Obama wins Ohio

AP Photo: File. IMAGE: President Barak Obama and presidential candidate Mitt Romney

19 min ago By MSN News with wire reports

The president hits milestone win.

WASHINGTON —President Barack Obama jumps to the front of the race with a major win in Ohio. He also has New Mexico, California, Hawaii and Washington under his belt.
The incumbent president now holds 258 Electoral College votes to Romney’s 200; 270 electoral votes are needed to win the White House.
Here’s how it’s shaping up for the candidates.
Mitt Romney: Missouri, Idaho, North Carolina, Arizona, Utah, Arkansas, Mississippi, Louisiana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Texas, Wyoming, Kansas, Nebraska (four of the five electoral votes), Kentucky, West Virginia, South Carolina, Indiana, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Georgia.
Barack Obama:New Mexico, California, Hawaii, WashingtonMinnesota, New HampshirePennsylvania (Romney had made a last-ditch effort to secure a win in Pennsylvania in the final days of the campaign), New Jersey, New York, Michigan, Vermont, Delaware, District of Columbia, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Illinois .

Obama rolled up victory margins in the reliably Democratic Northeast and at home in Illinois. Romney secured his conservative base in an election season shadowed by a weak economy and high unemployment.
The polls were still open in much of the country as the two rivals began claiming the spoils of a brawl of an election in a year in which the struggling economy put a crimp in the middle class dreams of millions.
.OTHER RACES
Democrat Elizabeth Warren held the edge in Massachusetts over Republican Sen. Scott Brown, who stunned the political world in January 2010 when he won Sen. Edward M. Kennedy's seat. With 29 percent of the vote, Warren held a 52-47 percent edge.
Democrat Joe Donnelly won Indiana's Senate seat in a close-fought battle with tea-party backed state treasurer Richard Mourdock. Mourdock had been considered the favorite after knocking out six-term Sen. Richard Lugar in the GOP primary in May. But he damaged his chances when he said in a debate that pregnancy resulting from rape is "something God intended."
In Ohio, Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown survived an onslaught of outside spending, some $30 million, to defeat state treasurer Josh Mandel. In Pennsylvania, Democratic Sen. Bob Casey survived a late scare from businessman Tom Smith, who invested more than $17 million of his own money in the race.
Texas sent tea party-backed Ted Cruz to the Senate as the Republican won the seat held by retiring GOP Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison. Cruz will become the third Hispanic in the Senate, joining Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., and Marco Rubio, R-Fla.
In Florida, Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson triumphed in his bid for a third term, holding off a challenge from Republican Rep. Connie Mack. Republican groups had spent heavily against Nelson early in the race, but the moderate Democrat was a prolific fundraiser with wide appeal among Democrats and some Republicans in the Panhandle.
In West Virginia, Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin won a full term even though his state went heavily for Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney.
Tennesseans gave Republican Sen. Bob Corker a second term. Wyoming voters did the same for Sen. John Barrasso, and Republican Roger Wicker captured another term in Mississippi.
North Carolina voters elected their first Republican governor in two decades Tuesday, fanning the GOP's hope of broadening their party's hold on governor's mansions across the country.
The victory by former Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory came two years after Republicans snatched six governors' offices in the midterm elections, giving the party 29 governorships to 20 for Democrats and one independent entering the elections in which 11 gubernatorial races were to be decided.
When all the ballots are counted, Republicans could have as many as 33 governorships _ the most since the 1920s and one more than they had in the 1990s.
Democratic Rep. Chris Murphy, a Democrat, won a Connecticut seat long held by Sen. Joe Lieberman, retiring after a career that included a vice presidential spot on Al Gore's ticket in 2000. It was Republican Linda McMahon's second defeat in two tries, at a personal cost of $92 million.
The arithmetic was daunting for Democrats at the start of the election cycle _ they had to defend 23 seats to the GOP's 10. Further complicating the calculation were Democratic retirements in Virginia, Wisconsin, North Dakota, Hawaii, Nebraska and New Mexico as well as the retirement of Lieberman.
Republicans had to deal with retirements in Arizona, Texas and Maine. Republican hopes of reclaiming the Senate suffered a major blow when the GOP candidate in Missouri made awkward remarks about rape and abortion.
Former Gov. Angus King has won the Senate race in Maine, running as an independent. King will take over the seat held by retiring Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe. Another independent, Vermont's Sen. Bernie Sanders, also has been re-elected. Four Democrats senators have also won re-election: Bill Nelson in Florida, Sheldon Whitehouse in Rhode Island, Ben Cardin in Maryland and Tom Carper in Delaware. Republican Sen. Bob Corker was re-elected in Tennessee.
Incumbent Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin (D) gained enough votes to win a second term.
Still to come are the returns from the handful of states, including Ohio, Florida and Virginia, where Obama and Romney have concentrated their efforts in recent weeks.
In a months-long general election ad war that cost nearly $1 billion, Romney and Republican groups spent more than $550 million and Obama and his allies $381 million, according to organizations that track advertising.
In Virginia, the polls had been closed for several minutes when Obama's campaign texted a call for volunteers "to make sure everyone who's still in line gets to vote."
In Florida, there were long lines at the hour set for polls to close. Under state law, everyone waiting was entitled to cast a ballot.
There are also state ballot proposals on topics ranging from gay marriage and casino gambling to repealing the death penalty and legalizing marijuana.
The balance of power in the U.S. Congress will be at stake in the Senate and House of Representatives races that could impact the outcome of "fiscal cliff" negotiations on spending cuts and tax increases, which kick in at the end of the year unless a deal is reached.
Obama's Democrats are now expected to narrowly hold their Senate majority, while Romney's Republicans are favored to retain House control.
Democrats were defending their majority in the Senate, and Republicans doing likewise in the House, raising the prospect of continued partisan wrangling in the years ahead no matter who might be president.
The GOP needed a gain of three for a majority if Romney won, and four if Obama was re-elected. Neither Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada nor GOP leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky was on the ballot, but each had high stakes in the outcome.
All 435 House seats were on the ballot, including five where one lawmaker ran against another as a result of once-a-decade redistricting to take population shifts into account. Democrats needed to pick up 25 seats to gain the majority they lost two years ago.
Depending on the outcome of a few races, it was possible that white men would wind up in a minority in the Democratic caucus for the first time.
A small but significant percentage of voters won't decide which presidential candidate they're voting for until Tuesday. Four percent of voters reported making up their minds on Election Day in 2008, and the figure was 5 percent four years earlier.
VOTERS COME IN DROVES
Turnout appears to be high in many parts of the country, with long waits at some polling places as voters deliver their Election Day verdict that will frame the contours of government and the nation for years to come.
Both Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama need their supporters to show up in high numbers. A robust turnout among minorities would favor Obama, while Romney is looking for a strong showing among working-class white men.
Several storm-ravaged areas of New York and New Jersey and several swing states are reporting heavy turnout. The reports of heavy turnout were a relief for officials in the storm-ravaged areas who feared Superstorm Sandy might keep people from the polls.
More than 131 million people turned out to vote for president in 2008, shattering all previous records. This year, more than 32 million people voted before Election Day, either by mail or in person.
A survey of voters as they leave polling places Tuesday shows 60 percent of voters say the economy is the top issue facing the nation, with unemployment and rising prices hitting voters hard, according to an exit poll conducted for the Associated Press.
About 40 percent say they think the nation's economy is on the mend, but more say that things are getting worse. Next were health care (17 percent) and the deficit (15 percent). Just 4 percent said foreign policy was the top issue.
At least 120 million people were expected to render judgment on whether to give Obama a second term or replace him with Romney.
Their decision will set the country's course for four years on spending, taxes, healthcare and foreign policy challenges like the rise of China and Iran's nuclear ambitions.