US election 2012 - as it happened - Live coverage

US election 2012 - as it happened

Barack Obama defeats Mitt Romney in the battle for the presidency of the United States of America

IDAHO CALLED FOR ROMNEY

by Simon Rice (Online Sports... 11/7/2012 4:04:09 AM
RT @rauldemolina: ABC News sources say that Jeb Bush told The Romney campaign that they lost Florida

by David Usborne via twitter 11/7/2012 4:04:51 AM
The latest batch of states called then - none of which have changed hands. We wait on those crucial states amid rumours Romney has lost Florida.

by Simon Rice (Online Sports... 11/7/2012 4:05:05 AM
David Usborne, The Independent's US Editor, with the latest form the Obama camp in Chicago...

Obama supporters have almost filled the huge exhibition hall floor in Chicago. There is now a rolling cheer that never stops from corners of the room. When they quiet the music to allow the networks to announce their projects those cheers become a roar – when it goes their way which it seems to right now more often than not whether we are talking races for the presidency or Senate races. Mood is buoyant indeed.

by Simon Rice (Online Sports... 11/7/2012 4:06:54 AM
New states called, and that means more state facts. Beginning with Idaho which Romney held onto...

STATE FACTS - IDAHO: In Idaho law forbids a citizen to give another citizen a box of candy that weighs more than 50 pounds.

by Simon Rice (Online Sports... 11/7/2012 4:09:00 AM
NORTH CAROLINA CALLED FOR ROMNEY
MISSOURI CALLED FOR ROMNEY

by Simon Rice (Online Sports... 11/7/2012 4:09:37 AM
Obama on 244 electoral college votes, Romney on 203. They're getting close to the 270 mark...

by Simon Rice (Online Sports... 11/7/2012 4:10:27 AM
CNN projects Iowa for @BarackObama crowd goes nuts here at Chicago HQ @Independent #election2012

by David Usborne via twitter 11/7/2012 4:11:00 AM
Obama wins Iowa. 120/1 about a Romney win on Beftair, if you're interested

by Guy Adams via twitter 11/7/2012 4:11:18 AM
Guy Adams, The Independent's LA Correspondent, who tonight is at Romney HQ in Boston...

California and its 55 votes went to Obama. No surprise there. But big issues will be settled in ballot measures tonight. Some time in the next few hours, we'll know whether the State will force porn stars to wear condoms, whether it'll require GM food producers to properly label their products, and whether it'll potentially abandon the death penalty. In addition, if voters fail to pass Governor Jerry Brown's proposed tax increase, the Golden State's schools and universities face deep and potentially ruinons spending cuts.

by Simon Rice (Online Sports... 11/7/2012 4:12:17 AM
My mistake. Projected @BarackObama college number is 249

by David Usborne via twitter 11/7/2012 4:12:24 AM
More on California...

STATE FACTS - CALIFORNIA: The first motion picture theater opened in Los Angeles on April 2, 1902.

by Simon Rice (Online Sports... 11/7/2012 4:13:54 AM
Obama wins Ohio, say fox. Game over.

by Guy Adams via twitter 11/7/2012 4:13:56 AM
Developing GOP meme: Obama has no mandate unless he wins an actual majority of votes. Also that he only won because he's an incumbent.

by Guy Adams via twitter 11/7/2012 4:15:28 AM
OREGON CALLED FOR OBAMA

by Simon Rice (Online Sports... 11/7/2012 4:15:31 AM
The dominoes are starting to tumble now for @BarackObama

by David Usborne via twitter 11/7/2012 4:15:52 AM
NBC has called Ohio for @BarackObama Not other networks but. Do you hear four more years? @Independent #election1012

by David Usborne via twitter 11/7/2012 4:17:16 AM
Barack Obama with a succession of tweets...

This happened because of you. Thank you.

We're all in this together. That's how we campaigned, and that's who we are. Thank you. -bo

Four more years.

by Simon Rice (Online Sports... edited by The Independent 11/7/2012 4:18:27 AM
The Democrats think they've won it. US network MSNBC projects victory for incumbent.

by Simon Rice (Online Sports... 11/7/2012 4:19:18 AM
IOWA CALLED FOR OBAMA

by Simon Rice (Online Sports... 11/7/2012 4:19:41 AM
Obama now just 13 electoral college votes from 270.

by Simon Rice (Online Sports... 11/7/2012 4:20:16 AM
Four more years. Projections. It's all over. Waiting for @MittRomney concession now @Independent #election1012

by David Usborne via twitter 11/7/2012 4:20:49 AM
"A momentous moment", Dimbleby says. Is it time to revive #TAUTOLOGYWATCH?

by amol rajan via twitter 11/7/2012 4:21:25 AM
CNN call it.

by archiebland via twitter 11/7/2012 4:22:07 AM
Nothing kills the atmosphere at a "victory party" quite so convincingly as a comprehensive defeat p.twimg.com/A7EjmtPCUAAyEhf.jpg

by Guy Adams via twitter 11/7/2012 4:23:15 AM
So at 4.20am GMT it looks like this election is over - Barack Obama remains president of the United States. It's not official yet but he looks to have done it, and for all the 'closest election in history' talk, considerably comfortably.

by Simon Rice (Online Sports... 11/7/2012 4:24:00 AM
OHIO CALLED FOR OBAMA

by Simon Rice (Online Sports... 11/7/2012 4:25:03 AM
That's the big one - the swing state of Ohio and it's 18 electoral votes has gone to the current President. OBAMA REMAINS THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

by Simon Rice (Online Sports... 11/7/2012 4:26:37 AM
Karl Rove in full blown meltdown mode “@maskedscheduler: You gotta watch FOX News this is classic”

by Guy Adams via twitter 11/7/2012 4:27:50 AM
RT @VladDuthiersCNN: RT @BarackObama Four more years. p.twimg.com/A7EiDWcCYAAZT1D.jpg

by Guy Adams via twitter 11/7/2012 4:29:46 AM
I want to never stop watching this epic Fox News meltdown. Rove is their King Canute.

by Guy Adams via twitter 11/7/2012 4:34:49 AM
Obama and Romney both on their way to their respective HQs according to reports. Victory and consolation speeches respectively coming up.

by Simon Rice (Online Sports... 11/7/2012 4:36:57 AM
Donald Trump tweets that "the world is laughing at us." I think we all know who the world is laughing at.

by Guy Adams via twitter 11/7/2012 4:40:58 AM
NEVADA CALLED FOR OBAMA

by Simon Rice (Online Sports... 11/7/2012 4:42:00 AM
Nevada was relatively safe, and it pushes Obama up to 281 electoral college votes.

STATE FACTS - NEVADA: In Death Valley, the Kangaroo Rat can live its entire life without drinking a drop of liquid.

by Simon Rice (Online Sports... 11/7/2012 4:43:31 AM
Pier Morgan has a message for Fox...

Memo to Fox News: it's over.

by Simon Rice (Online Sports... 11/7/2012 4:45:52 AM
Israeli hack to Sheldon Adelson "what do u think of the result?" Adelson "there's no result, according to Fox" Hack "But Fox just called it"

by Guy Adams via twitter 11/7/2012 4:46:45 AM
Hack to Sheldon Adelson: "Were your tens of millions of dollars money well spent?" Adelson: "I do not wish to make any further comment."

by Guy Adams via twitter 11/7/2012 4:48:10 AM
Amol Rajan, Editor of Independent Voices, on the issues that really matter on this historic night...

In possibly the most exciting aspect of this evening, the BBC Director-General has been given a new headache: what to do about the atrocious ties worn by BBC presenters.

David Dimbleby, usually a sound bet to look presentable on such occasions, is sporting a shocking black number with pink crabs. Are they crabs? And is that pink on black, really? Not two questions you expect to ask of BBC veterans on such a momentous night. But needs must, and doubtless viewers across the land are thinking the same thing.

And what of Jeremy Vine? His is possibly the worst tie in the history of the Corporation, a striped, dark, 1980s business-school number that will have Lord Reith turning in his grave, and rightly too.

All this just a week after Jeremy Paxman shocked viewers of Newsnight by failing to wear a tie.

Never mind America's path of decline; what hope, after tonight, for the BBC?

by Simon Rice (Online Sports... 11/7/2012 4:48:49 AM
Supporters of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney react to results on election night...

by Simon Rice (Online Sports... 11/7/2012 4:54:16 AM
We are getting word that Mitt will soon be speaking to his guests. Presumably he'll not be giving that victory speech he wrote earlier.

by Guy Adams via twitter 11/7/2012 4:54:23 AM
The Independent's Richard Hall on Donald Trump...

I'm a bit worried that Donald Trump is going to turn into a tubby Batman-type vigilante. Running around trying to bring Obama down.

by Simon Rice (Online Sports... 11/7/2012 4:56:01 AM
Mitt Romney has arrived at his 'Victory HQ' in Boston.

by Simon Rice (Online Sports... 11/7/2012 4:56:40 AM
The Empire State Building in New York is lit blue after Obama wins the presidential election... Rumours that Trump Tower would also be lit blue if Obama won appear unfounded.

by Simon Rice (Online Sports... 11/7/2012 4:58:27 AM
Romney behind 54-45 in Nevada, despite 11.8% unemployment. That's what happens when you tell Latinos to "self deport."

by Guy Adams via twitter 11/7/2012 5:02:59 AM