Networks call re-election for Obama


President Barack Obama finished off a hard-fought race with a victory, becoming re-elected as the 44th President of the United States on Tuesday night.

As most major networks began calling the election around 8:20 p.m., hundreds of students keeping tabs on the results in the Ronald Tutor Campus Center erupted in screams and cheers.

Though the popular vote remains close, Obama took enough key states to make it nearly impossible for Republican challenger Mitt Romney to win the 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency.

Obama won the battleground states of New Hampshire and Pennsylvania, and was widely projected to win Wisconsin, making it highly unlikely that Romney could catch up.

Exit polls and most major networks also predicted that Obama would carry Ohio, taking 18 more key electoral college votes that Romney would have needed to win.

The president was also leading in Colorado, New Mexico, Florida and Virginia, as of 9 p.m.