COLORADO -- President Obama's relatively easy re-election win Tuesday included an easier than expected win in what was supposed to be swing-state Colorado.
With 90 percent of the votes tallied, Obama has 51 percent of the state's vote, which equated to 1.23 million as of Wednesday morning. By contrast, Republican challenger Mitt Romney received just 47 percent, or about 1.12 million votes.
The four percent margin is much larger than what many experts or the candidates predicted. Both Obama and Romney, as well as their running mates, visited the state several times over the final three months leading up to the election, thinking Colorado's nine electoral votes would likely make a difference in the election.
It turned out not to matter. Obama received 303 electoral votes Tuesday night and is expected to earn Florida's 29 votes once final numbers are in, which would put him at 332. Romney received 206 electoral votes.
Sen. John McCain received 173 electoral votes in 2008, making Obama the first president in the past 142 years to be re-elected with a smaller margin of victory in the second election.
Romney won just one of the so-called "swing states" in this year's race (North Carolina) but took Indiana, a blue state in 2008, and received all five votes in Nebraska as opposed to the four of five McCain got.
Obama currently leads by about 2.5 million in the popular vote. Results are expected to trickle in over the next several days.
TV Station Profiles & Public Inspection Files forKXRM