Even with voting results from two vital "swing states" still
outstanding, Barack Obama has been declared the winner in his long
political battle with GOP challenger Mitt Romney.
Needing 270 electoral votes to make it official, the president
was declared the winner of Ohio's 18 votes shortly after 11:00 p.m.
(Eastern) on Tuesday night — running his total to 275. Within
minutes of that announcement, the Romney campaign challenged the
Ohio call because of that state's very close popular vote.
Florida (29 electoral votes) and Virginia (13) — both critical
swing states where the final tally in the popular vote was
extremely close — had not yet been called at that time.
Romney had a very slight lead in the popular vote at press
time.
