Four more years for battle-hardened Obama

Updated 1:57 a.m. Eastern Time

Four years after a historic victory driven by lofty promises of hope and change, a battle-hardened President Obama will win re-election with a very different message: We've made progress, but there's still a long way to go.

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President Obama's victory speech

"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," Mr. Obama told cheering supporters at a victory rally in Chicago.

The president said he had called to congratulate Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan on a hard-fought campaign.

"We may have battled fiercely, but it's only because we love this country deeply," he said, adding that he hoped to meet with Romney. The president went on to thank his wife, First Lady Michelle Obama, his children Sasha and Malia, Vice President Joe Biden, his campaign team and everyone who participated in the election, no matter who they voted for.

In the end, an election many expected to come down to the wire ended early. While Mr. Obama lost states he won four years ago, including Indiana and North Carolina, his Midwestern firewall of Ohio, Wisconsin and Iowa held. The president was buoyed in Ohio by his action to use federal dollars to bail out the auto industry, while union households helped power him in Wisconsin. Pennsylvania's 20 electoral votes, where Republican nominee Mitt Romney made a late run in hopes of expanding the electoral map, were projected to go to the president early in the evening.

One by one, battleground states fell to Mr. Obama throughout the night: New Hampshire, Iowa, Nevada, Colorado. It was enough to put him over the top even without the hard-fought battlegrounds of Virginia and Florida, where voters were lined up long after polls closed to decide close contests. CBS News projected Virginia for Mr. Obama early Wednesday morning. 

After CBS News and other media outlets called the race after Mr. Obama was projected the winner in Ohio, a group of about 1,000 young people gathered in Lafayette Park, near the White House, to celebrate. In the president's home base of Chicago, Obama supporters waved flags, danced and hugged, some breaking down into tears; in Romney's home city of Boston, the GOP nominee's supporters stood shell-shocked and silent following the projections.

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Mitt Romney's concession speech

In a brief concession speech delivered to the crowd in Boston, Mitt Romney said he would pray for the president and said the country was at a "critical" point.

"Paul [Ryan] and I have left everything on the field," Romney said. "We have given our all to this campaign."

Romney concedes: Ryan and I "left everything on the field"

The good news for Republicans on Tuesday: As expected, they are projected to hold onto the House of Representatives. But the Senate, which one year ago looked very likely to fall into Republican hands, was projected to stay with the Democrats - thanks in part to missteps by Republicans in Missouri and Indiana, whose controversial comments concerning rape helped vulnerable Democrats triumph.

It adds up to an election set to be remembered for maintaining the status quo. After an oft-nasty battle in which the campaigns and outside groups are projected to have spent a record-breaking $6 billion, Washington is poised to look the same way it has for the past two years: With Democrats in control of the Senate, Republicans in control of the House, and Mr. Obama in the Oval Office.

That isn't to say there weren't milestones: Colorado and Washington legalized marijuana for recreational use, with the aim of taxing and regulating it -- the first states to do so. Maine and Maryland were the first states ever to see voters affirm that same-sex couples should have the right to marry. For the first time, an openly gay person -- Wisconsin's Tammy Baldwin -- was elected to the Senate. 

• Election Results 2012
• Election confirms deep ideological divide

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Women, Hispanics, African-Americans supported Obama

The CBS News exit poll showed Mr. Obama's victory was attributable to a double-digit advantage among women as well as huge advantages among young, urban and minority voters. (Romney led among married women, but unmarried women broke overwhelmingly to the president.) It was enough to overcome Romney's advantage among white, male, and older voters, as well as rural voters and those with high incomes.

Mr. Obama was on pace to fall short of the margin he won by four years ago - roughly seven percentage points nationally - in part because he performed worse among independents. The president won 52 percent to 44 percent among in 2008 independents. This year, the CBS News exit poll showed Romney winning by four points among that group, which made up 30 percent of the electorate. The president was on pace to win the popular vote by 2 percentage points, 50 percent to 48 percent, amid a decline in turnout from 2008.

Romney, the former Massachusetts governor whose nomination was driven less by passion than the Republican belief that he represented their best chance for unseating the president, spent much of the campaign relentlessly hammering the president as a failed steward of the economy. But the recovery, while slow, may have been just good enough: The unemployment rate fell - barely - below eight percent, and consumer confidence rose this month to its highest level in nearly 5 years. The exit poll showed that voters were ultimately split on which candidate was better to handle the economy, while the president had a double-digit lead when it came to who was more in touch with people like you.

The Obama campaign spent handsomely early in the race in an attempt to portray the GOP nominee as a heartless plutocrat unconcerned with the plight of the middle class. While Romney's strong performance in the first presidential debate helped to counter that portrayal, the president rebounded in the second and third debates. And while polls showed that Republicans had the edge in voter enthusiasm, the Democrats' robust and sophisticated ground game appears to have given the president an advantage in driving turnout among his base.

For Republicans, this election will prompt soul searching. For the second straight presidential cycle, the GOP nominated a relatively moderate candidate and lost; conservative voices in the party will take the 2012 results as a sign that they need to shift right in 2016. For others, the election will mark an opportunity to push the party to shift gears as their base - white, rural and older voters - shrinks as a portion of the electorate. Contemplating a possible Romney loss before Tuesday, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said he would "go nuts" if he hears complaints it was because Romney wasn't conservative enough.

"We're not losing 95 percent of African-Americans and two-thirds of Hispanics and voters under 30 because we're not being hard-ass enough," he said.

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Obama celebrates election win

Romney's running mate, Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, won re-election to the House on Tuesday, and the House Budget Committee chairman is already considered a leading contender for the 2016 presidential nomination. The future for the 65-year-old Romney is unclear: It's hard to imagine he seeks elective office again after falling short in the presidential race. Romney may choose to return to the business world, where he made his fortune before turning to politics.

Mr. Obama will have little time to celebrate his triumph. The lame-duck Congress must now work to keep the nation from going off the "fiscal cliff" at the end of the year - the combination of automatic spending cuts and tax increases that economists say would cause a major drag on the economy.

The president spent a relatively small portion of his campaign discussing his second term agenda, but he did open up in an off-the-record October interview with the Des Moines Register that was later made public. The president predicted a "grand bargain" on the deficit within his first six months of his second term as well as a deal on immigration reform and corporate tax reform.

For now, however, Mr. Obama is relishing a victory in what is likely to be the last campaign he will ever have to run.

"Tonight, despite all the hardship we've been through, despite all the frustrations of Washington, I've never been more hopeful about our future," he told supporters after winning a second term. "I've never been more hopeful about America. And I ask you to sustain that hope."

[hillzhaveays]

BenJordon replies:
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Ah Hillz, you raging Tbaggers are funny.
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You frothing liberals are sad. I am not a Tea Party member as my posts clearly show. But I do know that whenever you make a reply, you heard facts in the comment that you didn't like, Benji.

For a scruffy little dog, you sure do yap a lot.

Here's my suggestion: Graduate the 3rd grade, stay in school, get an education and try to be a productive member of society. Oh, and pay some taxes too. The intelligence level of your posts shows clearly that you aren't smart enough to have a real job, putting you in the lower class.

[walkthetalk]

Mitch was just like a whole lot of us that saw the wolf in sheeps clothing.

[walkthetalk]

We should be very excited about our countries situation today because four years from now we will all wish that we could return to today.

[TimeToEvolve]

Why is Florida so dysfunctional? Is it because it is in the south? Bit it seems there are enough northerner there that would not put up with this right wingery.

[Kent28117]

Looking at all the Election data why has NOT 1 Network news team made any comment to the 96% Black vote for Obama ? If that was 96% White vote for Romney the streets and news wires would be ablaze.. That data statistically is significant and needs to be addressed for what it is. Facts about racism in America.. Not over yet

[Poopele]

What's important to realize is that the thrust of this argument is wrong, although I give them credit for admitting that Romney was a moderate. He failed to turnout the right wing vote and lost, even as it was correctly predicted that Obama would be weaker than in 2008.

If what they are saying is true, that black turnout for Obama was even higher than 2008, then this means the Democrats are the party that is going off the cliff. They will either have to continue to run black candidates, or they will lose about 2 million votes, when black turnout falls down to normal levels. Additionally, it should be noted that Hispanics will increase, and the balkanized Democratic party will have two minorities that will not have the same agenda. Notice, that this month, unemployment fell but black unemployment rose, as those tens of thousands of hispanic 'dream act' teens that Obama bought of the Hispanic vote with began to take jobs from blacks. The future holds more of the same as these two groups vie for prominence in the democratic party it will be a house divided against itself.

[randysanders]

Hey, where ya been. The network news media did report the Romney won the white vote even though some whites (no shame on them) voted for Obama. If ya wanna nit pick on demographics that's your choice, but in an ever diverse culture, ya shouln't expect everyone to be as isolated as you. People want to know specifics and when you omit other demographics from your comments it makes you look like a white supremacist and evryone knows Ole Miss and others who keep their secessionist views(left over from the civil war) are stuck in the past like some old folks.

[hillzhaveays]

ZannZelsVictoryDance replies:
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Its time again to Offer to compromise, we have a stronger position to compromise from this time.
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If I read this correctly, you are asserting that you tried to compromise before. If so, please reference "proposal" that was offered and I'll point you toward any number of articles which will say the "offer" was known to be dead on arrival by Obama and he knew it had no chance to pass even as he presented it. This makes it "Playing Games", not "Compromise".

Republicans do essentially the same thing. The problem is the lunatic left controls Obama and the Senate, while fringe conservatives seem to be driving the House. This will continue as long as Obama lets Ideology control his actions.

Frankly, I for one do not think he has the leadership ability, or the willingness, to compromise.

[tb91006]

Unfortunately you are right we are stuck with 4 more years of no hope and more bad changes..

[randysanders]

The playing games was a statement from Mitch McDonnel who stated after meeting with 12 republicans on the day after Obama was elected in his first term, "It is our number one priority to defeat Obama and make sure he is a one term president." This is why congress is known as the do nothing congress of obstructionist. Obama has always been willing to compromise, but he's not willing to accept from the republicans a poorly written piece of legislation with little or no benefit for the middle class.

[TimeToEvolve]

I really have a hard time believing we can compromise with the right wing. They are so far gone and really are not in control of their own minds. They are are like mouthpieces for the rich and greedy. And why should those rich corporate people compromise? With all the fake, fraudulent, "free trade" "agreements" Wall Street is close to NOT EVEN NEEDING AMERICA.

[TimeToEvolve]

But we have to start the hard work now and convince people that we have let giant corporations take over the country. Now that we have fended off the red menace, we need to ALL acknowledge that the corporations that are all around us have become the enemy within. Otherwise we could just have another Bush Cheney or Robbed Me Ryan climb out of the sewer in 2016.

[TimeToEvolve]

Robbed Me Ryan was not the problem as some Republicons "think". It is the very backward, greedy ideology of an obsolete party that has gone so far to the right, they are off the field. Robbed Me Ryan was just a manifestation.

[GhostF1ghter]

Obama is hardened.

Republicans are flaccid.

LOL