Election Results 2012: President Obama Defeats Mitt Romney, Wins Four More Years

It all came down to this.

Could Democratic President Barack Obama pull it out and earn another four years in the White House? Or would Republican Mitt Romney be the next Commander-in-Chief?

The 2012 presidential election results took awhile to come into focus, but shortly after 11:00 p.m., the President surpassed the 270 electoral votes needed to win.

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Surprised? Outraged? Disgusted? Overjoyed? Relieved?

We'll be updating this post with the full numbers as they come in. For now, and throughout the night, sound off on how you feel about this historic night ...

UPDATE, 8:14 p.m. EST: President Obama currently has 64 electoral votes to Romney's 56, according to CNN projections. Romney leads in the popular vote, 51-48%.

Battleground states Ohio, Virginia, North Carolina, Florida and New Hampshire have not been called. Polls in the western half of the U.S. are largely still open.

UPDATE, 8:43 p.m. EST: Romney 82 EV, Obama 64 after TN, AL and OK wins. Romney leads popular vote 52-47% with around 5 percent of the vote counted.

UPDATE, 9:10 p.m. EST: Romney 152 EV, Obama 123.

States won: Romney WV, SC, KY, TN, GA, AL, MS, LA, AR, OK, TX, KS, NE, SD, ND, WY; Obama IL, MI, NY, ME, MA, CT, RI, VT, NH, NJ, DE, DC.

Popular vote: Romney 13,846,143 (51%), Obama 13,032,317 (48%).

UPDATE, 9:35 p.m. EST: Romney 18,566,134-17,880,270 (50-48%).

UPDATE, 9:45 p.m. EST: Obama wins Pennsylvania, despite a late push by his Republican challenger in the Keystone State. Romney 152 EV, Obama 143.

UPDATE, 10:02 p.m. EST: Romney wins Utah, leads in EV 158-143.

UPDATE, 10:04 p.m. EST: Obama wins N.H., trails 158-147.

UPDATE, 10:41 p.m. EST: Slightly different electoral vote counts at CBS (184-162) and NBC (174-172), but still no calls in Florida, Ohio, Virginia or North Carolina.

Romney retains a sizable popular vote lead, with 33,128,038 votes (51%) to Obama's 31,535,842 (48%) despite the President running strong in battleground states.

UPDATE: 10:52 p.m. EST: Arizona's 11 electoral votes fall for Romney, while Minnesota's 10 fall into Obama's column, bringing the EV tally to 169-157 Mitt.

UPDATE: 11:03 p.m. EST: Obama wins California (55), Hawaii (4) and Washington State (12), while Romney adds Montana (3) and Idaho (4) to his column.

UPDATE: 11:04 p.m. EST: In a pair of breaking swing state projections, Wisconsin (10) has now been called for Obama and North Carolina (15) for Romney.

Current CNN electoral vote count: Obama 238, Romney 191. RealClearPolitics count: Obama 244-204. Virginia, Ohio and Florida are still too close to call.

Any of the above would go a long way toward reelecting Obama, and it appears likely he will win at least one of the three, if not two or even all three.

UPDATE: 11:11 p.m. EST: Iowa goes for Obama, growing his lead to 244-191 in the Electoral College. He still trails in the popular vote for 1-2 percent.

UPDATE: 11:12 p.m. EST: New Mexico added to Obama's column. 249-191.

UPDATE: 11:15 p.m. EST: Obama wins Oregon. His EV lead: 256-191.

UPDATE: 11:16 p.m. EST: Romney wins Missouri, bringing him to 201.

UPDATE: 11:19 p.m. EST: CNN calls a narrow victory in Ohio for Obama, giving him 274 electoral votes and another four years in the White House.

UPDATE: 11:30 p.m. EST: Romney still leads in the popular vote, 42,126,133-41,334,227 (50-49%). Alaska, Nevada, Colorado, Virginia and Florida have yet to be called.

UPDATE: 5:30 a.m. EST, 11/7: Obama won Colorado, Nevada and Virginia, with Alaska going for Romney and Florida still not called by the New York Times.

Seems to happen there a lot like this, but it's a moot point, with Obama winning the electoral college 303-206, no matter what happens in the Sunshine State.

Despite trailing early, Obama also scored a small but undisputed popular vote victory, winning 50% of the vote (59,558,059) to Romney's 48% (56,936,172).

U.S. presidential election 2012: Who'd you vote for?