WASHINGTON, Nov 7:
Barack Obama today clinched a resounding victory over Republican challenger Mitt Romney to earn a second term as US President braving economic woes and straightaway promised bi-partisan politics after a deeply polarised election.
A votary of strong ties with India, 51-year-old Obama, the first black American to occupy the White House, scored what turned out to be a comfortable victory over his feisty rival after a bitter and costly campaign.
Disproving predictions of a narrow victory in a very tight race, the incumbent virtually swept battleground States of Virginia, Michigan, Wisconsin, Colorado, Iowa, Ohio and New Hampshire after a neck-and-neck race in the initial stages.
He secured 303 electoral votes against 206 of Romney in a college of 535 votes plus three of District of Columbia. A candidate has to get at least 270 votes to become President.
Verdict in the other key State of Florida, which had in the year 2000 elections wrecked the chances of popular choice Democrat Al Gore in a controversial contest against George W Bush, remained unsettled. Counting in Florida, which has 29 votes, has been suspended till tomorrow, with Obama having a slight advantage.
Notwithstanding doubts over his ability to revive economy from the effects of the crisis, the worst after the Great Depression of 1930s, and an anxious future, voters appeared to have chosen status quo leaving Democrats with control of the Senate and Republicans the House of Representatives.
What tilted the race in Obama’s favour was the massive swing he got from the victory in California, which has the largest number of 55 electoral votes, and Ohio with 18. Till California was called Romney had led over Obama.
Pollsters had even apprehended a tie after the Presidential debates and surveys, but in the ultimate analysis Obama got over 300 votes but not anywhere near his 2008 score of 349.
After the networks declared Obama the winner, 65-year-old Romney called him and congratulated him. “This is a time of great challenge for our nation. I pray the President will be successful in guiding our nation,” he told his supporters.
The President reciprocated his sentiments and congratulated him on a hard-fought campaign.
Praising his rival, Obama said he looked forward to sitting down with Romney to talk about “where we can work together to move this country forward”.
“And in the coming weeks and months, I am looking forward to reaching out and working with leaders of both parties to meet the challenges we can only solve together. Reducing our deficit. Reforming our tax code. Fixing our immigration system. Freeing ourselves from foreign soil. We have got more work to do,” he said in his speech which had nothing about the Administration’s foreign policy.
Earlier, Obama tweeted to his supporters after his victory: “This happened because of you. Thank you.”
Obama, born to a white American mother and Kenya-born Harvard-educated economist father on August 4,1961 in Honolulu, Hawaii, becomes only the second Democrat after Bill Clinton to secure two White House terms since the World War-II.
The President paved the way to victory defending Democratic bastions in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan.
Obama, who romped to power four years ago as an agent of hope and change, secured his second term on the back of a fiercely negative campaign.
He branded former Massachusetts Governor Romney as elite and indifferent to the middle class after the businessman-turned politician surprisingly outperformed him in the first of the three high-stake presidential debates.
The President campaigned offering a “fair shot” to the middle class and to fulfil his pledge to end the war in Iraq.
Now, Obama will have to perform on the promise of his historic reforms of health care and Wall Street. He is also likely to look abroad, especially the issue of thwarting Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
Obama may have also been helped at the last minute when superstorm Sandy devastated the US East Coast, bringing out his skills in tackling the aftermath.
After months of no holds barred campaigning against Romney, Obama today promised to work with his Republican rival to take the debt-ridden nation forward, saying that “the best is yet to come”.
In his victory speech after storming to a second term, Obama said, “In the weeks ahead, I also look forward to sitting down with Governor Romney to talk about where we can work together to move this country forward.”
“I just spoke with Governor Romney and I congratulated him and Paul Ryan on a hard-fought campaign,” he said, addressing thousands of enthusiastic crowds in Chicago, his election campaign headquarters.
“We may have battled fiercely, but it’s only because we love this country deeply and we care so strongly about its future. From George to Lenore to their son Mitt, the Romney family has chosen to give back to America through public service and that is the legacy that we honour and applaud tonight,” 51-year-old Obama said.
“Tonight, in this election, you, the American people, reminded us that while our road has been hard, while our journey has been long, we have picked ourselves up, we have fought our way back, and we know in our hearts that for the United States of America the best is yet to come,” the US President said.
Obama will return back to Washington tomorrow. Earlier Romney conceded defeat, wishing Obama a successful second term in guiding the country through great challenges.
“I have just called President Obama to congratulate him, his campaign and his supporters on the victory. I have wished him, his wife and daughters,” 65-year-old Romney told his cheering supporters shortly after networks declared his defeat.
During their campaign, Obama and Romney highlighted their sharp divisions over the role of Government in Americans’ lives, especially in bringing down the stubbornly high unemployment rate, reducing the USD 1 trillion-plus federal budget deficit and shrinking a national debt that has crept over USD 16 trillion.
Obama attributed his impressive victory in the presidential elections to his supporters across the country, who voted for him.
“I’m about to go speak to the crowd here in Chicago, but I wanted to thank you first. I want you to know that this wasn’t fate, and it wasn’t an accident. You made this happen,” Obama said in an email to his supporters ahead of his victory speech.
“You organised yourselves block by block. You took ownership of this campaign, five and ten dollars at a time. And when it wasn’t easy, you pressed forward. I will spend the rest of my presidency honouring your support, and doing what I can to finish what we started,” Obama promised.
“But I want you to take real pride, as I do, in how we got the chance in the first place. Today is the clearest proof yet that, against the odds, ordinary Americans can overcome powerful interests,” he said.
It is understood that Obama called Bill Clinton, the former US President, thanking him for campaigning in his favour during the election.
“There’s a lot more work to do. But for right now: Thank you,” Obama said. (PTI)
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