Obama wins Florida; Final electoral vote count 332 to 206

After a four-day count with neck-and-neck tallies, President Obama was declared the winner of Florida's 29 electoral votes Saturday, earning 50 percent to Mitt Romney's 49.1 percent, according to the Secretary of State's office.

The victory puts the president - who had clinched reelection Tuesday night even without Florida - at a final 332 electoral votes to Romney's 206. It also marks his sweep of eight of the nine swing states, with North Carolina his only battleground loss.

Mr. Obama's margin of victory is over the half-percent mark that would trigger a computer recount unless Romney had waived it. A handful of overseas and military ballots, which have a Nov. 16 deadline, are believed to remain outstanding, but under Florida law, recounts are based on Saturday's results.

• Complete Florida election results from CBSNews.com

Florida's drawn-out count this week rekindled for many memories of the state's election night woes from 2000, when a recount was ordered amid complaints of hanging chads on punch-card ballots. Complications this year, though, arose largely because long lines pushed voting late into the night Tuesday.

In Miami-Dade, for instance, so many people were in line at 7 p.m. in certain precincts that some didn't vote until after midnight. The headache has prompted many in the Sunshine State to criticize Gov. Rick Scott for refusing to extend early voting hours.

[BigMykul]

dj_chi replies: TB - I assume you support Willard, a candidate who promotes multiple wars, and is against charity for the poor because they are just leeches. Yu are no Christian either.
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Giving freely of your own will is charity. Forcing someone to do so by taxes is not.

[Holly-wood]

Obama wins Florida; Final electoral vote count 332 to 206
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Good! Nearly a clean sweep of the battleground states. Even though voter supression occurred in Florida the voters did the right thing.

[RetiredArmy_Nurse]

The Prez now has a clear mandate with a 3+ million popular vote lead and 332 electoral votes. Obamacare is now out of danger. Soon it will be the accepted, & revered, law of the land once all aspects of it click in. What Obama must do now is accept no arguments from the repugs when it comes to raising taxes on the wealthy. These "takers" have gotten a free ride for 12 years getting richer off the rest of us and sending America into massive deficits. It is our patriotic duty to pay our fair share of tax. I personally have no problem moving back to the 28% marginal rate. In calculating actual rise in tax dollars, the difference is of little consequence. Let us dare congress to send us off the fiscal cliff. Once we fall off then they may have to put oath of office ahead of oath to Grover Norquist.

[BigMykul]

So retired,
If I force you to do something, even though you don't want to you will revere it?
You are out-of-touch with reality.
What Obama must do is understand that he did get 3+ million more popular votes, which means there are 48+ million out there that hate and revile him, his administration and his signature debacle. Forcing Americans to buy a product or service or face penalties/taxes is wrong, blatantly wrong.
Maybe it is time for this country to split. I know I will never respect, revere or even like this sorry POS that managed to steal the election. How else to explain getting more votes than there are registered voters. Oh, BTW, I don't care for Fox News or MSNBC. My parents taught me along time ago to question and be skeptical, especially where government is concerned.

[BigMykul]

So retired,
If I force you to do something, even though you don't want to you will revere it?
You are out-of-touch with reality.
What Obama must do is understand that he did get 3+ million more popular votes, which means there are 48+ million out there that hate and revile him, his administration and his signature debacle. Forcing Americans to buy a product or service or face penalties/taxes is wrong, blatantly wrong.
Maybe it is time for this country to split. I know I will never respect, revere or even like this sorry POS that managed to steal the election. How else to explain getting more votes than there are registered voters. Oh, BTW, I don't care for Fox News or MSNBC. My parents taught me along time ago to question and be skeptical, especially where government is concerned.

[npbstl]

The Affordable Care Act is law of the land. Get over it. Should have instituted generations ago.

[tmonta67]

Ranger, as a human being you WILL REQUIRE HEALTHCARE. To that end, you should pay into the system so that the care you require will be available.

I've lived for 25 years in France, and "socialized medicine" has seen that all my basic care as well as two spine surgeries were 100% covered. And before you even go there: I'm in the medical profession, and the care I've received is simply excellent.

THE US NEEDS THE SAME KIND OF SYSTEM. Health care is a basic human need and right, and we all need to contribute towards it so everyone is covered.

[BigMykul]

At one time slasvery was the law of the land. At one time prohibition was the law of the land. There have been many laws of the land that were just as reprehensible as this debacle.
Forcing Americans to buy a product/service or face penalties/taxes is wrong.

[Filmguy870]

The 'Cons need to work together with the Dems. It's that simple. In theory, at least.

[eazyet]

Way to go Florida! Late, irrelevant, and nobody cares. But a far lower degree of incompetence than 8 years ago!
#Progress

[flordagrl]

Look here you ******* sob! If it were not for the incapability of a republican governor ,that I didn't vote for. and all of his neanderthal cronies we would maybe have a normal election like the rest of the country gets. No, we have to endure the embarrassment of looking like a bunch of idiots because of a REPUBLICAN. This stupid **** doesn't happen when there is a DEMOCRAT in the governor mansion. So shut the F$&# Up!

[GOP-R--Con-Men]

Republican statements reveal them to still be in obstruction mode. They don't give a damn about the country. In fact republicans have more allegiance to Grover Norquist, corporations, big oil, big pharma, the super rich and GOP than the constitution and country. Even if you don't believe my words, their actions absolutely proves it.

[BigMykul]

At least get something new to cut/paste.

[msimamaji]

"A picture's worth a thousand words."

Or so they say.

Two days ago, eager to find out what Africans had to say about our election, I bought the latest edition of Afrique Magazine. Because it was published before November 6, the magazine only contained an article on the campaign.

However, what caught my eye, was a photo of a recent election in Burkina Faso, which showed 6 women lined up to vote.

Yes, imagine a line with 6 people. Compare that to the endless lines and delays in the Florida election. What can we conclude?

In terms of democracy, Burkina Faso is ahead of Florida. I know Rick Scott has never heard of Burkina Faso. He should go there for the next election (December 2) to find out how to manage an election.

Florida was a democratic disaster.

[hypnotoad72]

Pity we live in a republic and it's a greater pity that the people who've governed that state never fixed the problems post-2000...

[RetiredArmy_Nurse]

Despite the historic win by the Prez, we still have hurdles to overcome. The states with repug governments have gerrymandered the congressional districts to insure a teabagger congress for perhaps 8 more years. Here in Wisconsin they quartered a democratic city into 4 separate districts--a repug state senator actually told a booing crowd this was "good." Hopefully, any repugs who may still want to be moderate and move to the middle will find their patriotism and away from the radical right. With around 190 democratic congressmen it only takes another 30 moderate repuglcans to make a majority. We can only hope they realize that their oath of office takes precidence over oath to Grover Norquist.

[hypnotoad72]

Some independent-leaning "repugs" I know of believe a President can put in an executive order. That's why they voted for Obama in the past but voted for Romney or Johnson this time around. They see "hope" in the same way they see any other 4-letter word.

[tb91006]

Historic? He won by 330,000 votes and with the West recall and the Virginia results not passing the smell test this makes it less than historic for sure. The final electoral college count gave President Obama a wide 332 to 206 margin over Romney. 270 electoral college votes are needed to win the Presidency.

Romney lost New Hampshire's 4 electoral college votes by a margin of 40,659. Obama won with 368,529 to Romney's 327,870.

Romney lost Florida's 29 electoral college votes by a margin of 73,858. Obama won with 4,236,032 to Romney's 4,162,174.

Romney lost Ohio's 18 electoral college votes by a margin of 103,481. Obama won with 2,697,260 to Romney's 2,593,779

Romney lost Virginia's 13 electoral college votes by a margin of 115,910. Obama won with 1,905,528 to Romney's 1,789,618.

Add the 64 electoral college votes from this switch of 333,908 votes in these four key states to Romney's 206, remove them from Obama's 332, and Romney defeats Obama 270 to 268.

[officerjoe]

Amazing, Republicans had Mitt rammed down their throat by the REP Establishment. He was the most moderate of the several candidates. Yet now the media is blaming the Conservative wing for his defeat,too tough on immigration etc... Not one analyst has pointed out what I am about to tell you.The seeds of Romney's defeat were sown over a year ago however. Obama won every swing state: Ohio,Michigan,Florida,Wisconsin. Think? What did ALL of these have in common.Yes,every one of these had a Republican Governor leading an attack on it's States Civil Service workers:Rick Scott, Scott Walker et al.The most conservative voters in the state, cops,firemen,teachers were made scapegoats for Wall street's blunders.Now you want them to vote for you? I pointed this out a year ago to Republican leadership in a letter I wrote. I got no response but now they have the people's response. You don't win elections by making enemies of the folks you want to vote for you.

[signseeker1717]

"You don't win elections by making enemies of the folks you want to vote for you."

Just this one sentence sums it up perfectly. Thanks for posting.