on the broadcast tonight, after a history-making election night, four more years for president obama tonight. how he won, why and why mitt romney lost. and the message the voters across america sent last night. we'll have a look at the trends and the results. also, tonight, the east coast is taking another hit of extreme weather, and it will only get worse. it means more rough weather of people hit by hurricane sandy. the storm and election night news begins now. good evening, while the

nation tries to recover from a deep recession, and in a presidential race we were after all, all told was as close and as tight as they get. president obama, the 44th president of the united states was reelected last night. he was somehow able to stitch together a convincing victory, s win i winning just about all the battleground states that were so heavily fought over in the most expensive race in u.s. history. it was early this morning when the president appeared with his family, becoming the third consecutive two-term president we elected. not happening since the presidents jefferson, madison and monroe. president obama won both a decisive victory in both the electoral college.

and here on the east, the nor'easter, a storm so fierce the governor of new jersey said it will move the state's recovery effort backward for a time. and here is a look at the skating rink we used as part of the coverage on election night. tonight, it is under a layer of swirling snow. back inside, we begin with what happened last night. the president's historic re-election to a second term. he is back on his way to the white house tonight, where kristen welker starts off the coverage. good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian, after the grueling election, the president returns back to the white house. and with the economy limping back to health, the stakes could not be higher. the president headed back to washington where the voters decided he should stay for four more years. at his campaign headquarters in washington, he thanked staff and

supporters. this, after a night of emotional celebration in his hometown of chicago. 20,000 turned out, sharing tears and hugs. >> a long campaign is now over. and whether i earned your vote or not, i have listened to you. i have learned from you. and you have made me a better president. >> reporter: a passionate speech. >> michelle, i have never loved you more. >> reporter: mixed with a little bit of humor, aimed at his daughters. >> i am so proud of you guys, but i will say that for now, one dog is probably enough. >> reporter: the president has held almost 200 campaign events, logging thousands of miles on board air force one, the two candidates spending nearly $900 million, making this the most expensive campaign in history. it is the victory that at times seemed impossible. and sharply divided electorate. >> a toxic and disruptive debate

here on capitol hill. >> reporter: mr. obama seemed to recognize the renewed urgency for bipartisanship. >> i am looking to reach out and work with both parties to reach the challenges we can only solve together. >> reporter: he promised to accomplish this things this time around that he was not able to accomplish first time around. >> reducing our deficit, re-forming our tax code, freeing ourselves from foreign oil, we have more work to do. >> reporter: and mr. obama tried to bury the hatchet with his one-time foe. >> and i also look forward to sitting down with governor romney, to talk about ways to move the country forward. >> reporter: he posted this photo, which quickly became the most liked ever on facebook. just one more image of barack obama's groundbreaking journey,

now the president attempted to show he is serious about bipartisanship. and right down the street, brian, the work has already begun on the work. i am told the crew on air force one gave president obama a congratulateory cake on the way home. now to all the questions being aimed at romney campaign headquters in boston after a sad night there. and the question, what went wrong in the romney campaign. peter alexander covering for us there tonight. good evening. >> reporter: brian, good evening to you here in boston, this is apparently the intersection of politics and the nor'easter. in the words of one top aide to the romney campaign, the mood in that campaign is a lot like this weather, dreary, at the end of a six-year long quest for the white house. tonight, mitt romney is left asking is himself what might have been. dressed in a business suit and

surrounded by family and friends and for a final few hours, the secret service team, mitt romney this morning left his boston hotel, quickly returning to life as a private citizen. >> hey, governor, can you give us a word? >> reporter: on this november 7th, the day romney promised they would get to work, the only work to do, packing up. after 90 minutes after most networks had called the race, mr. romney took the stage alone. >> like so many of you, paul and i have left everything on the field. we have given our all to this campaign. >> reporter: but his disappointment at the end of a six-year quest was palpable. >> i so wish i had been able to fill your hopes and to be able to lead the country in another direction, but the nation chose another leader. >> reporter: mr. romney thanked supporters and staff, but thanked his wife of 43 years. >> she would have been a wonderful first lady. >> reporter: today, paul ryan who was elected to the house and

will have a much bigger voice, released a statement. i am very proud of the campaign we ran and am grateful to romney for the honor of being his running mate. hours later as results poured in and excitement drained from the election night ballroom, aides cut to the giant screens, cueing the band to play. and today, one of mr. romney's top surrogates, new jersey governor chris christie spoke to his fellow republican. >> i was extraordinarily disappointed last night. i was surprised, you know, that it ended as quickly as it did. but it is the way it goes, people decide elections. >> reporter: another put it more succinctly, putting it this way, this one stinks. and as governor romney left his headquarters, he was there wrapping up a good-bye meeting with his staff. now wrapping up the headquarters

for possibly the wrong time. >> peter, thank you, and lester holt is here with us in the studio after we all went through this long night with a look at how the obama campaign was able to stitch together this victory. >> well, the short answer is, they recognized the demographic shifts in this country, brian. you can argue the romney campaign was working from a very solid playbook, but in hindsight it may have been a playbook out of date and based on old assumpti assumptions. mitt romney's loss has conservatives wondering about a shrinking republican base. the percentage of white voters has dropped to 72%, while the same percentage of latino vote iss ers who lean democratic, have grown. in 2004, president bush got 40% of the latino vote.

john mccain, 31% in 2008, and for mitt romney this year, just 27%. in the wake of tuesday, republicans soul-searching will look at places like florida's osceola county, bush won it. but a growing number of constituency now helped obama there. >> you go out and disrespect the hispanic community like that, you think we don't notice that? >> reporter: in florida alone, the hispanic population has grown since 2008. but among them, republicans are perceived as tone deaf on critical topics, immigration reform. >> well, the answer is people decide they can do better by going home because they can't find work here. >> reporter: the words matter. >> even though barack obama has deported more undocumented

people in the history of the united states, it is the words that are used. self-deportation, i think, was really, really hurtful. >> reporter: republicans must think about how to balance their core ideas against this shifting demographic landscape. >> republicans, at least at the national level want to win elections. and along this path, they can't win national elections. there will be a debate, then, on how you react to that. but i think that assumption is going to be broadly shared in the party. >> reporter: the post-mortem will take time. and among the questions that republicans will ask themselves as they pore through the data, are these so-called swing is states really swing states? and are the demographics so profound, at least in the races, have they become blue states? >> well, one of the many questions they will go over as we come out of this, lester holt. thank you. and chuck todd last night in the engine room was watching a lot

of this happen in the numbers in realtime as it happened. chuck, you have more proof today? >> reporter: well, i do, and the obama campaign used a no not-so-secret government document, called the 2010 census, and essentially what we saw, they did it not only in the battleground states, but they said okay, we're not going to carry any new counties and care r carry the electorate outside the counties, in fact they carried fewer in florida, but would find white voters. in florida, in 2008, the white vote accounted for 71% of the vote. well, in 2012, yesterday, the white vote fell down to 66%. so all of a sudden, more than a third of voters in florida were non-white. what does it mean going forward, brian? i just want to show you what it

means for the electoral map. i think in 2016, you will arizona, texas, possibly in play because that is where the hispanic population has been booming. >> all right, chuck todd, thank you so much, and andrea mitchell has more on what happened last night. >> reporter: a lot happened last night, when it was all over, the house remained republican, the senate, democratic, but that doesn't mean a lot didn't change in the election last night. in a year when a male senate candidate talked about "legitimate rape," and mitt romney spoke awkwardly about besi binders full of women, they elected five women last night. ranging from elizabeth warren,

who defeated scott brown in massachusetts. >> you better believe we're going to fight for equal pay for equal work. >> reporter: and tammy baldwin, the first openly gay member, in what used to be called the world's exclusive men's club. >> i will be a senator for all of wisconsin. >> reporter: as for richard mourdock and todd akin, they both lost. akin, to claire mccaskill. the top officials are now women, the governor, both senators, and the members of congress. democrats started to recruit women candidates almost two years ago. >> almost at the beginning of the time when the republicans came into power in the house in the first few bills they put out, took away a woman's right to choose. >> reporter: for the first time, white men will be in the minority among house democrats. but house republicans will be more white and male.

although michelle bachmann won her race, two states, maryland and maine, became the first to vote for gay marriage. and washington state and colorado voted to legalize recreational marijuana. massachusetts legalized it for medicinal use only. but pot didn't do so well in oregon and arkansas, where vote ers defeated making it legal. the times are changing. boy, are they, andrea mitchell, thank you for joining us tonight. we'll take a break, and when we come back, a big storm that is an urgent matter for millions of people along the east coast tonight. many of them still racked up and suffering from the last one. cool. you found it. wow. nice place. yeah. [ chuckles ] the family thinks i'm out shipping these. smooth move. you used priority mail flat rate boxes. if it fits, it ships for a low, flat rate. paid for postage online and arranged a free pickup. and i'm gonna track them online, too.

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miserable for a whole lot of people. the nor'easter that is upon is in the northeast tonight, the new jersey governor said today will actually set back recovery efforts in that state. nbc's katy tur is in the small peninsula community of seabright, new jersey, not far from new york city to the south along the jersey shore. >> reporter: good evening, brian, you don't see this often, there is accumulation and flooding, here in the town of seabright, we have the ocean in front of me, the river behind me. it floods during nor'easters and got hit hard by hurricane sandy. you can see that in the buildings behind me. now, this town along with the rest of coastal new jersey is wondering what they will wake up to. ten days after hurricane sandy ripped apart the jersey shore, towns are scrambling to prepare for the first major winter storm, and restore the battered coastline. the weather channel's mike

seidel this morning? here at point pleasant beach, they spent the morning bringing sand out to the beach, building a dune that is twice as high but not as wide, as the one wiped out by hurricane sandy. >> reporter: new jersey governor chris christie warned this hurricane could stall the restoration efforts. >> i hate setbacks, i don't tolerate them well, but this one i can't control. the weather is what it is, we'll have to deal with it. >> reporter: the town of seabright is empty and broken, as the town awaits another storm surge, the town councilman has the hard job to make sure folks get out of town for their own good. >> we have people here calling us, asking us to come get them, it is dangerous. >> reporter: throughout the area, there are 369,000 homes and businesses without power. among those trying to cope, one-time jersey resident, mike

briscoe. he stayed for sandy, which poured four feet of water in his basement. and he is ignoring the mandatory evacuation this time. >> the worst thing that can happen is the tree being pushed along the house. >> reporter: up and down the shore, neighbors are helping neighbors. >> all we can do is just pray for our friends and people around us. >> reporter: here, where the next cruel storm could take away efforts. there are emergency shelters open and warming centers for anybody who needs to get warm. and brian, i will tell you it is very cold out here. >> katy tur, seabright, new jersey, and into the studio we go, janice huff, we have folks who still can't see the broadcast. this is just about more than the region can take. >> reporter: exactly, brian, and with the wind so strong out there with the storm, people who maybe just got their power back may lose their power again.

it is snowing out here in new york city, like it is the middle of january. and katy tur mentioned the cold. the storm surge goes all the way from birkshire all the way to new jersey. and it looks like the moderate to heavy snow will continue all the way from new york city up through western parts of new hampshire, through midnight tonight. continuing through parts of maine and tomorrow morning, it will slowly wind down, in terms of the totals, two to four expected, four to eight from western new jersey and into western connecticut, into the birk shire. thank you, when we come back, we'll take a look at the plunge on wall street. [ male announcer ] wouldn't it be cool if you could combine

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. on wall street today, something of a post-election hangover after worries about europe's debt crisis exploded back on the scene, worries about

our debt here at home contributed to what was one of the biggest losses, nasdaq lost almost 75, s&p down almost 34. we have asked maria bartiromo to join us from cnbc to answer the question, what is going on here? >> well, a lot is going on, brian, a very tough day on wall street, part of the reason we know now, we won't see much improvement in europe over the term. but a big disappointment was what was to come under barack obama? the investment community is worried about higher taxes and higher regulations. and as a result, they sold today, and the fiscal cliff, let's not forget at the end of the year we'll see $600 billion in spending cuts take place, very well meaning layoffs possibly, couple that with tax increases for most income levels, if they don't get their

arms around this fiscal cliff. that is the big issue, people want to see compromise in washington, so before we actually know what is going to happen, the investors said let me sell now. >> maria bartiromo, thank you as always. we want to give you a heads-up. we're going long tonight for an extra half hour, but if your nbc station doesn't stay with us, please be able to stream live on our coverage on the web, on nbc. another break, another coverage, the first daughters growing up before our very eyes. work on runny noses. what? [ male announcer ] it doesn't have an antihistamine. really? [ male announcer ] really. alka-seltzer plus cold and cough fights your worst cold symptoms, plus has a fast acting antihistamine to relieve your runny nose. [ sighs ] thank you! [ male announcer ] you're welcome. that's the cold truth! [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus. ♪ oh what a relief it is! ♪ [ male announcer ] to learn more about the cold truth and save $1 visit alka-seltzer on facebook.

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. one of the enduring images from last night was when the first family emerged in chicago. a lot of people were thinking about the memory of four years ago, and all parents can understand how fast the kids grow up. of course not all kids have to grow up in the public eye. but what a striking image of the obama family last night, and there you have the obama daughters from four years ago. the daughters, by the way, malia, is now 14, sasha is now eleven, again, we are staying put now, on this special coverage.

while most of our nbc stations will carry our second half hour, if yours is not where you live, you can watch our live broadcast streaming on nbclive.com. for now, that is our broadcast on this wednesday after the election. thank you for joining us, i'm brian williams, we hope to see you either way back here tomorrow night. good evening.

from nbc news world headquarters in new york, this is "nbc nightly news" with brian williams. well, we're back from new york tonight of not only our continuing coverage, the aftermath of this presidential election, we're still covering the aftermath of a hurricane on the east coast and now this second big storm in just days hitting some of the areas and some of the people already devastated by sandy. first to politics. president obama's victory celebration didn't last long. he flew back to washington tonight. arrived with his family after a quick visit to home in chicago. david gregory, moderator of

"meet the press" was along the entire distance with us last night. he is back in washington tonight. david, the term is a status quo election. after all the talking and all the spending, the balance of power stays the same -- white house, senate, house. what kind of atmosphere does the president come home to? >> well, it will be tense, brian. we talked about it last night. because of the fiscal cliff, because of the enormous difficulties washington faces, proving to the american people it can break this cycle of dysfunction and reach some agreement on the most important matters, taxes and spending, especially since you have these tax increases set to take place and big spending cuts set to take place, there has to be some agreement. i thought the president struck a different tone last night. it wasn't going to be one he will say, look, i won. you have to fall into line. but he does feel like he has a mandate, and you're hearing it from the administration already particularly with regard to raising taxes on wealthier americans. that's going to be a big

bargaining chip here as he tries to come up with a grand deal on reducing the debt. >> and, david, the message from last night is it was called a mandateless election. i guess that's in the eyes of the beholder. >> and i guess this is what we'll be talking about for weeks now. look, the president demonstrated a great deal of resiliency just as the economy has under his leadership. that's the argument he made last night, but he does want to reach out to republicans. he wants to meet with governor romney as well and get his ideas in addition to his own. so the reality is that there is still something of a smaller mandate because there's such a hangover from the past four years about how dysfunctional washington has been. he has to see his way through that and in terms of big accomplishment, he wants to reduce this debt. if he can do that, then maybe the highway's a little roomier in terms of other accomplishments like immigration reform. >> david gregory back home in the "meet the press" studios in

washington. thanks. on capitol hill today, something interesting happened. remember democrats control the white house and the senate. republicans in the house. the speaker of the house, john boehner, summoned reporters, gave a formal speech. he used a teleprompter because it was important to get the words right and he had a message to send to the president. kelly o'donnell covers the hill for us, and she is there tonight. kelly, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. quite a conciliatory tone today, and there's new urgency here and we'll all be hearing a lot more of this term fiscal cliff. that is the danger of another recession unless congress acts before the new year. that's when taxes go up as the bush era rates expire, the payroll tax back up to its normal rate after a two-year break, and a big across-the-board unless washington does something about the long-term deficit. today congressional leaders started their public negotiations. >> i want to work together, but i want everyone to also understand you can't push us

around. >> mr. president, this is your moment. we're ready to be led. not as democrats or republicans but as americans. we want you to lead. >> reporter: there are differenting solutions. democrats say they want higher taxes on the wealthy to help reduce the deficit. republicans said say they would accept more tax revenue but by overhauling the revenue code not raising rates. they don't have much time, less than two months, to get something done. >> kelly o'donnell on the hill tonight, thanks. we've been talking about the map of last night's results. there's only one outlier, only one state that's not yet decided. in gray, bottom right, the state of florida. we've been here in a way. a little deja vu. mark potter is where they're still counting ballots in dural. mark? >> reporter: at the miami-dade elections office the ballot count went into a second day.

florida voters who were standing in line when the polls closed last night were promised they would still get a chance to vote. and in nine counties spread throughout the state those lines continued long past closing time, some into the wie houee hf the morning even though some had cast their votes before the election. >> again, we are the laughing stock. it's the process. >> reporter: in ft. myers, a distraught elections supervisor promised to do better next time. >> and to those who got discouraged and left without voting, moving forward i will do whatever it takes to ensure that this does not happen again in our county. >> reporter: elections officials blame delays on a lengthy ballot filled with 11 state constitutional amendment questions and on lots of absentee ballots. angry voters call it on a lack

of workers and equipment. >> i don't know why there weren't more machines to print the ballots on. >> i thought of getting out of line and calling it a night. >> reporter: florida officials say they know this is a serious problem. and they are still counting here tonight. in his acceptance speech president obama said this issue of long lines at the polls is something that needs to be fixed. brian? >> and something we should be able to get right. a serious problem indeed, mark potter, in florida for us tonight. mark, thanks. now to this nor'easter, the other story we're covering that could mean a lot of suffering for those already suffering in the wake of hurricane sandy. correspondent stephanie gosk is in long beach on long island, new york, tonight. stephanie, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. the snow has really start ed to come down here in the last hour or so. most of long beach, for the most part, are has been uninhabited since sandy although we did come across a few hearty souls trying to stick it out.

officials say the surge will hit at 2:00 a.m. in the morning, expected to rise five to six feet. as if things weren't bad enough in long beach, long island, here comes the nor'easter. >> i can't believe it's snowing here. >> reporter: the sand that buried carol kenny's house during the superstorm is being covered by snow. but if sandy couldn't drive her out, this storm has no chance. >> i feel blessed we're alive. i'm not going to deny the storm was a little scary at points. i'm glad i stayed. >> reporter: in new york state more than 250,000 households have no power. and most of them have no heat. braving the wind and the snow utility crews are out working trying to restore power where they can. >> while this storm is not as dangerous as sandy was, new york 0ers should still take safety precautions today and tonight. >> tell me what you're doing. >> well, i've been trying my best. >> reporter: but in many places

the despair is growing. the county supervisor paul finer is on the front lines of what he says is the biggest crisis his community has ever seen. >> people are freezing. there are a lot of people with major medical illnesses that are not getting the help that they need. >> one, two -- >> reporter: jean's family is struggling. no power now for ten days. a small generator runs a refrigerator and a couple of lights, but there's no heat. cold temperatures are making the nights unbearable. >> i make sure that the kids are in double layers and sleeping bags and lots of blankets and i actually last night it was really cold. >> reporter: but while we were there, the moment thousands in this region have been waiting for -- >> the heat especially is the big concern right now. we are cold. oh, my goodness. >> reporter: one less family in the dark and the cold, at least for now. the fire department tells us they have a concern here in long

beach, and that is these houses that are using generators, the problem is the wires have been corroded by the salt water, brian, and when they turn the generators on, they can spark. >> a whole lot of people suffering throughout this region but what a moment you happened to be there when the lights came back on for that family. we're happy for them. stephanie gosk, long beach, in new york. stephanie, thank you. we go now to a veteran of this. weather channel meteorologist jim cantore who happens to be in the midst of it in trenton, new jersey. jim, it's always something these days. it's hard to believe this is it going on. >> reporter: yeah, he especiall nine days after i was up here covering a hurricane, of all things, brian, so that is what makes it incredibly interesting. but let's show you this. this continues to break tonight during your broadcast we've seen areas now upgraded to a winter storm warning in southern new york and southwest connecticut including bridgeport, new haven. you can see the radar is just lit up here with snow and within this radar where, of course, the

white denotes the snow, heavier bands of snow like you see what's coming down here in trenton. these silver dollar flakes which are start iing to accumulate on the roads. many areas got 6 to 8 inches of snow. they may exceed 10 inches where we have the pink shade of 6 plus. you can't believe the spread of this thing across new jersey. we've had snow accumulating on some of the worst hit parts of the jersey shore today to the tune of 2 to 4 inches of snow and we have just learned as well, brian, that another 100,000 people are now added to the list in new jersey alone with new power outages compliments of this nor'easter. >> absolutely unbelievable. i don't know how much more people are supposed to be able to take. jim cantore, trenton, new jersey, as this region gets a walloping again tonight. we'll take a break. up next, more about what happened last night. walloping tonight. we'll take a break, more on what of what happened last night.

the people who enjoy weeds, they go by the proper title marijuana enthusiastics, had a very good night at some of the polls last night, specifically, the recreational use of it. nbc's mi has more. >> reporter: they're accepting with voters in departmenver and colorado, the first ever state to use recreational pot. >> we really feel that colorado can be a model for the nation, in how to assassinasensibly use

marijuana. >> reporter: but john hickenlooper, who opposed it, thought otherwise, the government still calls it a dangerous substance, and enforcement of the act remains unchanged. >> it is hard to imagine the chaos resulting state by state, if you have one state with it legal, one without. >> reporter: in fact, some sellers of medical marijuana, already legal here say they wouldn't risk selling recreational pot. >> were going to stay medical, obviously, to try to keep the heat off. >> reporter: but the heat could be right around the corner, a collision between federal law and state voters over any type of marijuana, seemingly unavoidable. and in another notable ballot measure, in california, voters agreed to pay more in sales tax and more in income tax for high earners, to help close what governor jerry brown calls a $34 billion state budget cap. >> and on a beautiful evening in

denver, mike taibbe, thank you. chuck todd, for those of us who love the game and love politics, there are so many race -- results from last night. i thought i would let you free associate, especially the names people might know, who won and lost in some of the big and small races. >> reporter: well, you know there was a house and senate, a married couple, connie mack the fourth, from florida, the son of a former senator, mary bono mack, the widow of sonnybono, he lost to bill nelson, and mary bono lost a very close race, mostly thanks to re-districting. so they go from being one of washington's power couples, to now looking for work.

but ben chandler, a long-time democratic member of congress. in fact, if you look at all of these, if you were an older white male house democrat, and you were running in a reddish district, sometimes a rural district, you likely lost last night. ben chandler, from lexington, kentucky. he is the great-grandson of happy chandler, the baseball player. and joe kennedy the third, would be the fourth generation away from the original joe kennedy, i hope i have my numbers right on this one, but the grandson, i believe of rob -- bobby kennedy. and i have had another kennedy family member say to me, this will be joe kennedy the third will be the next kennedy in the united states senate. what is interesting about this, lots of speculation that john kerry could be the next secretary of state. you know what that would lead to? within six months we could have

a special election in massachusetts for another u.s. senate. >> interesting how that happens sometimes. we showed the screen, what is that about? >> very quickly, i know you love this thing, the most expensive electoral vote, we thought we would let you know what it was between the parties. in the state of iowa, maybe more money spent in virginia, but per electoral votes, $12 million for the electoral votes. i think people should know that the virginia senate race cost almost $80 million, the massachusetts senate race, just over $70 million, a little perspective here, 12 years ago. bush and gore, when they ran for president both spent less than that just on their general election budgets, that was for president, this is what senate races cost now. >> all right, chuck todd with the good, the bad and the ugly and some of the damage from last

night. chuck, thanks, we'll be talking about this for a long time. when we come back, this really was the election the whole world was watching. we'll prove it through the reporting of our chief foreign correspondent, richard engel, who will be with us right after this. good morning! wow.

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tiebreak . we said before the break this truly was the election watched around the world. and we're fortunate because here on a breereavement shore leave our chief foreign correspondent, richard engel, that we're used to seeing around the world. richard, you reported how it was around the globe. >> reporter: well, there are reports that the u.s. is losing leadership win the world, but by the attention we saw so many countries paid to this election, it is clear that who is elected

president still deeply matters. >> president obama has got another four years. >> obama. >> reporter: the election was the lead story around the globe. >> a second term to the white house. >> reporter: the reaction in general, a sigh of relief. you could even see it trending worldwide on twitter. for china, president obama's victory represented welcomed consistency. there was enthusiasm from the leaders in europe, where governor romney was unpopular after an awkward visit this summer. in the middle east? >> very good morning. >> reporter: there is hope that president obama will embrace the israeli-palestinian peace process, the way he embraced the arab spring in his first.

>> he is relieved, and free from worry of getting reelected. >> reporter: but his re-election drew a cool response from the israeli prime minister. the two men are not close. a second term comes with a world of problems. >> for president obama, the most dangerous country in the world, the first term and in the second term, will be pakistan. >> reporter: that is where osama bin laden was hiding. and it remains a safe haven for military extremists. syria is imploding, and threatens to turn into a regional war. the euro is in crisis, the greeks are still rioting, and despite crippling sanctions, many worry that could trigger another war. and then, brian, there is the war that we are already in. in afghanistan, where u.s. troops are dying at a rate of about one per day. >> and sadly over the past ten

years, we can trace your travelin traveli travelings throughout the world, richard, we're glad your back with us. we'll be right back after this. richard, we're glad your back with us. we'll be right back after this. richard, we're glad your back with us. we'll be right back after this. we're glad your back with us. we'll be right back after this.

i think i might have just said before the break we can trace most of the problems of the world to richard engel, if i said that we don't mean that at all, about our friend and colleague, richard engel. last night, many were forced to go to bed, the hour was so late, before they heard the speech the president delivered to many in chicago. in case you are among them. here now, a portion of the president's victory address last night. >> while our road has been hard,

while our journey has been long we have picked ourselves up. we have fought our way back. and we know in our hearts that for the united states of america, the best is yet to come. whether you voted for the very first time or waited in line for a very long time, whether you held an obama sign or a romney sign, you made your voice heard. and you made a difference. democracy in a nation of 300 million can be noisy and messy and complicated. it necessarily stirs passions. stirs up controversy. that won't change after tonight. and it shouldn't. these arguments we have are a mark of our liberty. i had never been more hopeful about america, i have always

believed that hope is that stubborn thing inside us that insists, despite all of the evidence to the contrary, that something better awaits us so long as we have the courage to keep reaching, to keep working, to keep fighting. i believe we can seize this future together, because we are not as divided as our politics suggest. we're not cynical as the pundits believe. we are greater than the sum of our individual ambition, and we remain more than a collection of red states and blue states. we are and forever will be, the united states of america. >> a stirring speech last night from the newly reelected 44th president of the united states, barack obama. that is our broadcast on this wednesday night after. thank you for being here with us. i'm brian williams from our headquarters in new york. and for all of us here. good night. when we switched to fios, we got better tv,

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