Control of Senate, House at Stake
Thursday, November 8, 2012
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
Obama Promises the 'Best Is Yet to Come'
President Obama won a second term tonight as ABC News projects he will be re-elected and he promised his thrilled supporters "that for the United States of America the best is yet to come."
Obama appeared before thousands of cheering Democrats to the beat of Stevie Wonder's "Signed, Sealed and Delivered" after securing a strong electoral lead, although he just eked out victories in key states.
He congratulated his opponent Mitt Romney and said, "In the weeks ahead I am looking forward to sitting down with Gov. Romney to discuss how we can move this country forward."
Click HERE to watch President Obama's full acceptance speech.
In a victory speech studded with the soaring rhetoric that first drew voters to him in 2008, Obama reminded the electorate what was still on his agenda -- immigration reform, climate change and job creation.
"Tonight, you voted for action not politics as usual." he told supporters in Chicago. "You elected us to focus on your job, not ours."
Obama told Romney supporters that "I have listened to you' you have made me a better president."
He added, "I return to the White House more determined, more inspired than ever."
The election is a validation, if not an overwhelming mandate, in support of the president's policies of the last four years, which included a major overhaul of the healthcare system and a drawdown of troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Obama built a coalition of young people, minorities, and college educated women and won by turning out supporters with a carefully calibrated ground operation to get out the vote in crucial states like Ohio, Iowa and Wisconsin.
He thanked those who voted "whether you voted for very first time, or waited in line for a very long time -- by the way we have to fix that," he joked.
He thanked Vice President Joe Biden, whom he called "America's best happy warrior" and first lady Michele Obama.
"Sasha and Malia," he said addressing his two daughters. "You're growing up to be two strong, smart, beautiful young women'I'm so proud of you. But I will say for now, one dog is probably enough," he said riffing on his promise of a puppy four years ago.
Prior to the president's speech, Mitt Romney conceded gracefully in Boston.
"I so wish that I had been able to fufill your hopes....but the nation chose another leader," Romney told heart broken supporters at his Boston headquarters.
"I pray the president will be successful in guiding our nation," Romney said before running mate Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin and their families joined Romney on the podium.
Obama's lease on the White House was renewed with a crucial victory in Ohio.
Celebrations erupted in Obama's home town of Chicago, in New York's Time Square and outside the White House, while Romney's Boston headquarters went mournfully quiet.
"We're all in this together. That's how we campaigned, and that's who we are. Thank you," Obama tweeted even before formally announcing his victory.
Nevertheless, it was a squeaker. In Florida and Virginia, states that were key to both candidates, Obama and Romney were separated by a single percentage point. Ohio also was close, with the candidates also separated by a point late into the vote count. And the popular vote was nearly split evenly down the middle nationally.
With counting still going on and before Florida had been called, Obama led with a significant electoral lead, 303 votes 203.
After a campaign for the White House and both houses of Congress that cost more than $6 billion, the make up of all three branches remains very much the same as it was before the election. Obama remains in the White House, Democrats retain control of the Senate and Republicans continue to control the House.
Tuesday, November 6, 2012
Tearful Obama Ends Campaign in Iowa
AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster
DES MOINES, Iowa ' At one point even feeling the need to wipe a tear from his eye, President Obama ended his presidential campaign Monday night with an emotional appeal to voters in the state that started it all, asking Iowans to help him finish what he started four years ago.
'We have made real progress over these last four years,' the president told an estimated crowd of 20,000 standing outside in the bitter cold. 'But Iowa we are here tonight because we have more work to do. We are not done yet on this journey. We have more road to travel.'
Tune in to ABCNews.com on Tuesday, Nov. 6 for livestreaming coverage of Election 2012. Our Election Day show kicks off at noon, and the Election Night event begins at 7 p.m.
Just steps away from the campaign office set up for his improbable victory in the 2008 Iowa Caucuses, a nostalgic Obama told Iowans they taught him 'to bet on hope.'
'To all of you who have lived and breathed the hard work of change, I want to thank you. You took this campaign and you made it your own,' he said as he wiped away a tear streaming from his left eye. Obama concluded the final event of his self-proclaimed 'last campaign' by retelling the story of Edith Childs, the South Carolina woman who coined his 'fired up, ready to go' rallying cry. It's the same anecdote he told in the final rally of his 2008 campaign.
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'That shows you what one voice can do. One voice can change a room. And if it can change a room, it can change a city. And if it can change a city, it can change a state. And if it can change a state, it can change a nation. And if it can change a nation, it can change a world,' Obama said as he fought through a hoarse voice at his third rally of the day in as many states. The president said that he'd tried to arrange for Childs to attend this final rally, but she told him she still believed he could win North Carolina on Tuesday, and she was going to knock on doors to help get out the vote.
'Iowa, in 2008 your voice changed the world. And Edith Childs asked me to ask you that if you're willing to still stand with me tomorrow' If you're willing to make sure we finish what we started, she's pretty sure we'll win Iowa. She's pretty sure we'll win this election ,' he continued to cheers and applause.
'She just had one question for you. Are you fired up?,' he asked as the crowd chanted back 'ready to go!' 'Iowa, tomorrow let's remind the world just why the United States of America is the greatest nation on earth.'
Survivors Speak on Sandy Ship Sinking
Crew members from the HMS Bounty, who were rescued as the tall ship sank of the coast of North Carolina last week, are speaking for the first time about their experience as they weathered Hurricane Sandy and the loss of two of their crew mates.
The dramatic sinking of the Bounty and harrowing rescue of its crew last Monday created some of the most enduring images during Hurricane Sandy. In an ABC News exclusive, the ship's 14 surviving crew members are opening up about their rescue after they tried to weather the storm.
They described the chaos as they abandoned ship and the Bounty was slammed by a giant wave. The 14 survivors, still together a week after the disaster, are still chiefly concerned with honoring those who didn't make it -- their captain, Robin Wallbridge, and deckhand Claudine Christian.
For first mate John Svendsen the call to abandon ship was one of the toughest he'd ever made.
"We determined a safe time when we knew the ship would still be stable and we could get everyone on deck and change our focus from saving the ship to saving every life," said Svendsen, who credits Capt. Wallbridge's endless drills and preparation for the 14 lives that were saved.
But the ship's leadership lost all control once a giant wave broadsided the ship, knocking some of the crew -- already in their survival suits -- into the roiling sea.
"It was [like a] washing machine in an earthquake ' while going down a giant slide," crewmember Laura Groves told ABC News.
The crew says their unexpected adventure began on October 25, as the ship set sail from Connecticut. Captain Wallbridge wrote on Facebook that with Hurricane Sandy on the move, "a ship is safer at sea than in port." But three days into the voyage, the crew found themselves in the middle of the ferocious storm, with heaving waves three stories high.
"The weather was so bad and we had so little control," said Douglas Faunt.
"It took every ounce of my strength to focus through to survive," said first mate Svendsen.
Winds were tearing at the crew at 70 mph, and by the fourth day the ship, which was constructed for the 1962 film "Mutiny on the Bounty" and later featured in "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest," had been taking on water for 24 hours.
Crew members on the Bounty had trained for rough weather countless times, they said.
"We been through two other hurricanes," Daniel Cleveland said. "We were literally launching the life rafts, and she went over."
The ship was thrown on its side, tossing crew members into the waves. They wore red survival suits designed to help them float.
"At that moment I couldn't be sure who the red suits were around me," Cleveland said.
Hours after being thrown into the water and clambering into the life rafts, they began to hear the beating rotors of Coast Guard helicopters. But they were far from safe, with the weather uncertain and one of the most daring Coast Guard rescues in memory underway.
"When the helicopters showed up, I think everyone in the life raft just started hooting and hollering," Cleveland said.
Suddenly a Coast Guard rescue swimmer launched himself from a chopper and swam toward them -- popping his head into their raft and heaving himself in.
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