President Barack Obama will be leading the United States for four more years following a victory in Tuesday’s 2012 presidential election. “Tonight… the task of perfecting our union moves forward,” President Obama said to an ecstatic Chicago crowd during his victory speech. “It moves forward because of you. We will rise and fall together as one nation and as one people. We know in our hearts that for the United States of America the best is yet to come.”
“Whether you voted for the very first time or waited in line for a very long time… whether you pounded the pavement or picked up the phone… you made your voice heard and you made a difference,” President Obama added.
Earlier in the day events unfolded according to projections. Governor Mitt Romney carried many of the core states for the Republicans, leaving many of the swing states in limbo.
Swing states including Ohio, Iowa, Colorado, New Hampshire and Wisconsin were all carried by Obama as he cruised past the needed 270 electoral votes to win the presidency.
Obama also carried the state of Minnesota and its 10 electoral votes. Duluth’s support of Obama was a big reason he won the state. The city voted overwhelmingly for Obama with 69.33 percent of the vote at the time of this paper’s publication.
Minnesota’s Democratic-Farmer-Labor party gathered at Duluth’s DECC on Tuesday night to watch the results come in. The crowd celebrated win after win in what was a big night for the Democratic Party.
“I’m really excited, this is great,” Wayne Pulford said at the rally. “To have a Republican president and legislation would be a disaster at this time.”
Just before midnight on election night Mitt Romney took the stage to concede the election to Barack Obama. Romney thanked his family and running mate Paul Ryan for the help on his campaign.
“I believe in America, I believe in the people of America … and I ran for office because I am concerned about America,” Romney said to a disappointed but supportive crowd in Boston. “This election is over… I have left it all on the field… I so wish I would have been able to fulfill your hopes to lead this country.”
During Romney’s speech, the crowd at the DECC was cheering so loudly that you couldn’t hear what Romney was saying.
“We saw victory on the screen,” Aurosa Vautrin said at the rally. “It got hot and loud really fast.”
Obama’s victory was not a surprise for Duluth mayor Don Ness.
“It’s a good night for democrats,” Ness said. “It’s exciting to see all the hard work… in the state of Minnesota obviously we supported the president and he was reelected.”
Reporting from Eric Lemke and Anne Kunkel Christianson was used in the writing of this story.
BY MATT BUSCH busc0115@d.umn.edu