It's Obama again as Romney concedes defeat

Leaders of the UK and the European Union expressed satisfaction at Obama's re-election, but the Indian services industry was muted in its response given his strong anti-outsourcing stance
 
President Barack Obama on Tuesday comfortably defeated his Republican challenger Mitt Romney to win a second and final term in office.
 
Supporters at the president's campaign headquarters in Chicago waved flags and cheered when it became apparent late on Tuesday that Obama had won enough states to reach the 270 electoral votes needed to clinch the election.
 
In the end the race proved less close than most observers and opinion polls had predicted. The latest projected results at the time of writing showed Obama winning 303 Electoral College votes against Romney's 203 votes.
 
Romney conceded the long, hard fought 2012 campaign in a speech before a crowd of disappointed supporters in Boston, Massachusetts, the state he once governed.  Standing alone on the podium, he congratulated Obama on his election victory, saying, "This is a time of great challenge for our nation, and I pray the president will be successful in guiding our nation."
 
Romney also praised his vice presidential running mate, Congressman Paul Ryan, calling him "the best choice I've ever made" next to marrying his wife Ann.

Obama's campaign staff Tweeted, "Four more years," and included a picture of the president hugging his wife, Michelle Obama.  The Empire State Building in New York lit its light atop the iconic building blue, the colour of the Democratic Party.

The projections say Obama has won in the District of Columbia and 25 states, including the battleground states of Ohio, Virginia, Iowa, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania. Romney won in 23 states including North Carolina and Indiana, which both went for Obama last election. Another key battleground state, Florida, still remained too close to call.
 
The candidates made a final push for support Tuesday as voters waited in long lines at polling places. Some sporadic problems were reported, and both candidates dispatched lawyers to monitor the voting for any irregularities.

The Justice Department had nearly 800 observers in 23 states to respond to any allegations of fraud. 
 
After a year-and-a-half of campaigning, three debates and thousands of televised campaign ads, nationwide pre-election surveys had the two candidates in a virtual deadlock.
 
US presidential elections are not decided by the national popular vote, but rather by the electoral college system, developed more than 200 years ago, in which each of the 50 states' influence on the outcome is roughly equivalent to its population.
 
Voters were also electing all 435 members of the House of Representatives, and 33 of the 100 members of the Senate.
 
Projections Tuesday show Republicans will hold onto control of the House of Representatives while Democrats will stay in charge of the Senate.
 
Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan earned a concession prize after he lost the national race as presidential candidate Mitt Romney's running-mate, easily reclaiming his congressional seat in Wisconsin.
 
Millions of Americans cast ballots in early voting in the last month.  Obama voted several days ago in his home city of Chicago, and spent Tuesday there.  He conducted interviews for broadcast in key states and played basketball with friends, one of his 'election day' traditions.  He also called voters from a campaign office.

Romney, a one-time venture capitalist, voted Tuesday morning in Massachusetts, the north-eastern state he once governed but where Obama won.  He also made a final push for votes in the key states of Ohio and Pennsylvania.

Conceding defeat Romney today wished US President Barack 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.