Barack Obama Wins Re-Election as President of the United States

President Barack Obama and Vice-President Joe Biden were re-elected to office Tuesday night, defeating Republican challenger Mitt Romney and his vice-presidential running mate Rep. Paul Ryan, according to network projections.

Iowa gave its six Electoral College votes to the president.

NBC News called the presidential election for Obama around 11:15 EST. The president sent a message on Twitter at 10:14 saying simply, "This happened because of you. Thank you."

Romney conceded about 12:55 EST.

The Obama campaign won the most expensive presidential race ever, with both parties raising about $2.6 billion. The race was filled with negative campaigning on both sides, from President Obama attacking Romney’s business experience with Bain Capital to Romney lambasting Obama’s handling of the economy.

The race tightened during the final months of the campaign, with gaffes and surges from both candidates. After a weak performance after the Republican Convention, Romney surged following Obama’s listless performance after the first presidential debate. Nevertheless, the president cemented a lead in battleground states heading into Tuesday’s election.

In Iowa, NBC News called the race for the president at 10:10 p.m., and CBS called it two minutes later. The president appeared well on his way to re-election.

With Obama as the incumbent, the unofficial start of the 2012 race began in August of 2011, when Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann narrowly defeated U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas to win the GOP Straw Poll. When Bachmann's campaign crashed and burned, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum barely eclipsed Romney in the Iowa caucuses.

The atmosphere was festive in the basement of the First Avenue Club in Iowa City as Johnson County Democrats gathered around large projection screens, an enthusiastic chatter humming in the air as local politicos and volunteers chomped down on pizza.

The crowd erupted in cheers at every bit of good Democratic news, applauding Elizabeth Warren's new election, and clapping wildly as states even expected to go for the president -- Minnesota, Hawaii, California -- flashed into the president's column on the screen. The anticipation building for a presidential win.

Then, MSNBC broke in with the news of an Iowa win and the crowd went wild, screaming at the top of their lungs "YEAH!" as a young man nearby yelled "Oh, my God, Oh my God, Oh my God!"

In Des Moines, the chairman of the Romney Iowa campaign sounded disappointed in a TV interview, saying that the president has won a narrow victory if he does in fact win the Electoral College vote.

Obama supporters, of course, had a different view.

"It's fantastic. We've been working the ground game forever," said Vikki Brown, 60, a phone bank captain at Obama's Waterloo campaign office. "We called people, we made sure people got to the polls. I'm just excited. I'm working on three hours of sleep, but it paid off."

UNI students Keenan Crow, 26, and Mandy Paris, 23, were also celebrating.

"It's awesome, I'm super excited," Crow said.

Obama again carried Iowa, the state where it all began for him in 2007, when an unlikely win over Hillary Clinton helped propel him to the Democratic nomination and, eventually, to the White House.

Romney and Obama campaigned aggressively in Iowa, with the president making his last stop ever as a candidate in Des Moines, appearing on election eve with First Lady Michelle Obama and rocker Bruce Springsteen at a rally that attracted more than 20,000 people.

Sue Dvorsky, chair of the Iowa Democratic Party, had predicted the state would go for the president.

"This is a reflection of what we've been trying to do and hundreds of thousands of conversations we've had with Iowa voters for the past two years."

Once Obama's victory in Iowa was called by NBC and CNN, Dvorsky only had one word.

"Hallelujah."

Liz Purchia, press secretary for Obama for Iowa, said the win feels amazing.

"All of our hard work has come to this," Purchia said. "Iowans earned this and they deserved this. Our volunteers are what put us over the top and we couldn't be happier."

In Iowa, campaigning for the presidency is a constant.

Romney's loss marks three times that Romney has run in the state and lost -- twice in the Republican caucuses and, Tuesday, as the GOP nominee.

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