Romney concedes defeat

Republican Mitt Romney conceded the US presidential election to Obama early on Wednesday morning after a hard-fought campaign.
“This is a time of great challenges for America and I pray that the president will be successful in guiding our nation,” Romney told supporters in Boston after calling Obama to congratulate him.
Obama defeated Romney in a number of key swing states, despite the weak economic recovery and stubbornly high unemployment that dogged his campaign.
Television networks called the election late on Tuesday, but the Romney campaign waited more than an hour to agree on the results in Ohio.
“I so wish, I so wish, that I had been able to fulfill your hopes to lead the country in a different direction, but the nation chose another leader,” Romney said in his concession speech.
This is the second time the former Massachusetts governor has made a run for the presidency. Romney had promised to revive the nation’s economy through reforming the tax code, reducing the debt and confronting China on its trade practices.
Obama, America’s first black president, won by convincing voters to stick with him as he tries to reignite strong economic growth and recover from the worst recession since the Great Depression of the 1930s. An uneven recovery has been showing some signs of strength but the country’s 7.9 percent jobless rate remains stubbornly high.
Obama’s victory in the hotly contested swing state of Ohio – as projected by TV networks – was a major step in the fight for the 270 electoral votes needed to clinch the White House and ended Romney’s hopes of pulling off a string of swing-state upsets.
Obama scored narrow wins in Ohio, Wisconsin, Iowa, Pennsylvania and New Hampshire – all states that Romney had contested – while the only swing state captured by Romney was North Carolina, according to television network projections.
While Obama supporters in Chicago were ecstatic, Romney’s Boston event was grim as the news was announced on television screens there. A steady stream of people left the ballroom at the Boston convention center.
At least 120 million American voters had been expected to cast votes in the race between the Democratic incumbent and Romney after a campaign that was focused on how to repair the ailing US economy.