romney's Boston "victory party":
They called it a victory party but, at least at the start when the polls had not yet closed, it didn't feel that way. Yes, the Republican stalwarts - the movers, shakers and above all donors – who had converged on the Boston Convention Center had come dressed for a party, the men in their sharpest suits, the women in evening wear of the vividest shades. But it was their faces that gave them away.
When party activists know they are on course for a win, they smile easily. They laugh and joke. They all but shine with the joy of imminent victory. They talk to a stranger with a notebook readily, eager to share what they are sure is the good news.
But when things are more uncertain, the grin is of the rictus variety. When they encounter a reporter curious to know their mood, they scowl and refuse to talk, perhaps reluctant to say anything that might betray their pessimism.
A couple take a photo opportunity before the main event for Mitt Romney's election night at the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center. Photograph: Matthew Cavanaugh/Getty Images Photograph: Matthew Cavanaugh/Getty Images
Our reporter Daniel Hernandez is at the Romney campaign headquarters in the wealthy Las Vegas neighborhood of Spring Valley, where Jana Loerwald and 20 other phone bank volunteers are optimistic about their candidate's chances. The polls are open here for another four hours.
The story of the day has been the long lines that voters have endured around the country to cast their ballot. Here are the pictures to show it.
Voters wait in line at the Bobby Miller Activity Center in Tuscaloosa, Alaska. Voters in record numbers flocked to the polls Tuesday to cast their votes. Photograph: Dusty Compton/AP Photograph: Dusty Compton/AP
Voiters wait in line outside the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections in Cleveland. Photograph: Mark Duncan/AP Photograph: Mark Duncan/AP
Virginia residents wait in line in the early hours to vote in the at Nottoway Park in Vienna, Virginia Photograph: Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA Photograph: JIM LO SCALZO/EPA
Oh and West Virginia goes to Mitt Romney. Pick yourself off the floor. That's as much of a surprise as the ending of The Crying Game – the third time of viewing.
Obama's support from white voters ebbs in Virginia
The story of tonight, if Romney wins, will be how white voters abandoned Barack Obama.
In Virginia, the exit polls shows Obama winning just 34% of the white vote. In 2008, he won 39%. If that sort of slippage continues throughout the swing states, then Obama's margins will be dangerously thin.
Joe Biden and his wife Jill arrive for a rally in Richmond, Virginia. Photograph: KEVIN LAMARQUE/REUTERS Photograph: KEVIN LAMARQUE/REUTERS
Blow your mind with these Virginia exit polls. For example: Barack Obama is winning 51% of the vote of those who attend religious services more than weekly. Explain that, Nate Silver, if you are so smart.
Richard Mourdock, God's chosen representative on earth to explain the mysteries of rape, is leading in the Indiana senate race by just 2,000 votes, with 7% of precincts in. And that's with the better parts of the state for him reporting.
Meanwhile, in non-shock news, Indiana has gone to Mitt Romney, the first blue to red flip of the night. And not the last either. One assumes.
The Tea Party-backed Richard Mourdock. Photograph: Aj Mast/AP Photograph: Aj Mast/AP
Jose Antonio Vargas, a former Washington Post reporter who declared publicly in a powerful 2011 New York Times article that he was an undocumented migrant, is monitoring the results for the Guardian tonight and has these thoughts on the exit poll demographic data.
"A sleeping giant" is how political reporters, pundits and pollsters have described the Latino vote for years, especially in Washington. A memory: When I was a political reporter for the Washington Post in 2007, a veteran Republican pollster, looking at my nametag, told me, "I wish more politicians cared about your issues – you know, Hispanic issues. But until you all vote in significant numbers, not many people will.” (He shrugged when told him I'm Filipino.)
Exit polls from CNN indicate that, for the first time nationally, the Latino electorate turned out in a double-digit percentage. CNN is reporting that Latinos account for 10% of the vote. Nearly 24 million Latinos are eligible to vote this year – 20% more than in 2008. Gabriela Demenzain, who oversees Hispanic press outreach for the Obama campaign, is confident that Obama “will win the largest number of Latino votes in history.”
People vote at a polling place inside El Gallo restaurant in El Mercado de Los Angeles, a Mexico-style marketplace in the heavily Latino East LA area. Photograph: David McNew/Getty Images Photograph: David McNew/Getty Images
The key question is: Will the Latino vote (in addition to the African-American and Asian vote) matter in crucial swing states such as Florida, Nevada, North Carolina, Virginia and Ohio? Furthermore, what role will the minority vote play in tonight's results?
Yes, the Latino vote matters in those closely-contested states. Look at Florida, arguably the most-watched state tonight. CNN’s exit polls are reporting that the electorate in the Sunshine State is 67% white, 13% black and 16% Latino. (In 2008 Florida’s electorate was 71% white, 13% black and 14% Latino.)
What could be more interesting is the margin of victory in Florida, which Obama easily carried in 2008 by 236,450 votes. In 2008, Latino voters numbered 1,227,000 – far exceeding the margin of victory.
Bernie Sanders, that fine old socialist fly in America's ointment, is the first senator to be re-elected in 2012, as an independent representing Vermont. Hats off to Bernie.
That exit poll from Virginia shows a very tight race, so let's geek out about that for a bit here. While Romney won the vote for most likely to deal best with the economy, Obama took the women's vote 52% to 47%, and among young people by 59% to 37%. We just don't know how big a share of the electorate they both were.
In the senate race, Tim Kaine (D) leads George Allen (R) by 51% to 49% in the exits.
Meanwhile in Ohio, those who approved of the auto bailout made up 75% of the electorate, compared with the 23% who didn't. Hmm.
The Guardian's Suzanne Goldenberg watches Barack Obama give a last-minute interview with an ABC affiliate in Madison, Wisconsin:
Wisconsin is a last-minute swing state in this election, and the interview gave Obama a chance to replay his central campaign message to a large bunch of his supporters. The liberal college town is a big Democratic vote bank. It's not clear what gave rise to Obama's election day nerves - Mitt Romney declined to grant an interview - but he did say that it was natural for Wisconsin to "take pride in a favourite son"
Obama also offered some insight on some mis-steps in office and the differences between this tough and gritty campaign and the heady days of 2008.
“The message I've got for people in Madison is that Wisconsin is going to be critical in this election and I urge everybody to vote,” he began. He quickly rattled off his campaign pitch, but there was a touch of nostalgia too as Obama admitted this was a much grittier campaign in some ways that in 2008.
“Unlike four years ago when I ran and there was a lot of excitement about sort of the symbolism and history this time around people are much more focused on who can deliver the goods,” he said. He added: “One thing I am very proud of is that after four years people can look back and say this is what this guy said he would do.”
Obama also said the White House lost the message battle on explaining how bad the recession really was, and what his Administration was doing to help.
“That first six months it was a fire drill, and I think as president one of the things you learn is that even though you have got the politics right you also have to make sure you communicate with the American people,” he said.
CNN and Fox News both won't call South Carolina. Hello, are you insane? I'm calling it for the Republican candidate right now – for the 2016 and 2020 elections as well.
Meanwhile, Oliver Burkeman is covering the election war being fought on cable television – the phoney war at this point:
These are the very worst hours for the cable news channels: nothing to say – except for some very, very cautious mumbling about the least controversial findings of early exit polls – and approximately a million pundits already lined up to say it.
This is why CNN employs Wolf Blitzer, a man with a special talent for bulldozing through otherwise dead air: moments ago, he pointed out that this was "a crucial moment for the candidates, and for the American people", and noted that "we're watching as we get closer and closer to the first election results". A report lasting several minutes consisted of nothing but the observation that, at his final campaign rally, Barack Obama cried a single tear (or that perhaps his eyes were watering).
In Boston, Candy Crowley is waiting for the Romneys – though what they'll do once they arrive there, she points out, is "wait". Over on Fox, they barely bother with whole sentences: words emerge from commentator Greg Gutfeld's mouth in something close to random order: "There are pollsters doing polls of the polls… none of it makes any sense… put them on an island." It's going to be a long night – but at least it can only get better from here. I haven't given up hope for holograms yet.
Hum. CNN's Peter Hamby just reported that the last Romney internal tracker had Obama up in Ohio by five percentage points. File that under "fascinating rumour".
The Atlantic's Molly Ball is live-tweeting Mitt Romney's question and answer session with his traveling press corp this afternoon. It's in typical Romneyesque style. For example:
Q: Are you thinking of your father? ROMNEY: I think about my dad from time to time.
There's a lot of political division in America but there's one thing that both sides appear to agree on: if their opponent wins they are moving to ... New Zealand.
Mitt Romney talks with members of the traveling press aboard his campaign plabe on 6 November, 2012 en route to Boston, Massachusetts. Photograph: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images Photograph: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
Barack Obama calls a volunteer from a campaign office in Chicago, Illinois, on election day 2012. Photograph: Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images Photograph: JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images
Many states allow polling venues to stay open so long as there are people in line waiting to get in and vote. Traditionally it has been Ohio in which polling hours have stretched into the night, but this suggests Florida could be another candidate this time:
With these types of lines still in Miami-Dade twitter.com/cbrentcolburn/… we aren't gonna know Florida for a while
Coming up at 7pm ET: Georgia, Kentucky and South Carolina results, which will probably be called pretty quick off the mark for Mitt Romney, along with Vermont for Barack Obama.
A few minutes later we'll probably get Indiana called for Romney – the first state that flips from Obama in 2008, but one which both sides privately expect to go red this time.
Here's a sign of things to come if Mitt Romney wins the White House: lots of rich guys in private planes. From the Boston Globe:
Private jets were streaming into Boston’s Logan International Airport Tuesday afternoon, officials said, as Mitt Romney’s well-heeled supporters arrived for his post-election party in the Seaport District.
Edward Freni, director of aviation for Logan, said an unusually large number of Gulfstream corporate jets were looking to park at the airport by late afternoon on election day. Logan had accommodated 80 of them by 4:30 p.m., roughly double the 40 to 50 it sees on a typical day, he said.
We have correspondents in eight battlegrounds states where this election is decided and we will be checking in with them as the night progresses.
Swing states
Ed Pilkington is in Ohio Paul Harris is in Iowa Suzanne Goldenberg is in Wisconsin Chris McGreal is in Florida Rory Carroll is in Colorado Adam Gabbatt is in New Hampshire Daniel Hernandez is in Nevada Jim Newell is in Virginia
Campaign headquarters
Gary Younge is with the Obama team in Chicago and Jonathan Freedland is in Boston, where Romney is based.
The first polls have indeed closed in parts of Kentucky and Indiana, although some polling stations in those states stay open till 7pm. But both of those are solidly in the Romney camp, and we can expect to get calls on them close to the top of the hour.
Click here for an enlarged image of our US elections print-out guide with all the polling times you need – and electoral votes and polling averages.
The Guardian's Ed Pilkington has been a one-man Obamacare today in Ohio, taking its pulse and checking its temperature. Here's his final diagnosis from Columbus as closing time closes in:
I've come to my final polling station of the day in Ohio, this one on the outskirts of Columbus, the state capital. The polling station is fairly quiet compared to others in the city where I hear that queues are still two hours long and have been all afternoon.
Two friends have just emerged from having voted for Obama, Josie Vizcarrondo and Michella Akram. I put to them the estimated cost of the 2012 US presidential election, that is the cost of all the TV and radio advertising, direct mail, phone calls and door knocking that voters have been bombarded with this year: a staggering $2.6 billion.
Was it worth all that money, I asked them.
Akram was clear: No. "It shouldn't take that much money to advertise the president," she said. "I have been going through deficit and a lot of my friends have. I see more and more homeless people on the streets, and it's cold outside - they should put that $2.6bn towards helping them."
Vizcarrondo gave me entirely the opposite answer. "Yeah of course it's worth it. America's worth it. That money has a purpose - to elect a president who is going to rebuild the country and get the economy going again."
So it would be worth spending $2.6bn on putting Mitt Romney in the White House I ask her. "Ah. No. Spending $2.6bn on Romney, that wouldn't be worth it at all. That's the catch," she said.
Voters wait in line at the Ohio Union to cast their ballots at the Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. Photograph: Matt Sullivan/Reuters Photograph: MATT SULLIVAN/REUTERS
A brief message and public service announcement from the Committee Against Exit Poll Mayhem: here you will find no "leaked" exit poll numbers or partial, half-digested exit poll microdata. Seriously, you'd be better off sniffing glue indeed the effects are much the same.
What you will find instead is the exit poll analysis as released by the Associated Press and the media consortium. Accept no imitations.
Soon the voting will be over and the counting will be under way in the 2012 US presidential election – not to mention the cast of thousands of senate, congressional, state legislature candidates and referendums all across America.
We will be covering all the results when and if they happen, as soon as they happen, with analysis and reporting from the Guardian's crack team of correspondents in America.
The first key battleground states will see their polls close at 7pm eastern time, and then as every hour ticks over, the polls will be closing as the evening moves west.
When can we expect a result? That's an open question: based on recent US presidential elections, somewhere between 11pm ET tonight and 26 November, depending on whether 2000 or 2008 is the model. The reality is probably somewhere in between.
Tonight we'll be carrying a live video feed from PBS's Newshour special, which will be hosted by Big Bird. Not really: he's too busy getting out the vote in Cuyahoga County, Ohio.
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