Notizie: US election: Tight race for Obama and Romney

The rivals are running almost neck and neck in national polls

US Presidential Election 2012

Tens of millions of Americans are voting to decide whether to re-elect Democratic President Barack Obama or hand the job to Republican Mitt Romney.

Polling opened first in eastern states and a winner could be known by midnight. Turnout will be crucial.
The voting ends a hard-fought race that began nearly two years ago and has cost more than $2bn (£1.3bn).
Polls show the race is neck and neck, although the president holds a slender polling lead in crucial swing states.

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What you tell a pollster is not the same as casting a vote”

Mark Mardell North America editor

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National polls by Washington Post/ABC News and the Pew Research Center both give Mr Obama a three-point edge over his rival.

More than 30 million voters had already cast their ballots before Tuesday's polls opened, with more than 30 states allowing either absentee voting or in-person early voting. In the 2008 presidential election, more than 130 million people voted.
On the stroke of midnight, the first election day votes were cast and quickly counted in the tiny village of Dixville Notch in New Hampshire. They resulted in a tie with five votes each for Mr Obama and Mr Romney.
In areas of New Jersey and New York that were damaged by storm Sandy a week ago, turnout was described as heavy. One high school being used as a shelter for displaced families doubled up as a voting centre.
Polling stations will begin closing in eastern states at 18:00 EST (23:00 GMT).
'Work not done'

US media view

Dana Milbank, writing in the Washington Post, has spotted something "new and unusual about Mr Romney". "In the waning days of the campaign, Romney was uplifting, optimistic and inspirational." According to Sam Stein in the Huffington Post, Monday's late-night rally in Iowa emphasised how President Barack Obama's "businesslike" second White House run lacked the "hope narrative" of the first.
Jim Rutenberg and Jeff Zeleny in the New York Times said the Romney campaign was banking on lower turnout for the president than in 2008. Mr Obama's team, it said, believed it had rebuilt its coalition of support "just enough to win". This CNN video rounded up 21 memorable moments from the gruelling race.

World press reviews campaign

Mr Obama was the first of the two rivals to cast their ballot by voting last month in his adopted home city of Chicago, and becoming the first sitting president to vote before election day.

Mr Romney and his wife Ann voted in Belmont, Massachusetts, shortly before 09:00 local time. He told reporters he felt "very good".
Their running mates also voted early on Tuesday. Vice President Joe Biden queued with his wife, Jill, outside a polling station in Greenville, Delaware, and urged voters to "stand in line as long as you have to".
Republican Paul Ryan cast his vote with his wife, Janna, at a public library in Janesville, Wisconsin.
The election is decided by the electoral college.

Battle for Congress

33 of 100 seats in the Senate up for election
All 435 seats in the House being contested
Republicans need to gain three Senate seats to end Democrat control
Democrats need to gain 25 seats in the House

Each state is given a number of electoral votes in rough proportion to its population. The candidate who wins 270 electoral votes - by prevailing in the mostly winner-take-all state contests - becomes president.

Also on Tuesday's ballot are 11 state governorships, a third of the seats in the 100-member US Senate and all 435 seats in the House of Representatives.
Republicans are expected to keep control of the House, while Democrats are tipped to do the same in the Senate.
The presidential candidates spent Monday criss-crossing the crucial battleground states including Ohio, Florida, Iowa and Virginia, making final appeals to voters. They aimed to encourage their own supporters to go to the polls while also persuading the small sliver of undecided voters to back them.

Race to the White House

Obama50%

Romney47%

Poll of polls, 4 November See more polls on our poll tracker

In speeches, Mr Romney kept up his attack on Mr Obama's record, reciting a litany of statistics he says illustrate the president has failed to lift the US economy out of the worst downturn since the Great Depression that followed the stock market crash of 1929.

"If you believe we can do better, if you believe America should be on a better course, if you're tired of being tired... then I ask you to vote for real change," Mr Romney told a rally in a Virginia suburb of Washington DC.
The president appeared at rallies with singer Bruce Springsteen and rapper Jay-Z. He acknowledged frustration with the still-lagging economy but told voters "our work is not done yet".
"We've come too far to turn back now," the president said in Ohio. "We've come too far to let our hearts grow faint... We'll finish what we started. We'll renew those ties that bind us together and reaffirm the spirit that makes the United States of America the greatest nation on Earth."
Legal battles feared With voter turnout seen as vital for both candidates, campaigning continued on Tuesday.

US election - the essentials

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Guide: Battleground states
Obama and Romney - key issues
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Both men gave radio interviews, and Mr Romney hit the campaign trail again as he headed for an event in Cleveland, Ohio. He was also due to visit Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, before holding an election night rally in Boston.

Mr Obama, who will hold an election night rally at a convention centre in Chicago, visited a campaign office in the city to talk to volunteers.
With observers anticipating a close race, both sides have readied teams of lawyers for possible legal fights, especially in the critical battleground state of Ohio.
Some analysts fear the election will not be decided on Tuesday night if the state's vote becomes mired in legal battles.
The BBC will be providing full online live results of the US presidential election on 6 November. More details here

Notizie

venerdì 9 novembre 2012

US election: Tight race for Obama and Romney