Alex Massie Alex Massie

Barack Obama is Re-Elected President of the United States – Spectator Blogs

Well, I was wrong. I thought Mitt Romney might do rather better than it seems he has. As I type this CNN has just called Ohio for Barack Obama, confirming that the President will be re-elected to serve a second term as President of the United States. It looks as though Nate Silver’s projections are off too: with Obama looking likely to win Virginia and Florida it seems as though the President will do better – at least in terms of the Electoral College – than even the much-criticised Mr Silver predicted.

Add a series of crushing blows to the GOP in Senate races from Massachusetts to Missouri and you have a dreadful night for the Republican party. This is worse than a defeat; it’s a calamity.

For Obama this is a historic night. In some respects this victory is a greater achievement than his triumph four years ago. That, in the sour dog days of the Bush presidency, was an obvious “change” election. America wanted a fresh start and Barack Hussein Obama was well-placed to be both a symbol of and catalyst for that change. Hope. A fresh start. All that jazz.

This election was different. This was not a change election. It was one won by sweat and effort, more perspiration than inspiration. Already it is plain that the Obama campaign’s ground game was vastly superior to Romney’s. The long months before the election officially began were well spent organising in places such as Cuyahoga County, Ohio and Miami-Dade County, Florida. Not just there either but in other places too, notably rural and semi-rural districts in Virginia and Ohio where Obama’s vote held up better than most pundits and number-crunchers had thought plausible.

Not many Presidents have managed to win a “change” election and a muscle election in which getting more of your team to the polls matters more than inspiring swing voters to plump for your guy.

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