Obama Wins Nine Battleground States

Rankings of the ten closest states in the election between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney place Colorado in fifth.  In fact, the Obama campaign’s targeting was correct.  The top ten include the nine, which received the most attention.  However, Romney was correct to add Pennsylvania to the list and his final efforts.  It came in sixth.

Battleground States

Final Results

Nov. 6, 2012

1. Florida:  0.6% (Obama 49.9%; Romney 49.3%)
2. Ohio:  1.9% (Obama 50.1%; Romney 48.2%)
3. North Carolina:  2.2% (Obama 50.6%; Romney 48.4%)
4. Virginia (99% reporting):  3.0% (Obama 50.8%; Romney 47.8%)
5. Colorado:  4.7% (Obama 51.2%; Romney 46.5%)
6. Pennsylvania (99% reporting):  5.2% (Obama 52.0%; Romney 46.8%)
7. Iowa:  5.6% (Obama 52.1%; Romney 46.5%)
8. New Hampshire (99% reporting):  5.8% (Obama 52.2%; Romney 46.4%)
9. Nevada (99% reporting):  6.6% (Obama 52.3%; Romney 45.7%)
10. Wisconsin:  6.7% (Obama 52.8%; Romney 46.1%)

People are impressed with how quickly the election was decided on Tuesday and how decisively.  After a month of hearing about a close race; i.e., margin of error, and the likelihood of a long election night, Ohio was called before 10:00 pm MST, which is always important for the newscast.

The Ohio call was preceded by Romney’s apparent loss of Virginia, an essential state for his alternative path to 270 electoral votes.  The quick call of the race was a reflection of the alternatives to 270 votes being long identified and the late polling having turned against Romney.

As soon as it was clear there wasn’t some extraordinary and undetected wave of support for Romney, analysts and anchors gained confidence the race was over.