Obama gains momentum against Romney
2012-11-07 05:22
Washington - US President Barack Obama rolled up victories in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania late on Tuesday and limited Republican challenger Mitt Romney's path to victory as US voters decided between two starkly different visions for the country.
Obama's victories in the two states put pressure on Romney to score victories in Ohio, Florida and Virginia, three battleground states where the race was too close to call.
At least 120 million people were expected to decide between the Democratic incumbent and Romney after a long, expensive and bitter presidential campaign centered around how to repair the ailing U.S. economy.
In the state-by-state battle to get to 270 electoral votes needed for the presidency, Obama and Romney piled up early victories in the states they were expected to win easily.
Swing states
Early vote-counting in the swing state of Florida showed them running neck-and-neck. Obama led in the critical battleground state of Ohio and Romney held an early lead in a third swing state, Virginia.
Romney needs all three of those states to navigate a narrow path to the presidency, while Obama could afford to lose one or two of them and still win a second four-year term.
The Republican's chances were hit by Obama victories in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, as well as New Hampshire. Romney last week visited Wisconsin, home state of his vice presidential running mate, Paul Ryan, and had stopped in Pennsylvania earlier on Tuesday in hopes of pulling off a surprise win there.
In a victory that also limited Romney's path to a victory, Obama won Michigan, the Republican's state of birth but where he ran afoul of voters by opposing an auto industry bailout pushed by Obama. Some polls had shown a tight race there.
Television networks projected Romney the winner, as expected, in Republican states Alabama, Tennessee, Mississippi, Kentucky, West Virginia, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Indiana. He was declared the winner in Texas, Kansas, Louisiana, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota.
Obama was projected the winner in the Democratic strongholds of New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Vermont, Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts and his home state of Illinois, as well as Washington, DC.
National opinion polls before the election showed Obama and Romney in a virtual dead heat, although Obama had a slight advantage in several vital swing states - most notably Ohio - that could give him the 270 electoral votes needed to win the state-by-state contest.
- Are you there? Send us your eyewitness accounts and photos.
