Barack Obama Wins Second Term...

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WASHINGTON President Barack Obama won re-election Tuesday night despite a fierce challenge from Republican Mitt Romney, prevailing in the face of a weak economy and high unemployment that encumbered his first term and crimped the middle class dreams of millions.

The task of perfecting our union moves forward because of you, the President said during his victory speech. Tonight in this electionwe have picked ourselves up, we have fought our way back, and we know that in our hearts, the best is yet to come. Earlier in the day, the president reached out to his supporters on Twitter. "I want you to know that this wasn't fate, and it wasn't an accident. You made this happen.

You organized yourselves block by block. You took ownership of this campaign five and ten dollars at a time. And when it wasn't easy, you pressed forward. I will spend the rest of my presidency honoring your support, and doing what I can to finish what we started. But I want you to take real pride, as I do, in how we got the chance in the first place. Today is the clearest proof yet that, against the odds, ordinary Americans can overcome powerful interests. There's a lot more work to do. But for right now: Thank you, Obama tweeted to supporters as he secured four more years in the White House.

The president sealed his victory in Ohio, Iowa, New Hampshire and Colorado, four of the nine battleground states where the two rivals and their allies spent nearly $1 billion on dueling television commercials. Ultimately, the result of the brawl of an election campaign appeared likely to be the political status quo. Democrats won two more years of control of the Senate, and Republicans were on track to do likewise in the House.

Romney was in Massachusetts, his long and grueling bid for the presidency at an unsuccessful end.

The two rivals were close in the popular vote.

Romney had 45.2 million votes, or 49 percent. Obama had 45 million, also 49 percent, with 65 percent of precincts tallied.

But Obamas laser-like focus on battleground states gave him the majority in the electoral vote, where it mattered most. He had 284, or 14 more than needed for victory. Romney had 200.

Yet to be settled were battlegrounds in Florida, Virginia and Nevada. The election emerged as a choice between two very different visions of government whether it occupies a major, front-row place in American lives or is in the background as a lessobtrusive facilitator for private enterprise and entrepreneurship.

The economy was rated the top issue by about 60 percent of voters surveyed as they left their polling places. But more said former President George W. Bush bore responsibility for current circumstances than Obama did after nearly four years in office.

About 4 in 10 said the economy is on the mend, but more than that said it was stagnantor getting worse more than four years after the near-collapse of 2008. The survey was conducted for The Associated Press and a group of television networks.

Democrats got off to a quick start in their bid to renew their Senate majority, capturing seats in Indiana and Massachusetts now in Republican hands.

In Maine, independent former Gov. Angus King was elected to succeed retiring GOP Sen. Olympia Snowe. He has not yet said which party he will side with, but Republicans attacked him in television advertising during the race, and Democrats rushed to his cause.

Polls were still open in much of the country as the two rivals began claiming the spoils of a brawl of an election in a year in which the struggling economy put a crimp in the middle class dreams of millions.

The president was in Chicago as he awaited the voters verdict on his four years in office. He told reporters he had a concession speech as well as victory remarks prepared. He congratulated Romney on a spirited campaign. I know his supporters are just as engaged, just as enthusiastic and working just as hard today as Obamas own, he added.

Source: Associated Press Larissa M. Tyler contributed to this report.

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