tonight in election you, people that+ road en hard while our journey has been long, we have picked ourselves up w3l úxthe united states oamerica, the be to ma joins an united states presidents by winning four-year term. by n, with narrow an election night locked up many predicted based on tight polls in the swing states. only too close to victory onal map for the 44th president. obamañt up more than 300 popular vote this ca there. president obama scored tone for the way the night was headed. the oman knew there was a good chance of locking it up but they pulled off wins in wisconsin, wisconsin, the home state of romney's ryan and where republican governor scott a recall voteiowa another convincing win

for the president despite that much discussed endorsemo romney. the clincher came whether nbcohio pushing him over th270 that campaigns and we in the press for months the states where both campaigns concentrate endless resources and energy battling for the precious 18 electoral votes. i wasn't until after 2:00 this im that president was al declared the winner of virginia a state he won in2008 but where recays ago showed this ce ra incredibly close. last night though virginia the presidentwell. in florida, toodozens of precinctn t it wasn't until after 1:0 the was cast at p sixou o close. that floridacr votpr but%éou in impact the winner of the gen election n colorado another tossup state g obama by a marge anyone/y@0ar the and in pennsylvania the romney campaign made a late pushays, the president wasner there early in the nieground state was north e state obama took in their last night it w romney's way. shortled final rude presidential election. of

supporters near boston asking them now to unite behind ve upon which this nation was founded are the only sure guide to a resurgent economy and to a new greatness. like so many of you, paul and i have left everything on the this i so wish that i had been able fulfill your hopes to lead the countrysa in a different join with you to earnestly great god bss america. you guys are the best. thank you so is of chicago walked out on stage to deliver his victory speechhe passion he delivered after his the the with md your vote or not, i listened0s to you.8' and you've made me a better your stories and struggles, ieturn4 to the white house a more determined and more work there is to do and the fuh a second term. pause and take a welcome our nbc station as cross the country who will be joining us for this special edition of "way t early. willie ge(ist. now, kristen

she is still up i believe, campaign headquarters in chicago. have you sle all? >> reporter: haven't slept at worth it historic evening. i can tell you that the crowd electrified here night when president obama delive victory speech. you sent allthanked all those that made the v called fork with mitt w romn forward. and he also pledged to reach across the aisle in this second term to work with republicans, to do a better job ofh things like the deficit and also to deal with imbrags. of course, though, those are two issues that really dogged the president during his first term. but the one issue that was hiseatest challenge to re-election, willie i don't e talked about this a lot, thed that is one of thesi5 made anunemployment to tick down below 8%. and a lot of people said he couldn't get re-elected with an unemployment ratehigh. last night he says he wou with create jobs essentially. basically said i heard what you there are also lighter moments,

some sort of personal moments his wife more than he did in that moment. and then he said to his two daughters, he'ry proud of them. however, they are not new dog this year willie. >> right. kristen welker in chicago, a lot of work ahead for the president. thank yoll your coverage during this campaign. peter alexander has been campaign for well over a year. he joins us now boston. peter, good mo, good morning to you. >> so what's the feeling ther obviously, they're greatppointed with the outcome r they surprised at the way those swing states fell so quickly toward think they absolutelá3y are, willie. i heard from an adviser close to the campaign who wrote me h called for the president three simple words. he wrote, "this onestings." this is a campaign tha hours ago exceedingly confident that they would prove victorious in this governor romney spoke to reporters yesterday after the final -- on the final leg of his campaign saying that he intellectually had long thought he would win this election. but emotionally he he felt it at the last rally of the day yesterday in pennsylvania where

the campaign hadn't even adviced really they would be there. remember, this was a a stop that aides say governor romney ultim was thon. they to go to ohio as we're out, they went to pennsylvania. thousands of people filled up a parking groment he felt it. all the more devastating and disappointing to governorhered to hear him speak. there is alreadysome i guess you would call it wednesday morning campaigning about what this campaign should have could have, and cf people think would he differently had they recognized what going to f last night, sefkpecificy the auto it was a crushing blow for this campaign in the words of a source close to the campaign. they said that headline of "the new york times" that read let detroit gobb bankrupt those were not governor romney's words. those were the words of "the new york times." he wrote the column itself. they said that was just too damaging particularly in those critical states and most certainly in the state o>> peter, one of the fascinating

human elements of any presidential campaign is what happens to the day after and the dates following the campaign. can you give us kind of an idea of what mitt romneydoing? one day next day you're home on the couch w what's he doing today? >> yeah well he is "real housewives" fan as we heard from one of his conversation onzs on a conversations with reporters a couple days fuss of what the last meal will be for the candidates some of the nonsense that gets covered. a one of his top aides last meal would be before he m< results. and i quote, h we expect he'll live as if it was his last meal. ax he's not dying, they say. and as he said long ago o this campaign trail, he feels very blessed with a wonderful family and quite a good life that he enjoys with thatfamily. 18 grandchildren. won, had we been speak this morning about president-elect romney, he would have had more grandchildren as a sitting president than any sitting

president in american i suspect and instead of being president-elect he'll return to life as a private citizen and try to fig o republican p hope normal we agn. inn, chief the host ofchell reports" and a warrior e anticipated being up late into the night. north carolina and one swing for he would least. the president's team said he had able leads that would ho theyy expected along i thought it would be hard to beat anpresident,arly one that has better political skills than this a standard state totechniques. they cach they were very specific. these are the states that are going to decide it.pç what are the demographic he could lthe coalitions we haved? women some states others. hat they said they repeatedly. i would not particularly surprised. i rney would win one or president had ange and he kept it. >> michael steel, there is a searching this ere was soul searching last night before the results were in for the republican party, party that you leduccessfully you're

waking morning, what's meeting like? what do you have to do to change next time what happened know fle particularly those in million, $10 million, $20 to win the white house, they're sitting here going this is one hell of an roi. how do we justify this new position we're in when you're given the opportunity in this economy with this ecord, to make the case that we clearly didn't make. so i think you're going to have a lot of recripple nation ars. you're going to have te we've already seen lastlo nit and this sta conservative enough. this moderate a moderate. there were a lot of other conservatives in that primary. if that is the thing you sthi go make the difference, then you would have selected ae second guessing is not going ehelpful. i think gotnow in appreciating this country changed. right before our t for the first president

they're prepared to address it. >> you were saying night. what jumps out at you this morning? is it the mgin o electorally? way the president won? what's the headline for you to day?re are a number of were touching on two very important ones. first of all, that morning after conversation which already started last night. you sawohn cornyn who is interested in ve esenate senate republicans.w but hete reach out. mitch mcconnell did not. you're goi corker and, you know and or snores who do believe that they have to work. i don't think you're going to see that in the house. the st the including the speaker forthcoming a taxes oromponents motion to avoid thel cliff. so i thinkith the house stuck in thisuation with tea party members elected and a conserva polarized ional republican adership i don't this just them toipartisanly and yous statement and president obama saying he would be talking

t romney in the coming weeks, michael, bear me out, i don't think the republicans are going to look to mitt romney as the leader of the pa a marco rubio, two governors. we have other republican senators as blem is going to the core the activists, the base the fire brands out there have to appreciate the difference campate. or governing a as a u.s. senator or member ofco a that bag american citizen who lives in that state or lives in the country. it's not just that small collective group of folks that a real test for the to understand how we communicate d how we gooss was two huge the ground we gave away ones on that tax the ground we gave away on simp bowls, thground we gave away in a number of areas could have carvehat grand2sissed mruth half of campaigning, thise have a democratic basically so watching people watching today, watching the american people today think >> for one cliff,ax cuts spepding -- tax cuts and

spending it must bei think out of that are politics ll change. have to choose whether to work with the president or not.think, will get historic bipartisanievement when he pulls this off. and theobama care in place enshriningdo raising wealthiest which this deal will do and having reform is going to shake up politics more than this ewj election justd the status quo. >> went into this the3 way they a skeptic about the ability to come up with the mo aloodless point by of tailoring each stat)ve and each t taking into messy. it's not a game. but they did itoi republicans are going to also look at tha out, enouggh mon and enough skill anyone can do this. at theh-ry and democratic caucus i believe, when you look at all the final results, we still have someming in from house caucus white men. and minor majoritynd the president win69% of the latino voteabout.á mami too mike n joins plus, we're going to look to what's next for the

nearer-bearer? party its wounds story and a checkmoreheast. all that whenway too early comes right back. !$r'v/v%-"gtq ld

mitmentinonceding last night. welcome "way tooy early". now,use correspondent for owe ming this was the case that the pred e a the day.that neverhed back effectively. th argument of the people the that lo editorial h1 ran inrk times" with

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hispanics, and also he of out successful rep theñ( onesto do that. big republihere going to be a big he >> mbwike 5 this last year and a hal we appreciatec"us. >> i >> real quick, to jump ahead to butcandidate? hink we me om iv$jo >> i said thunty chair stat arty has t or.